HCC To Hold Charity Comedy Show

Instead of bouncing to the rhymes of Wyclef Jean this fall, the first Harvard Concert Commission (HCC)-sponsored show of the year will feature seven comedians in front of a microphone, cracking the audience up for charity.

The HCC will combine with the Earthquake Relief Coalition, which is comprised of 34 student cultural and public service groups, to host “Comedy for a Cause” on December 10 in Sanders Theatre. The show, which will feature seven 15-to-20 minute comedy acts, will mark a lot of firsts—the first HCC event of the school year, the first HCC has ever hosted for charity, and the first collaboration with the Earthquake Relief Coalition.

According to Director of the HCC Jack P. McCambridge ’06, less than 20 percent of the proceeds will go to the production costs of the show—sound, lighting, hospitality, and personnel services. The rest will go directly to the Edhi Foundation, a Pakistani emergency service organization, jointly chosen as the beneficiary by the Earthquake Relief Coalition and HCC.

The HCC has been planning this comedy show since late August, but decided to team up with groups interested in earthquake relief in October, before the Wyclef Jean concert failed to materialize.

“This isn’t in response to Wyclef,” said Tyler O’Brien ’07, who is director of corporate relations on the HCC.

McCambridge said that while the HCC is great at producing shows, the organization needed student groups with the knowledge and ability to communicate the facts and needs of the earthquake victims.

“The constitution of the UC vests us with the responsibility of bringing national acts to campus,” said McCambridge. “Harvard is underexposed to comedy, and [this show’s] like the Perfect Storm in a good way.”

“The greatest thing about this comedy benefit is that it’ll be the final event in a long series of events—our vigil, our banquet, a trendy arts show on the 4th,” said Owais Siddiqui ’07, director of the Earthquake Relief Coalition. “It’ll be the final last push for Harvard to make money for the effort.”

As to the potential tension of hosting a comedy show to benefit victims of a serious tragedy, the HCC members see this as part of the show’s attraction.

“This is not about laughing at the situation—it’s comedy for a good cause,” said Samantha H. Fink ’07, the vice chair of production for the HCC.

The Earthquake Relief Coalition will also make a presentation during the show about the situation in areas affected by the earthquake and how students can provide further help.

According to Zak Tanjeloff ’08, the director of development on the HCC, the HCC and Earthquake Relief Coalition are waiting to hear back from the President’s office about possibly matching the funds raised by the event. Earlier in November, University President Lawrence H. Summers promised University funding to student groups who organized fundraising efforts on their own, but did not promise matching the funds.

“It’d be great for Harvard to match not only because it would show Harvard’s continuing support and empathy for victims in South Asia, but also to support student initiatives regarding the relief effort,” Siddiqui said.

McCambridge also said that the comedy show may reflect the HCC’s evolution from an organization with few titles or specific delegations to one where members’ individual titles and roles are more significant. The HCC was restructured last spring to give its members more specific jobs­—such as delegating individuals to the task of only getting corporate sponsors or generating publicity, for example.

Such restructuring has “allowed more people on the Concert Commission to be involved in the creation of events,” said McCambridge. The comedy show came about as a result of a group of members coming up with the idea on their own and spearheading it, he added.

McCambridge said that the HCC’s partnering with student groups for charitable causes has the “potential to be a trend.”

“We would still try to do the fall and spring concert shows and still shoot for having one comedy show per year,” McCambridge said. But that comedy show wouldn’t necessarily be held for a charitable cause, since “we wouldn’t necessarily expect all comedians to work for free,” he said.

—Staff writer Katherine M. Gray can be reached at kmgray@fas.harvard.edu.