Wyatt Smith
News Editor
Tonight at 7 p.m. in the Underground, Mamoudou N’Diaye ’14 will host No Requests, his third and final stand-up comedy show at the College. N’Diaye’s hour-long set will be preceded by four shorter performances by fellow student comedians Jo Turner ’14, Adam Donnelly ’14, Ryan McCormack ’14 and Michael Hatchett ’16.
The event will also have free Chipotle for some of those who arrive early, as well as t-shirts that will be raffled off and available for sale.
“I haven’t made this just a stand-up show,” said N’Diaye, “I’ve made this an entrepreneurial effort as well.” N’Diaye, has been working hard to refine his material for tonight’s performance.
“This stand-up is completely new material,” he said. “There’s maybe one or two recycled jokes, but they are ones that I didn’t use in other shows here. … I’ve been rehearsing and rewriting every day for the last two weeks.”
Three of the show’s openers — Hatchett, McCormack and Donnelly — are members of Don’t Throw Shoes, a student improv comedy group. All three have also performed stand-up on campus before as part of events like last fall’s Stand-Up Showcase and Party on the Green.
“The good thing about improv [is that] as long as you’re with people who you trust, you can just go up there and have faith that it will go well,” said McCormack. “I find stand-up a little bit more terrifying in a way.”
“It’s much more frightening to go up on stage alone,” Donnelly agreed.
Turner, however, is a newcomer to stand-up. She plans on building on her experience tonight with later gigs in her native California.
“I’ve seen her be funny in general, and I want to see her do stand-up,” commented N’Diaye.
“It’s really easy to get involved,” said Hatchett. “Myself and some other students are planning on continuing student stand-up at Wooster after Mamoudou graduates.”
According to N’Diaye, performing comedy at the College can be more difficult than at other places, because Wooster students are more likely to take offense to a joke before looking at the context.
“People take a very analytical view to stand-up here — or pretty much anything, but take a very analytical view to comedy in general,” said N’Diaye. “Which is appreciated, because it’ll help you refine your comedy to very good bits, but also it becomes a nuisance because getting that into your head sometimes limits the creative process. The goal of stand-up isn’t to be offensive, but to shine light into ugly parts of society and make fun of why it’s so dumb that these things exist.”
Over the past week, N’Diaye has met with a focus group to ensure that his jokes adhere to Wooster sensibilities. However, there is only so much he is willing to change.
“In the past, people have come forward saying ‘oh, I didn’t feel safe in that environment because you were saying a lot of things about being black and I didn’t understand it because I’m white,’” N’Diaye continued. “That’s something I can’t help because everybody has their own individual experience, and I can’t go out of my way to make them experience what I’ve gone through. I can only effectively portray my own way, because it is my story, adapted for your pleasure. This one isn’t all about race, though. I promise.”
N’Diaye is confident that No Requests will be a fitting conclusion to his stand-up career at Wooster.
“I made absolutely sure that this show is going to be a memorable one, a fun one and one that I can look back on and be really proud of,” he said.