You can almost hear the campus chuckling now...
Two sophomores have helped Dartmouth cope with trials of campus life by bringing laughter to students' doorsteps -- literally.
To Dan Powell '00 and Nathan Chaney '00 -- editors-in-chief of the Jack-O-Lantern, the student humor magazine delivered to dorm rooms every term, and members of the Dog Day Players, an improvisational comedy group -- being funny is nothing new.
The comic duo
Both Powell and Chaney seem to have their minds in overdrive -- looking for comic potential in every situation, and both say they complement each other well.
"A lot of the stuff that Nathan writes is insanely funny, the rest is just insane," Powell said.
Chaney said that Powell's editing authority is vital to the success of their work -- both on the magazine and in the improvisation group.
"Dan understands that there is a place for absurdity in reality," Chaney said.
Both cited the "Kids In The Hall," a Canadian comedy program, as the kind of humor they admired and wanted to emulate.
They said they were drawn to its daring and strange qualities and the fact that the writers don't always have to make sense with their work -- that it can be a little surreal and offbeat.
The huge success of their predecessors Phil Lord '97 and Chris Miller '97, two former Jacko writers and Dog Day Players who currently work as animators for Disney, Inc., is something that Powell and Chaney said they admire greatly.
Chaney, in particular, said that Miller was an inspiring figure, although Chaney's personal ambition, he said, is to be "the richest man in Cuba as soon as Fidel Castro dies."
Powell, on the other hand, has other goals in mind.
"Ideally, I'd like to go into film, but that's such a sketchball industry," he said.
Chaney said his work as a garbage man one summer led him to the realization that, "I am in fact nowhere near the most lewd and disgusting person I've ever met."
Dan describes himself as more of an "activist."
He claims to be president of the "Dean Goldsmith Fan club" and he cited "obsessively collecting back issues of the Dartmouth" among his hobbies.
Powell's friend Ben Oren '00 said, "Dan Powell is a scary, scary, little bastard. He definitely has a Napoleon complex. He hit me once when I corrected his grammar. He could only reach my shins, but it hurt pretty bad."
Powell, a St. Louis native, who claims he was "brought to Dartmouth by an airplane," said he has learned a few things while at the College.
"For example, I should by lots and lots of stock in NorthFace and Milwaukee's Best," he said, referring to the top clothing and beer choice of many Dartmouth students.
The Jack-O-Lantern
Powell and Chaney said they hope to shift the Jacko's comic style to incorporate more intellectual humor, although they noted that the base humor will always work.
The difficulty, however, lies between striking the balance between what readers want and what writers want.
"Not everyone -- not even on the magazine -- has the same sense of humor," Powell said. "If the Jacko was just Nathan and Dan Powell, the humor would just be really weird. As editors, we have to keep that our audience is the entire campus."
Powell said they sometimes find that the material which has been received the best is often what he thinks is "boring, bland and recycled," and added that the writer's funniest material is not always appreciated.
Outlandish measures have been taken to bring more attention to the humor magazine.
Last spring, Powell ran for president of the Student Assembly on the "Jacko ticket" to expand the magazine's "unholy regime."
His failed presidential bid only brought more laughter as he summed up his campaign: "Jack-O-Lantern for SA: because life is too short to make wise decisions."
Dog Day Players
The rapport they have together as part of Dog Day Players is essential for comic effect, Chaney said, but improvisation is demanding because "you have to really learn how to deal with screwing up."
Performing with Dog Day requires more impulsive thinking and reacting which different from written comedy as there is no immediate feedback, they said.
"You have two seconds to think of something," Powell said. "In your head, it seems really funny, but then you say it, and no ones laughs."
But they both agree -- a heckling audience is always better than a passive one.
