Laughter is the best way to fight the blues away, or at least that’s what mathematics senior Tom Gannon says.
Gannon is a comedian and the founder of a homemade comedy show, 825 Albert Comedy.
About once a month, Gannon and his friend, Central Michigan student Pat Hoban, rearrange the furniture in Gannon’s living room to host the free comedy show.
“Comedy is like a relaxed form of art and if it’s good people don’t have to work too hard to feel it,” Hoban said. "It’s not anything too fancy. There’s a microphone, a guy makes some jokes, people laugh and then they go out and drink."
Around the time of each show, Gannon and Hoban make funny fliers to put up around campus. About 50 to 60 people come to the shows and Gannon said on a good day, there’s about 10 more standing outside.
“It immediately was a blast,” Hoban said. “We wanted to make it as cool as we could get it and if we had a show, we could control it more.”
Gannon invites comedians from across the midwest such as Myq Kaplan from New Jersey. Gannon and Hoban each do a five minute set before the main comedian comes on.
“I always wanted to run my own comedy show,” Gannon said. “It’s more fun to do more smaller, intimate shows and comedians like the punk rock factor of performing out of a house.”
825 Albert Comedy started about a year ago when Gannon became fed up with the admissions and fees that come with doing stand up in bars. Gannon and his friends wanted a way to make people laugh completely free, without any of the pressure of comedy shows in a bar.
“In bars, you never really know if people come for you or to get drunk,” Hoban said. “Here, you know everybody is there for comedy. No one accidentally shows up to Tom Gannon’s house.”
Hoban said it’s an underground way for him and Tom to have a show. When they run out of bars, they can perform at home.
Gannon has been interested in comedy since he was in the seventh grade. He said most of his material comes from talking about himself.
“Comedy to me means relating to someone on a level to get them to laugh,” Gannon said. “Comedy is like...a way to get people happy pretty quickly.”
