Chaney, Powell bring laughter to campus
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.