There’s no such thing as too much comedy

The world is not a funny enough place, said Union Board comedy director Anne Kostyo. To remedy this, Union Board will bring together several local and visiting comedy troupes for its annual IU Campus Comedy Festival this weekend. \nThe festival will make its third annual showing this weekend in the Whittenberger Auditorium, starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. After the troupes perform, audiences can see “The Darjeeling Limited,” starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman. The event is free and open to the public.\nAwkward Silence Comedy founder Brian M. Frange will host Friday evening’s short student-comedy shows. In addition to IU groups Trickle Down Effect, HoosOnFirst and All Sorts of Trouble for the Boy in the Bubble, Purdue’s “The Crazy Monkeys” will also perform. \n“The student troupes get to come together and perform side-by-side ... You get this really eclectic mix,” Kostyo said, adding that with the differences in geography come differences in styles. Kostyo said the players learn a lot from observing other troupes’ techniques.\nFour IU students – senior Pat Rogers, junior Dave Klein, senior Tim Cannon and senior Jamel Dotson – will each perform a seven-minute stand-up sets. \nComedy Caravan headliner Ward Anderson will perform before Friday night’s showing of “The Darjeeling Limited.”\nThe movie is a comedy about the estranged Whitman brothers (Wilson, Brody and Schwartzman) who go on a trip across India to try to reconnect with each other, but due to events involving pain killers, Indian cough syrup and pepper spray, end up stranded in the middle of the desert with 11 suitcases, a printer and a laminating machine.\nGraduate student Brett Goldman will host Saturday’s show. From the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “Fishing with Dynamite” will perform, followed by the University of Chicago’s “Off-off Campus” and IU’s own Full Frontal Comedy and Awkward Silence Comedy troupes.\nAfter the student shows, The BEATBOX Touring Co. will perform. The group is also a teaching company and comes to IU from the Dirty South Improv Comedy Theatre out of North Carolina.\nJust in case the audience isn’t feeling involved enough, Full Frontal’s P. Alex Dodge will lead a comedy jam, in which all performers and audience members are invited to participate. Union Board will end the evening with the week’s final showing of “The Darjeeling Limited.”