Comedy 101

Homemade Productions presents Comedy 101, written by Mitch Hogue, and starring Mr. Hogue and his daughter Jennifer. Kim Doi directs for Homemade Productions.

Comedy 101 is set up as a college course in humor, with the audience as the students. Stodgy middle-aged professor Frank Ridins teaches an introductory college class on the principles, theory and history of comedy. On the first day of the semester, he is giving a lecture on the various aspects of the singular human expression of laughter to the assembled students (the audience). His presentation of dry academic material is continually being disrupted by the antics, jokes and irreverent behavior of his young teacher’s assistant, Miss Nomer, a master’s candidate earning credits toward her degree, who attempts to inject some humor into the proceedings. The show explores the age-old question of “What Is Laughter?” Topics explored – and demonstrated – include “The Phonetics of Laughter”, “Laughter and Intoxication”, and “Do Other Animals Laugh?”