Brew Co. hosts stand up comedy show

Madihah Abri

Laughter erupted through the brick walls of Brew Co. in downtown Bowling Green on Wednesday. 

Brew Co. has been holding a stand up comedy night every other Wednesday for the public to attend.

The original trio consists of Nick Benson, 24, from Franklin, Tennessee, graduate from WKU, Michael Hall, 27, from Los Angeles, California, student at WKU and CJ Buford, who was unable to make the event. 

“I’ve been doing comedy for six years. I always wanted to try it and decided to go for it one day and have liked it ever since,” Benson said. 

Benson received support from friends and family and performs in places such as, Bowling Green, Louisville, Nashville and Los Angeles. Benson works at a local juice store, but plans to make a career in writing comedy. 

“It shouldn’t matter what your circumstances are always pursue what you want to do, but if you suck at it you probably shouldn’t though,” Benson said. 

Greg Scholla, 25 is a musician and part-time host/M.C of the comedy night. He became a fan of Benson after watching his performance multiple times. 

“I think he (Benson) is the best. He has the most material and really tries to appeal to the crowd,” Scholla said. 

Hall, the other member of the original trio, performed after Benson with his material consisting of snippets into his life. Hall has been a stand up comedian for two years, and is pursuing a degree in Broadcast Journalism as a fall-back. 

“I used to love film, and I love telling stories. To me telling stories through a joke is like the same as film, the only difference is the audience reaction is quicker in person with a joke, and in film it can take months to get a reaction,” Hall said.  

Hall has formed his own methods of comedy through a series of events that have occurred in his life. 

“I carry this joke book, and the way it started was because my ex and I broke up and I had called it on how it would happen, and it did. So I made fun of the way it happened, and my friends said to write it down so I started to do that and began to fill up books with jokes,” Hall said. 

Hall finds his joke book to be a progressive step forward in building his career as a stand up comedian. 

“That’s why people in Hollywood are so funny and good because they always take notes. I always carry my books and when I see something I write it down,” Hall said. 

Participating in comedy shows is the best way to share the art of comedy, Hall said. 

“Comedy is the best art form to tells stories it’s raw and completely honest it’s like music or movies, you just have to be funny,” Hall said.

The stand up comedy show was not just for previous comedians it also opened up doors to some fresh, new faces. 

Clinton sophomore Allie Thomas was one of the new comedians and participated to get a sense of the comedy scene. 

“I’ve loved comedy my whole life, that’s what I want to do, so why not start now,” Thomas said. 

Thomas is a theater major at WKU and performed at Brew Co. as her first stand up using material from her previous experiences working at a Dairy Queen in Mayfield. 

“It felt awesome, like an adrenaline rush. I was expecting to bomb and not get any laughs, I think I did pretty good for my first time. I’m happy with it and i’ll definitely look for more opportunities to do it again,” Thomas said.

Somerset graduate Kiefer Adkins was another new face to hop on stage at Brew. Co. 

“I was really nervous at first, but I’m an actor so I just got up there,” Adkins said. 

Adkins recently moved back to Bowling Green after living in New York City for the past eight months. Adkins seemed to enjoy the atmosphere of a local town and knowing people want to come out to events similar to the one he performed at. 

“It felt like one long monologue, and it makes you feel positive. It feels like you’ve done something worthy and I am definitely going to continue with it (stand up), I plan to perform at Tidballs soon,” Adkins said. 

Bowling Green resident Curtis Marshman, 30, came to watch the show in support of Hall but also to get out in the community. 

“I’ve been in town for about a week, but I’ve known Michael for sometime. I think the performances were all equally cool, although there were a lot of butt jokes,” Marshman said.