On Monday, Oct 1, local comedian Chase Bryan is presenting a stand-up comedy event hosted at The Basement. The performance will be held at 9 p.m. and cost $7 at the door.
Featuring routines from three of Rexburg’s most ambitious comedians — Chase Bryan, Tanner Garcia and Davis Rice — the night is sure to be full of smiles and laughter.
“There are so many more comedians in Rexburg but we wanted to give these performers a chance to have a longer set,” Bryan says. “There are probably 20 local comedians I could name off the top of my head that are just hilarious.”
This isn’t the first time Bryan has organized comedy events. Already this year he’s hosted two — one at The Basement and another at The Cave, a recording studio and rehearsal space beneath Mike’s Music.
“They told me we were the first comedy show to sell out on a Monday night, ever,” Bryan says. “We had 50 chairs and it was standing room so it felt really good to have the support from the community.”
In addition to the show tonight, Bryan hopes to present at least one more Rexburg comedy event this semester at The Basement.
“The demand for comedy in Rexburg is higher than I thought it would be,” Bryan says. “People come just for a show. I think it’s less of, ‘We need stand-up comedy,’ and more just people needing stuff to do.”
Bryan says he hopes to improve the public opinion of stand-up comedy in Rexburg, but really he just wants to get people to laugh.
“Maybe someone went to a comedy show and they didn’t really like it, so now they feel like everything is going to suck,” Bryan says. “I’m really trying to break down those walls. The goal with these shows is to practice and get better. I would love it if we had a show and someone asked, ‘When is the next show? What are you working on next?’ and then follow up with, ‘How can I get involved?'”
Although the event is off-campus, Bryan says he still wants to maintain a family-friendly level of comedy.
“It is an off-campus event,” Bryan says. “The reason I like that is not that I can say all my poop jokes, but I like that people don’t come with all their swords and daggers. It’s still pretty clean and I vet anything that comes through a show of mine because I want to maintain a certain consistency. I want people to know what to expect and hopefully all that changes is we’re funnier each time around.”
Bryan says people who are interested in attending the event will experience healthy laughs and good comedy.
“I think people can expect… about an hour,” Bryan says jokingly. “But no, jokes that we’ve worked on for years. We want people to know we’re coming with our A-game and we want people to bring their laugh-game. Sometimes people don’t know how to laugh. The caliber of comedy will surprise people.”
As one of the comedians on the roster, Bryan has been performing for a few years. Only recently he decided to really give comedy his best shot.
“It’s just fun,” Bryan says. “I got into it through improv in high school. I think the real decision was just thinking about down the road working a 9-5 and regretting not trying stand-up. You just never know what can happen.”
When asked about his favorite part of performing, his answer was both creative and comical.
“The best thing about doing stand-up is the roller-coaster,” Bryan says. “That’s where you tell a joke and it doesn’t go over well. But you pause, let them think for a second and then people go, ‘Oh I get it!’ And when those people laugh, that tells other people it’s okay to laugh and then the other people who still aren’t laughing — because they really don’t get it — just laugh because that’s what everyone else is doing. It’s amazing and I kind of live for that. That’s my favorite part.”
Be sure to follow The Basement for future comedy events and let us know in the comments what your favorite jokes were from tonight. We’d love to hear them!