On Wednesday, March 9th, BDP held an open mic night. This is where UW-Stout students get the chance to show off their talents in front of their fellow peers. Stoutonia was able to talk with some of the performers. One of those performers was Cormac Duff, a sophomore who has performed at previous open mic nights, where he does his stand-up routines.

Cormac Duff performing his stand-up routine

 “I don’t have any other options to explore stand-up, which is why I enjoy performing at the open mic nights,” said Duff. Duff continued, “The first time I came I just wanted to dip my toes in the water.” Duff explained his beginnings in doing stand-up, “I did some comedy in high school during the Spring Band Concert when the bands were transitioning on and off stage.” 

Lastly Duff stated, “I usually talk about scenarios from my own life and frame it as a story. With that, I found stand-up to be reactive to an audience that helps me gauge what jokes I should keep and which ones I shouldn’t.” 

Elana and Sarah singing “No Reason” from the musical “Beetlejuice”

The next performer was freshmen Elana and Sarah singing the song “No Reason” from the musical “Beetlejuice”. Sarah describes why they signed up: 

“We were kind of just hanging out. We were listening to my playlist. We were joking around and then we just decided to do it since we both know the words to the song (“No Reason”). College memories you know.” Sarah claimed, “We are just doing this for fun. Not for glory and anything,” when Elana chimed in, “No this is for glory.” Both laughed and Elana said, “I’m nervous about performing. I get anxiety from public speaking, but we feed off of each other’s chaotic energy which helps me get over my anxiety.”

Matthew with his friends performing “Rattlin’ Bog” by “Irish Descendants”

The last performer was Matthew, a senior who performed along with his friends the song “Rattlin’ Bog” by “Irish Descendants”. This was Matthew’s 5th open mic, but this was his first time performing. 

“It’s my friend’s birthday today, so we all came here to have a good time,” Matthew claimed. “It’s a song we all know and sing when we’re partying together,” Matthew exorbitated. Matthew remarked, “Performing in a big group takes care of the stage fright, especially when coercing my friend into doing it.” Matthew lastly noted, “We came here to mess around.”

BDP will be having another open mic night on Thursday, April 21st.

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