As freshman, Brandon Jones walked through North Quad on Ball State University's campus, he noticed a sign advertising the Rooftop Comedy National College Comedy Competition.
He had not done stand-up since high school, but decided to look into it anyway.
"I saw the flier and was like, 'Well, what the hell?'" Jones said. "I checked online and signed up on Monday, so it's been a really short notice type of thing."
Jones is one of 14 students participating in the second annual stand-up competition at 9 p.m. at MoTini's in the Village The free event will give audience members the chance to vote for their favorite acts.
The competition has four rounds: the talent search, the regional rival, the conference rival and the national championship. Ball State is one of 32 schools participating in the talent search. According to Rooftop Comedy's Web site, eight students from each school will be selected during the talent search to move on to the next round.
After the regional rival portion of the competition, online voters will determine the "elite eight" in which the eight comedy teams with the most votes will move on to the conference rival round. In this portion of the competition, the Web site states that teams will be given five minutes to "talk smack" about their rival. A second round of online voting will follow and will determine which four comedy teams will move on to the national finals, held in Aspen, Colo.
Shay Dickerhoff, a general studies major at Ball State, is another one of tonight's performers. He has been doing improvisational comedy for six years and is a member of Abso, a comedy troupe on Ball State's campus. After graduation, Dickerhoff hopes to move to Chicago and make it as an improviser or comedian. As far as the competition tonight, Dickerhoff's goals are simple,
"I know this sounds cheesy, but first and foremost, I just want to make people laugh," he said.
Dickerhoff said he believes that his experience will give him an advantage in the competition since his nerves no longer get to him.
"The first time I performed my leg was shaking the whole time because I was so nervous," he said. "But if you go up there a couple of times, you're fine."
As a double major in political science and computer science, Jones has not spent time in the spotlight while at Ball State, but he insists that he is not nervous to perform in front of people.
"I've always been comfortable performing on stage," Jones said. "If there's a bunch of people, I'm going to make somebody laugh."
Corbett said she understands the nerves that come with being on stage and offered some advice.
"If you're having fun on stage, the audience will too," she said.
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