When senior Brandon Schneider gets frustrated, he doesn’t let it get to him. He finds a way to make jokes out of it.
For the past two years, Schneider has been doing stand-up comedy. From open mic nights to competitions to performances, Brandon has gotten a well-rounded experience.
Schneider got into stand-up in the summer of 2009, influenced by Comedy Central and Jerry Seinfeld.
“That summer I just started writing jokes with my cousin … and they were all horrible, and I had half a notebook of them,” Schneider said.
When he got back to college, Schneider saw an advertisement for the University’s 2009 Last Comic Standing.
“I thought back to the notebook and signed up on a whim,” Schneider said. “I went through the entire notebook and found maybe three or four jokes that I could use, expanded upon those, tested it on my friends and somehow I got to the last round of the competition.”
Since then, Schneider has performed dozens of times in places ranging from the Bowling Green area to Toledo and Cleveland. His biggest performance was opening at the Anderson Arena last spring after winning the BGSU Last Comic Standing competition.
Outside of campus, Schneider has performed at Sukit Hookah in Toledo and more notably at Grumpy Dave’s Pub in downtown, where he has performed as MC and as the guest spot in Tuesday Professional Comedy Nights.
Grumpy Dave’s Pub has been the premiere outlet for professional comedy in Bowling Green for the past 10 years.
Pub Owner “Grumpy” Dave Harper said the comedy night consists of at least two acts, a feature and a headliner, by professional comedians from around the country. There is also an MC and the occasional guest spot.
“Most of the headliners have been on Comedy Central. Some of them have been writers for Jay Leno and Johnny Carson,” Harper said. “We also have one or two aspiring amateur comics to kick off the night; it helps them get some stage time and exposure.”
However Tuesday Comedy Nights at Grumpy Dave’s couldn’t have started without creator and comedian Steve Sabo and his company Inside Joke Productions.
“I was looking at Bowling Green at the time; I saw that it was a college town that really had a lot of cool bars, but nobody was doing comedy there and I thought it was a really good place to do it,” Sabo said.
Sabo said they started to look around at all the bars and at first, the comedy shows were hosted at Kamikaze’s.
“We did eight shows at Kamikaze’s, and it really wasn’t big enough to accommodate the comedy crowd, so then we talked to Grumpy Dave’s [Easy Street Upstairs at the time] and Dave was down with it, and it’s been there ever since,” Sabo said.
Harper said that even with the more accommodating space and set up, sometimes they don’t have enough tables and chairs for the comedy crowd.
Comedy in Bowling Green has presented opportunities for professional and amateur comics.
“The professional comedians love it because Tuesdays they aren’t really working as often,” Sabo said. “So they get to come in, do a show on an off day, get to perform in front of a smart comedy crowd, make money and challenge themselves with the younger college crowd.”
Comedian Carlos Valencia, the headliner from last Tuesday’s Comedy Night, said, “I enjoy these shows because they are more intimate; they give you a more genuine reaction than a 500-person room would.”
Joe Zimmerman, the guest comic on Tuesday said, “They [small shows] are really fun because it’s low pressure, so you can just have fun with it.”
Tuesday Comedy Nights also present opportunities for local comedians.
“The up and coming comics get an opportunity to perform regularly in a crowd that’s not an open mic night crowd because generally, open mic night crowds are going to be smaller and not as receptive to comedy or too receptive because they’ll want to make the comic feel better and the reality of it is, is that you can’t really get a good representation of your show,” Sabo said.
Schneider said his first time performing at Grumpy Dave’s was a guest set, and he said he talked to Sabo about performing outside of campus and he got the spot, which was a great opportunity.
Comedy also provides opportunities for audiences.
Sabo said the public gets the opportunity to see nationally touring comics they would normally never see for cheaper than they would at a bigger comedy venue. They also have a chance to meet the comic afterwards.
Tuesday Nights cost $3 with a student ID or $5 at the door.
Grumpy Dave’s also hosts comedy competitions.
This Friday night, The Best of the Midwest Comedy Competition kicks off at 9 p.m. It features 16 comedians who will all compete for a chance at $500 this semester. Second place receives $200 and third receives $100.
Schneider will be among the sixteen competitors.
Steve Sabo will also be doing a short set at the end of the competition along with last show’s winner, Steve Cathcart.
Admission is $5 and Harper recommends getting there early for a good spot because it’s standing room only for the competition.