What: Comedy Underground
When: 9:30-11 p.m. Wednesdays
Where: Be Here Now, 505 N. Dill St.
The music faded, lights adjusted and audience members hushed as Elle Cunningham stepped onto a wooden stage to perform comedy for the second time at Be Here Now. She glanced at the folded paper clutched in her hand before looking at the audience and beginning her first joke.
"So I realized recently that dating me is a lot like dating fast food,” she said. “I look good, I only cost about four dollars to take out, but after about a month all you really want is the smell of me out of your car.”
She smiled as the small audience erupted into laughter.
Cunningham is one of the many comedians from around the Midwest and the Muncie area who perform at the weekly Comedy Underground shows on Wednesdays at Be Here Now. The show begins at 9:30 p.m. and the comedians take turns performing until 11:00.
“My favorite part about performing is the boost of confidence it gives me that I didn’t expect it to,” Cunningham said. “I like Comedy Underground because it’s local and the atmosphere is very accepting and positive.”
Comedy Underground began at Be Here Now in October 2014. This July, co-managers Tennah McDonald and Derek Fischer took over the show.
Muncie used to contain other comedy venues, but they shut down, said Fischer and Andy Hesik, the audio and content generator for the show.
“Comedy Underground is the only comedy place in Muncie now,” Hesik said. “We bring acts regionally. People come from Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Ohio to perform here, and it’s actually a nice go-between. There are good things in Muncie, and Comedy Underground is one of those things.”
Comedians from different levels — amateur to professional — can perform for Comedy Underground.
“It’s a place where if anyone wants to participate — whether its their first time, they’ve done it a thousand times, they have always wanted to try it or they message us on Facebook and show up — it’s possible for them to perform at some point,” Fischer said.
The show has undergone some adjustments since changing management in July. There was too much leniency before, McDonald said.
“Be Here Now has been so open with us doing changes,” McDonald said. “They were cool about us rearranging everything that we need to, and we have strived to make Comedy Underground more organized since we started helping out with it.”
Six people in total help out with Comedy Underground. Having different people involved helps the show, McDonald said.
There are specific lineups set up for each night, and all performing spots for 2015 are already filled. Comedians can sign up for January shows through a Google Doc on Comedy Underground's Facebook page.
“I like performing at Comedy Underground because it’s a really nice space to take risks,” comedian Gabbi Boyd said. “I always feel comfortable bringing up a set I’ve never done before and seeing what works, and it’s so important to have spaces where you feel safe to fail.”
Preparation before a show is essential to other comedians' performances.
“Before a show, I write down some main ideas, and then after that I'll write out the set. After I know my main ideas, though, I usually just test it on people in my life and see what works best,” Cunningham said.
Bringing the community together through comedy is one of the show's goals.
“Comedy is very cathartic, and I think it helps with public speaking and looking at the world in a creative way — not just seeing things for what they are, but trying to find what’s funny about it,” Digital Media Manager for Comedy Underground Kimber Stancato, said. “I think comedy is very accepting, at least here it is, and we try to be a support system in whatever kind of art you want to do. We will help you do that to the best of our ability.”
Comedy plays an important role in the lives of the comedians as well.
“Comedy is really vulnerable but really powerful at the same time. Comedy has taken all the best parts of myself and given them a playground, really,” Boyd said. “Comedy really enables me to be me wholly. I get to think and feel and play all at the same time, and I've never found anything else in my life that engages all of me that way.”
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