{"id":18966,"date":"2013-11-14T14:44:45","date_gmt":"2013-11-14T19:44:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=18966"},"modified":"2014-09-09T09:35:47","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T13:35:47","slug":"get-your-laugh-on-finding-place-and-purpose-at-u-of-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2013\/11\/14\/get-your-laugh-on-finding-place-and-purpose-at-u-of-t\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Your Laugh On (Finding Place and Purpose at U of T)"},"content":{"rendered":"<strong>In my first year<\/strong>, I went with a guy from residence and joined a sketch comedy troupe. I was really nervous and I suspect he was as well, though he never showed it. He was from Waterloo and performed on Improv teams and was starting to do standup comedy at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ein-stein.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\">Einstein<\/a>\u2019s open-mic.\r\n\r\n<strong>Anyway, we auditioned and we were cast<\/strong>, and then something <em>changed<\/em>. We were no longer just students. We became members of <strong>The Bob<\/strong>.\r\n\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_18967\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18967\" style=\"width: 851px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/353331631479221\/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18967\" alt=\"Source: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/353331631479221\/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2013\/11\/The-Bob-banner.jpg\" width=\"851\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2013\/11\/The-Bob-banner.jpg 851w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2013\/11\/The-Bob-banner-300x111.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2013\/11\/The-Bob-banner-500x185.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 851px) 100vw, 851px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-18967\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/353331631479221\/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<strong>The Bob is Canada\u2019s longest running sketch comedy revue<\/strong>, hosted by <em>Victoria College<\/em>. There have been some pretty famous people in The Bob, over the years, even including <em>Margaret Atwood<\/em>. Any student, from any college, can audition, and if comedy or theatre or writing is your passion, I\u2019d highly recommend it.\r\n\r\n<strong>It was during a casual, September 2009 stroll with my dad<\/strong>, actually, that I happened to find a poster calling for auditions. I ripped the poster right off the wall, fearing I\u2019d forget all the details otherwise. When I got back to residence I walked past my room and knocked on a door four rooms down from mine. The student who answered had shaggy brown-blonde hair and a cheeky, curious quality in his eye that gave me the idea to speak with a phony <em>British accent<\/em>.\r\n\r\n\u201cGood afternoon,\u201d I said.\r\n\r\n\u201cYes, hullo, and how may I help you?\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cI was wondering if perchance you possessed a fondness for performing comedy.\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cYes, I may have such a fondness. What of it?\u201d\r\n\r\nI showed him the poster. His eyes scanned it from top to bottom. Then he looked up at me.\r\n\r\n\u201cTonight\u2019s the last call for auditions,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt is,\u201d and I could feel a flutter in the chest.\r\n\r\nHe looked me straight dead in the face and said, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.utrend.tv\/v\/1-one-chance\/\" target=\"_blank\">Let\u2019s do it!<\/a>\u201d\r\n\r\n<strong>We barely knew each other that first night.<\/strong> But at the audition something clicked and it seemed we\u2019d been joking around together for a long time. Maybe it was a shared comedic sense, or maybe it was that we had both eaten the same meal-plan lasagna for dinner, but I like to think it was the realization that we had both just made our first real friend at university.\r\n\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_18968\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18968\" style=\"width: 550px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gif-central.blogspot.ca\/2013\/05\/sorry-i-annoyed-you-with-my-friendship.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18968\" alt=\"Source: http:\/\/gif-central.blogspot.ca\/2013\/05\/sorry-i-annoyed-you-with-my-friendship.html\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2013\/11\/annoyed-you-with-my-friendship.gif\" width=\"550\" height=\"310\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-18968\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: http:\/\/gif-central.blogspot.ca\/2013\/05\/sorry-i-annoyed-you-with-my-friendship.html<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<strong>After that we were a regular duo.<\/strong> We wrote sketches together, went to shows and open-mics together, met different people, we were even the MC\u2019s for the New College Mosaic. It was a much needed, and much appreciated, support-system for first year, though it never exactly seemed that way.\r\n\r\n<strong>It was merely being a part of something.<\/strong> We were Bob'ers. We were friends. The name or size of the association was irrelevant, as long as it gave us a sense of place and purpose. U of T is really big, it offers a lot of options, finding something that speaks to you is, well, priceless.\r\n\r\n<figure id=\"attachment_18969\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18969\" style=\"width: 390px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/myerasmus.tumblr.com\/page\/3\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18969\" alt=\"Source: http:\/\/myerasmus.tumblr.com\/page\/3\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2013\/11\/tumblr_mgocjqoB4M1s2xmmmo1_400.gif\" width=\"390\" height=\"291\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-18969\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: http:\/\/myerasmus.tumblr.com\/page\/3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<strong>I know it was my friend's encouragement and enthusiasm<\/strong> that allowed me to audition for The Bob in the first place. And I\u2019m much indebted because it led to a crazy-fun comedy ride throughout my second and third years. Not to mention a really <em>great friendship<\/em>.\r\n\r\n<strong>Now, the time has come for The Bob to grace the stage again.<\/strong> The show is 7:30pm November 14, 15, and 16 at the Isabel Bader Theatre at Victoria College. I\u2019ll be watching from the front row this year. But it gives me great pleasure that my friend, who inspired me to act, to be bold (and silly), is one of this year\u2019s co-directors. Congrats, man!\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>'Til next time, U of T, stay diamond!<\/strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n-Stephen","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nIn my first year, I went with a guy from residence and joined a sketch comedy troupe. I was really nervous and I suspect he was as well, though he never showed it. He was from Waterloo and performed on&hellip;\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2013\/11\/14\/get-your-laugh-on-finding-place-and-purpose-at-u-of-t\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Get Your Laugh On (Finding Place and Purpose at U of T)&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2013\/11\/14\/get-your-laugh-on-finding-place-and-purpose-at-u-of-t\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Get Your Laugh On (Finding Place and Purpose at U of T)&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1758,63,7204,7206,6669,59,62,65,1,70,69,58,66,82,67,68,77],"tags":[86,12303,135,2115,12300,475,152,25508,12302,6690,12301,12299,12298],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18966"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18971,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18966\/revisions\/18971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}