Homecoming Comedy Show 2012: How It All Happens

Eliana Geller
Comedy Director
seecomedy@umd.edu

A new semester means so many different things to different people.  To some it can be the excitement or dread of a sparklingly new course load.  To others it can be the annoyance of having to live in yet another dorm room without air-conditioning.  But to the directors of SEE, it means gearing up for a new year of programming and planning.  While other SEE directors were working on awesome events such as Bo Burnham’s show, a PlayStation Tour, the Back-to-School Slam and a showing of The Hunger Games on McKeldin Mall, I was planning an event that would hopefully put nearly 7000 Terps into laughing hysterics.  That event was the Homecoming Comedy Show, SEE’s largest event of the fall semester.  

My first move in preparing for the show was contacting talent agencies to research comedians that would be in our price range. These comedians also had to be interested and available to perform at UMD.  (This is one of my favorite parts of the planning because agents often divulge a detail or two about some of the comedians).  Based on the information the agents gave me, I put together questions for the Art Attack survey, which reaches more students than any other survey we put out during the year.  When the results came in, Craig Robinson turned out to be #1 in the eyes of the UMD student body.  And so, I pursued him to headline the Homecoming Comedy Show (HCS).  Craig has a huge following among UMD students because of his roles in NBC’s The Office, and the movies Pineapple Express and Hot Tub Time Machine.  He puts a new spin on stand-up comedy since he performs while sitting at a keyboard, often accompanied by a band.  I think he’s a great choice for the show!

Generally, for HCS, the Comedy Director will choose one headliner and one opener to perform.  I chose Michael Ian Black as an opener because firstly, he is hilarious and secondly, I thought his stand-up would bring a different element to the show.  Michael Ian Black has performed at numerous universities and is especially popular among 90s kids who’ve watched him on the I Love the 90s series on VH1.  I thought he would be a perfect fit for UMD.  When I was talking to Craig’s agent, he suggested I add a comedian to the line-up to host the show.  This is a common practice in comedy clubs.  This person works as a transition between the acts with a few jokes in order to make the show flow better.  I really liked that idea and thought it would bring a new dimension to the Homecoming Comedy Show so I looked into Jermaine Fowler, an up and coming 24-year-old comedian from DC who is incredibly funny. 

After the line-up was decided, it was a matter of organizing the production and the promotion of the show.  SEE’s production and promotion teams have this down to a science.  I am so amazed at what this group of students is capable of – whether it is renting a stage and organizing people to build it, or sending out press releases to local newspapers.  Without them, no SEE event could ever occur.  Now that we’ve released the event, we must Promote! Promote! Promote! to get the word out to students and non-students alike.  Look for us near Stamp, we’ll be the ones in front with a giant floor piano!  

SEE is so excited for the Homecoming Comedy Show and we hope you are too! See you at Cole Fieldhouse this Thursday!

Tickets are available at www.umdtickets.com.

From survey to show: The road to the Homecoming Comedy Show 2011

Eric Feldman
Comedy Director
seecomedy@umd.edu

Your likely experience of the show:

September 14: You find out that Aziz Ansari is coming to UMD.  You get really, really excited and tell all of your friends.

September 16: You wait at your computer for the clock to turn to midnight. Tickets go on sale and you finally get those floor seats that you’ve been dreaming of.

October 13: You show up at around 6 p.m. to get in line for doors to open.  Eventually you find your way into Cole and find some open seats, take our survey, and wait for the show to start.  Finally, the lights dim, the show is introduced, and then you laugh hysterically to Max Silvestri and Aziz Ansari for two hours.  At around 9:45 p.m. you leave to go study for that organic chemistry test the next day and/or go out to Cornerstone, or your favorite bar of choice. 

Our experience of the show:

February: I begin to think about potential performers for the show.  In mid-February, I attend a conference in St. Louis, in which I meet with many agents (including Aziz Ansari’s agent).  Aziz’s agent claims “Aziz would kill it at Maryland.”  It sounded fairly biased but I keep it in mind anyway.

March: We send out a survey on Facebook and get hundreds of responses.  Aziz Ansari and Seth Meyers top the survey, so it is decided that I will be pursuing one of them. 

April: Seth Meyers is not available on the day reserved for the Homecoming Comedy Show; therefore, Aziz has become my target.  I begin learning about his price and availability from his agent. It turns out that he is within our range.  I then propose the event, with Aziz headlining, to the SEE Executive Board and it is approved.  After receiving approval, I send a “bid” to Aziz’s agent, which is an offer to have him perform on a certain day for a certain price.  They have a week to respond. 

           

After about a week we still have no response.  We discover from the agent that his price is more than they originally had told us, due to his TV and movie career possibilities. We begin to panic a bit, as we currently do not have the extra money and we do not know where we are going to find it. 

May: Somehow, miraculously (through several co-sponsorship transformations), we obtain the money necessary to obtain Aziz and I then re-propose the event to the SEE Executive Board.  The event needed to be re-proposed because of change in price. The event is once again approved, so I once again send out a new bid to Aziz’s agency.  The bid is sent out on Thursday, May 26, and just like last time, they have a week to respond. 

           

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday all pass by with no response from Aziz’s agency.  On Thursday morning, the day of the deadline, we get a message from his agent saying, “I am doing all I can do get this done today.  Hold tight.”  I am a nervous wreck all day during my internship. I leave work at around 3:30 p.m. and still have not heard back from them.  Finally, at 4:18 p.m., less than an hour before the deadline, the agent notifies me that they are able to accept the bid and the show will happen.  I begin to yell out in joy and get some strange looks from people.  

