Student Alex Sapp performing at Last Catamount Standing. Photo by Hallie West
Western Carolina’s Last Minute Productions continued its Best of the West competition with the comedy event, “Last Catamount Standing” on Jan. 30.
Performing for a crowd of around 50 people, students Casey Jowers and Alex Sapp competed for a spot in the series finale. Though neither had ever done stand-up comedy before, both were excited about the new opportunity.
Jowers, a communication and theatre student at WCU, said his friends always find him funny and encouraged him to sign up for the event.
“A lot of people kept pushing me to do stand-up,” he said.
Sapp, an engineering student who recently transferred to WCU said he always enjoyed making people laugh and credits his inspirations to famous comedians such as Jim Carrey and Robin Williams.
“I’ve always been a silly guy… I’ve always been very expressive,” said Sapp.
Both performances were well received by the audience with sets that related to students including jokes about professors, class times, and cafeteria food.
The students were followed by high school teacher turned comedian, Orlando Baxter. In addition to his set about some of his hilarious experiences while working as a teacher, Baxter offered his advice on being a comedian to the student performers before the show.
“Trust your own sense of humor,” said Baxter on how to decide if a joke is working or not.
Baxter also spoke of how he always wanted to try stand-up comedy and admits that it was difficult at times but has enjoyed everywhere his career has taken him.
“Comedy is like boxing. No matter how good you are, you are still going to get hit,” said Baxter.
Last night’s show is part of the second annual Best of the West competition series, where WCU students sign up to show their talent in competitions such as singer/songwriter, dance, spoken word, comedy, as well as a redemption event where students with “undefined talents” can also compete.
The winner of each event receives a $50 gift card, as well as a chance to compete for the title Best of the West in the series finale at the end of the semester.
Of these events, Assistant Director of Communications for Campus Activities, Diane Swenson claims the comedy event does not usually have as many students sign up as other competitions.
“I would say we had a lot of singer/songwriters and a lot for spoken word,” said Swenson.
Both the singer/songwriter and spoken word competitions were held last semester.
Though the comedy routine may not have been the most popular among student performers, Wednesday night’s Last Catamount Standing had audiences roaring with laughter. Both Jowers and Sapp will continue to compete in the finale of the Best of the West series on April 24.
The next competition for the series is the dance competition scheduled for Feb 27.
To learn more about future Best of the West series events, or other Last Minute Productions events, click here.
