I Freshmanjohn Michael Cronin stepped up to the microphone at the Loony Bin Comedy Club in Little Rock, Ark. He began crackingjokes, and the audience roared with laughter. Cronin served as comedian and host for this year's Five-Minute Film Festival at Harding. He had been interested in comedy from an early age, regularly participating in open-mic night at the Loony Bin, which allowed amateurs to take a shot at performing in front of an audience every Wednesday night. "I was always a fan of comedy, standup in particular," Cronin said. "I started writing things I thought were funny and ended up going on stage." Freshman Micah Bartz said Cronin's natural talent for comedy radiated on the stage. "When he is onstage, he just shines," Bartz said. "I don't see him as my friend when he's up there; I see him as this really good comedian." Cronin had had several interesting experiences while performing in comedy. "There was one [event] when I lived injacksonville, Fla.," Cronin said. "It turned out [tl1ere was] a guy who had died recently, and most of the people there were celebrating this guy's life. No one was really in ilie mood for all of us doing - . Q 1~ .. , .. ~~ .. . ; . ~ i ,.>: ~I \,1 •••••••• 'lia&i-~~ ltAA~kit\~ matter standup, so it was kind of quiet." Cronin strove to keep his comedy act clean, reflecting a Christian attitude and using iliis as an example to all sorts of people.Junior Tal Gerald said that Cronin stood out from the other guys because of his clean comedy act. "If you're making dirty jokes, it's just a small percentage of the crowd that enjoys it," Gerald said. "If you do clean jokes, you appeal to all ages and all genders. He stayed with tl1e clean act and got more laughs out of it than the other guys up tl1ere who were just talking dirty." Although Cronin did not foresee himself pursuing a career in comedy, it was a hobby he planned to keep practicing as long as possible. "I would love to keep doing it, but once I get a real job, it's unlikely that I will be able to keep doing it as much as I am now," Cronin said. According to Gerald, there something about Cronin's genuine personality he displayed through his comedy that was irreplaceable in their friendship. "I was really impressed with him," Gerald said. "He actually mentioned that he was a Christian in front of the entire crowd, and it takes guts to do that." Ashley Rosenbaum Sarah Baxter Kinsey Beck Stephen Beck MandyBetz Alissa Biggers Moriah Blankenship Jessica Blevins Hannah Blue Jonathan Boyd Rachel Brannon Dalton Braziel Patrick Brimberry Abby Browning Bethany Bryant Christopher Burchett People .ua a • 7-5
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