June/July/August: Over the summer, we work out contracts, eventually getting them signed and completed in late July after a lot of back and forth.  The show is now official.  I also work with the SEE Promotions Team to determine our marketing strategy for this event and work with the SEE Tech Director and Production Team to work out production requirements.

September: We plan to release the Homecoming Comedy Show on the first day of the First Look Fair, at 10 a.m.  We prepare by printing 2,000 handbills. 

           

Once the clock reaches 10 a.m., we all go crazy, yelling Aziz’s name throughout the entire Mall and handing out handbills.  The 2,000 handbills, which were supposed to last both days of the fair, have all been handed out within the first three hours of the fair.  Needless to say people are excited.

           

We plan to release tickets that Friday at midnight.  In the first day of sales, over 3,000 tickets have been sold; we are shocked.  These are the highest first-day numbers that SEE had ever seen for an event. 

October: We continue to track ticket sales.  Hundreds are selling each day.  DC101 promotes the show the week before, which helps us sell more non-student tickets. 

           

We also hold a production meeting with the Police, the Fire Marshal, staff from Cole Field House and SEE’s Production Team to determine stage set-up, the maximum capacity of the event, evacuation plans, entry plans and more.  The show is now becoming a reality.

           

October 13, Day of Show:

7:00 a.m. – We arrive at Cole to begin setting up the stage, sound and lights for the show. 

3:00 p.m. – The stage, sound and lights are complete. 

5:00 p.m. – Before doors open, the SEE Security Team is trained and prepares for the show. Also, we have our weekly SEE Executive Board meeting backstage. 

6:20 p.m. – Doors open and the 8,200 empty seats begin to fill. 

7:00 p.m. – Aziz Ansari arrives along with his tour manager.  I am occupied with this, while the Production Team is occupied with the tornado warning, which was a bit of an unexpected challenge. 

7:50 p.m. – Max Silvsestri arrives.  I then find out that I, rather than Aziz, will be introducing the opener, so I meet with Max to plan what to say. 

8:07 p.m. – The lights dim, I go on stage to introduce the show, and then welcome Max Silvestri. 

8:12 p.m. – I’m running around backstage to address minor details to prepare for Aziz while Max performs. 

8:45 p.m. – The moment everyone has been waiting for.  Aziz Ansari takes the stage, performing for about an hour.  While everyone else is getting satisfaction from the comedian, I am looking the other way, pleased to see 8,200 plus people having a great time because of SEE’s hard work. 

9:45 p.m. – Aziz ends his set and comes off stage.  The audience empties, and we go backstage to hold our meet and greet with Aziz.  We then begin taking down the stage, sound and lights.

1:30 a.m. – We finish breaking down the stage and lighting, and Cole once again looks like a soccer field. 

1:45 a.m. – Sleep.  

Behind the Scenes of the SEE Homecoming Comedy Show

Laura Yannai
Venue Director
seevenue@umd.edu

As most (or hopefully all) of you know, Thursday October 13^th will mark SEE’s annual Homecoming Comedy Show in Cole Fieldhouse. Each year SEE strives to put on a great show featuring a comedian at the top of their field, and this year, with Aziz Ansari as our headliner, will be no different. We are so excited about having Aziz come to our campus and we hope you are too! We have been working very hard to make this show a success and if you’ve ever wondered what goes on behind-the-scenes of a SEE event, here is your chance to find out.

The Homecoming Comedy Show is SEE’s first all-hands-on-deck event of the school year. This means that on the day of the show every SEE Director, as well as members of our Tech and Security Teams, will be working from the minute the sun comes up until way after the sun goes down to make sure the show runs smoothly. We build the stage, set up lights and sound equipment, make sure the chairs on the floor are set up properly, set up green rooms and much more. Once the show is over, we take apart everything we worked so hard to put together! It is a day long—and sometimes exhausting—process, but it’s all worth it when we hear the audience screaming with laughter and cheering for our comedian.

As SEE’s Venue Director I am a member of the SEE Production Team, which consists of the Venue, Tech, Security and Hospitality Directors. Once a programmer books an event and our Promotions Team figures out how best to advertise it to the UMD campus, the job of the Production Team is to physically put it together. Whether it is ordering sound equipment for the stage or figuring out where to position Security Team members around the venue, we like to get our hands dirty and take pride in seeing the physical manifestations of our work. A few weeks ago we held an official Homecoming Comedy Show production meeting. Our advisors, the SEE Comedy Director and contacts from the Fire Marshal’s office, UMD Police, Campus Recreation Services and Facilities Management were all in attendance at this meeting. We discussed the production of the show at length, coordinating various details such as the set-up of the chairs on the floor, the position and set-up of the stage and the rooms that would be used as green rooms for Aziz. Even small details such as the number of ambulances that will be present at the event (following regulations set forth by the Fire Marshal’s office) had to be discussed. Any questions, concerns or anticipated problems were discussed to ensure that no details of the event were overlooked.

I have been making preparations for the Homecoming Comedy Show ever since April when I reserved Cole as our venue. Over the past few weeks I have been planning for the event along with my fellow Production Team members as well as with my contacts throughout various campus departments. I have been filling out Facilities Request forms to request tables, chairs and other items for the event and coordinating green rooms and green room set ups for Aziz. I have also been working with DOTS to reserve parking permits. At an all-hands-on-deck event, we accommodate many vehicles on campus, whether it is an 18-wheeler for our tech company or a personal car for our artist. I obtain parking permits from DOTS to make sure everyone has a place to park.  More importantly, I have been making sure that everything will be set up and delivered on time so we are not scrambling to set anything up at the last minute!

Overall, SEE’s Homecoming Comedy Show is a great example of what we do best, which is to bring you the entertainment that you want to see the way you deserve to see it. I hope you enjoy the show!