1. Last Bronco Standing
Sean R. Montera
Bernie’s After Hours Comedy Club presents the final round of the Last Bronco Standing
competition this Thursday, March 15 at the Dalton Center Auditorium. This final round in the
competition will begin at 8 p.m. and feature three remaining WMU students who have survived
the previous rounds.
Matt Lauria, Darnell Anderson, and Trevor Jacob Smith will each have 15 minutes to
strut their stuff in front of the audience and a panel of five judges to capture the title of Last
Bronco Standing.
“It’s going to resemble almost a perfect night at a regular comedy club, only its gona
feature Western students.” said Andre Harris, the coordinator for Bernie’s After Hours which is
in charge of the show. Harris is responsible for planning and maintaining the various events for
Bernie’s.
According to Harris, the panel of five judges will include the Campus Activity Board
GA, as well as Matt Ephraim, who originally created the competition. Judges will be looking at
each comedian’s stage presence, comedic value, and originality. In other words, how funny they
are, and how well they can get the audience to respond to their act.
Harris said audience participation will be taken into account when the judges make their
final decision, though it hasn’t yet been decided if the audience will determine the winner.
Harris said the competition didn’t want just one person with a group of friends to push the
judge’s decision, but their reactions will hold some sway.
The first round of this competition took place February 6 when eleven hopefuls were
whittled down to five. The second round brought them before the CAB general assembly
February 26 where their number was reduced to the final three contestants.
Anderson, a junior, competed in last year’s competition advancing to the second round
before he was eliminated.
“I feel like I’m more prepared,” said Anderson. “I ran out of jokes last year, still got
people to laugh, but I’m a lot more prepared this year.”
Anderson trained for the competition this year by participating in open mike nights at
bars and coffee shops such as Ravenwood. He attributes his stage presence to his experience in
drama and theater.
“I’ve read a lot of books and stuff,” said Anderson. “Got that knowledge with me too.”
Lauria, also a junior, decided to join up to test his own comedy. Last year he had seen
the fliers for the final round and had been interested ever since.

2. “I went to the finals and thought not only could I do this but maybe I can win it,” said
Lauria.
Lauria actually snuck into the auditions this year and signed up on the spot.
“It took enough courage and some public speaking classes to get to do it,” said Lauria,
who has always wanted to try stand up.
Smith’s comedy experience began in high school where he took an improve class. When
he saw the flier for this year’s competition he decided to join.
“I had a lot of friends that told me, ‘hey you should do this,’” said Smith.
“To be honest haven’t been thinking about winning,” said Smith. “We put together a
great show; if I win I think that’s great. I think I can win. It’s just a fun opportunity.”
“I don’t fell it’s a competition,” said Anderson. “We’re just putting on a great show,
main thing is to go out and have fun.”