Benjamin Mohr-
Noah Gardenswartz, an act coming to campus late this March, didn’t start off as a comedian. He was what you could call a “late bloomer.” Instead, Gardenswartz stumbled into his passion for jokes without the intent to hit it big.
With respect to his current accomplishments, he concedes that when he first started, his desire was not necessarily to be a stand-up comedian.
“Comedy really started for me wanting to get into writing,” Gardenswartz stated. “I’ve always enjoyed creative writing, so when I was a senior in college, I started writing some jokes, with no real intention of getting into comedy, and brought them to an open mic just to see how they would do. I ended up loving it so much that I kept on trying it and it kind of ended up working out.”
Now, he is currently a writer for truTV’s “Comedy Knockout” and performs his comedy routine all over the country.
“Thankfully my career is in a good place, such that the obstacles that I currently face aren’t so much about finding opportunities as the personal obstacles that I put on myself . . . to always come up with more, newer, better material,” said Gardenswartz.
Gardenswartz’s first open mic was in 2005, and understandably his routine has changed much in his eleven-plus years as a comedian. For his broad, subject-transcendent body of work, Noah claims that much of his material is inspired by his everyday life.
“Very rarely does a joke just form in my head,” Gardenswartz said. “Mostly my material is based on something that I find interesting or unique. Once I find something that interests me, I then take the time to decide what’s funny about it.”
The road has not always been an easy one for Gardenswartz, and he has had to overcome many obstacles before becoming the comedian he is today.
For aspiring comedians, and all performers for that matter, he offers the advice to “just get on stage as much as possible, and just keep writing, writing, writing . . . Performing isn’t one of those jobs that someone can teach you how to do—the only way you can make it as a performer is to find out what works for you, to keep getting on stage and trying things out.”
Noah Gardenswartz will be performing on campus on March 28 at 8 p.m. in the Great Hall.