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Farce Side Comedy Hour (aka Farce Side) is a sketch comedy show that performs weekly at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. Created in 1985, the group celebrated its 20th Anniversary on October 24, 2005 with a reunion show, in which current cast members and alumni alike shared the stage. The troupe will celebrate their 30th Anniversary during the Fall 2015 semester. Former cast members have gone on to post-university success in writing, performing, and production work for movies, the stage, syndicated comics, and television. Troupe alumni have won and been nominated multiple times for Emmy awards and Writers Guild of America Awards. The group performs every Friday at 8:00pm on the Union Stage in ASU's Memorial Union Programming Lounge during the school year. The troupe is one of the few sketch groups in the country to perform weekly original shows. ==History== In 1985, University of Arizona student and former U of A Comedy Corner member Michael Sterner moved to Tempe and started a weekly sketch comedy show at ASU. This new troupe also called itself ''Comedy Corner'', and it performed to passing students in a Memorial Union study lounge each Friday. The show consisted of one half hour of original sketch comedy (much of it written by Sterner during his stint at U of A) followed by a half hour of stand-up comedy, performed by local or touring comics, or most often by Sterner himself. The stand-up gig paid $50. Although the show had a small and loyal following, the uncensored content was offensive to some students, and MUAB (Memorial Union Activities Board) ordered the group to move its show from the large public area to smaller meeting rooms or be shut down. Audience attendance dropped below 10 for many shows. MUAB, in early 1986, allowed the show to move to the Union Cinema, where it had access to a makeshift stage, a sound system, and dedicated audience seating. Also around this time, the group voted to change the show's name to a more collegiate-sounding ''Comedy 101'', which also distanced it from the U of A show. The troupe advertised the show heavily and it increased in popularity significantly throughout the year, ending with a "Best Of" performance for an audience of about 150. Not realizing that ads for ''Comedy 101'' referred to a show, some students requested ASU for the line number to register for the "course". During a brainstorm session in early 1987, the group unanimously approved the name Farce Side, suggested by member Jeff Smallidge. MUAB then created a fully budgeted Comedy Committee to fund and oversee the troupe and other comedy projects. ASU built the current home of the Farce Side Comedy Hour, Union Stage, in 1991. The show continued to grow in popularity until weekly audiences of 200-250 were common, and "Best Of" shows at the end of each semester would tally crowds of 400 or more. By fall of 1993, the show would often drop the stand-up segment and perform an entire hour of sketch comedy. The group began using the title "Farce Side Comedy Hour". Occasionally some improvisation was scheduled into the show, which was originally substituted for a missing standup performer. The show moved to an all-sketch format in the 1994 fall semester, when it also spun off the Barren Mind improvisational comedy troupe. Barren Mind received and still holds its own hour-long performance slot on Thursdays at noon. Members commonly belong to both casts. Starting in the late 2000's, a third branch of ASU Comedy, Stand Up vs. the World, was formed and focuses on local stand up comedians, including members of Farce Side and Barren Mind. They now perform after Farce Side Comedy Hour every Friday at 9:00pm. Once a month, the ASU Comedy "trifecta" performs a showcase featuring all three troupes. Starting in the 2013 Fall semester, the three troupes perform together for one night a semester at Tempe Improv to a full audience. Due to ASU student programming changes, Farce Side and Barren Mind lost their funding at the end of the spring 2000 semester. Since then, the troupes have carried on as sponsored student clubs, retaining the privilege of playing at the Memorial Union Programming Lounge. Long criticized as a "boys' club," the 1994 cast of TFSCH broke the proverbial glass ceiling with breakthrough female performers, including Kim North, Christina Vail, Dana Millican, Andrea Van Bemmel, Kathy Collins, and Wendy Lucas, the show's second female director after Cerise Wilson who directed the group in 1986. 1994 also boasted its most mature cast, with performers in their late 20's and early 30's. A handful of events throughout the history of the troupes have threatened ASU's tolerance of them. Incidents involving profanity, smoking, alcohol use, illegal stunts, and nudity have resulted in corrective actions, suspensions of shows, and a required posted public warning regarding the shows' content. The Farce Side Comedy Hour holds auditions at the beginning of each semester, is open to all active Arizona State University Students. The show draws weekly audiences of over 200 fans. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Farce Side Comedy Hour」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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