Georgetown loves a good slogan—“Hoya Saxa,” “Called to Be,” or any cocktail of Jesuit values—the list goes on. However, on his 2019 Kid Gorgeous comedy tour, John Mulaney (CAS ’04) managed to boil down the experience better than any Latin phrase ever could: “I paid $120,000 for someone to tell me to go read Jane Austen and then I didn’t.”
The Hilltop has long been known for producing politicians, diplomats, and business leaders. But alongside these traditionally “Georgetown” career paths, the university has also become a surprising comedy powerhouse, producing notable alumni like Mulaney, Jim Gaffigan (MSB ’88), Nick Kroll (SFS ’01), and Jacqueline Novak (CAS ’04).
This could be thanks to the university’s tight-knit network of student-run comedy organizations, including the Georgetown Improv Association, Georgetown Sketch Comedy, the Georgetown Heckler, and GUerilla Improv, as well as popular comedy events like Georgetown Program Board’s annual Funniest Human competition.
But why is this school so funny? The Voice went straight to the source—Georgetown’s funniest students.
Eli Blumenfeld (CAS ’25), winner of this year’s Funniest Human competition and organizer of Georgetown’s inaugural Jewish Comedy Night earlier this month, suggested that the juxtaposition between D.C.’s seriousness and comedy scene could be a reason for the funniness.
“D.C. is not really a funny city. It’s a very serious city where people are always serious all the time, and no one has fun ever. Maybe it makes the comedy stand out, because it’s a contrast to the seriousness of the city,” Blumenfeld joked. “Georgetown is a little bit less topical and leans into the wonky a little bit more.”
Sophie Maretz (CAS ’26), who won the Funniest Human competition in 2024, believes Georgetown’s academic rigor bleeds into its humor.
“The culture and environment of Georgetown itself is like, everybody has their wittiness and their smartness and their quickness, and so the ability of a lot of people on campus to hone it into writing or performing is super fun,” she said. “I feel like it’s stuff that you would really only get at a school like Georgetown because it’s just so smart.”
While students can hone a distinctly Hoya sense of humor through on-campus organizations, many Georgetown comedians find value in venturing into D.C.’s wider comedy scene. David Edwards (CAS ’24), who was the 2022-23 editor-in-chief of the Georgetown Heckler and now performs standup, emphasized this broader exposure.
“Comedy in D.C. forced me to leave Georgetown and go to different parts of the city and see different places and do comedy for different audiences,” Edwards said. “There’s a big difference between doing comedy for students—a bunch of people who have similar cultural touchstones as you and similar-ish experiences—versus doing it for a bunch of 30-year-olds at a bar in Dupont Circle or Adams Morgan.”
Edwards and his roommate, Zan Haq (SFS ’24), even brought the off-campus comedy scene to campus by organizing Comedy for a Cause in 2023, featuring both student comedians and professional D.C. comics. The event raised money for Rangila’s Action Against Hunger fundraiser, showing comedy’s use as a vehicle for activism.
The Heckler, a satirical publication, often uses humor to address political issues. An example of this is Edwards’s brainchild: a “Right to Feet” booth next to Right to Life, an anti-abortion student group, in Red Square.
“Comedy doesn’t create a specific outcome, but it can create attention and energy. And then it’s a question of how you want to use that attention and energy,” Edwards said.
With sold out shows and popular Instagram accounts, Georgetown comedy basks in campus support.
“The respect that it gets is really significant, especially for the people in the groups, from the student body,” Maretz, who has participated in every aforementioned style of campus comedy, said.
Edwards also said that collaboration between clubs was common when he was a student.
“The comedy community is great. Everybody’s very close knit. There’s tons of people in the Heckler that were in the other groups, in GUerilla and Sketch and Improv,” he said.
This support continues after undergrad, too. Edwards shared that Gary Simons (CAS ’21), who won Funniest Human five years ago and spent the past year opening on tour for comedian Mike Birbiglia (CAS ’00) (who also won Funniest Human, 27 years ago), offered advice to both him and Haq.
“It’s just nice that Georgetown has people who have done comedy before that seem to be willing to give advice and be nice,” Edwards said. “It’s helpful that there are people who’ve come before you.”
In true Georgetown fashion, students approach comedy with intensity. Comedy clubs can be surprisingly competitive, with rigorous audition processes and regular practice schedules. But when students don’t make one comedy organization, they’re often directed to others, creating multiple pathways into the community.
“I got rejected from all the consulting clubs because I thought that’s what I wanted to do. And so I auditioned for the improv club and also got rejected from them. And then they told all the rejectees that there’s this other comedy club called Sketch Comedy that are taking applications due in like a week,” Blumenfeld said.
While Georgetown may always be better known for producing politicians than punchlines, its comedy outlets have created a surprisingly robust community.
So, why are Hoyas so funny? As Blumenfeld notes, maybe Georgetown’s funniest asset isn’t our intelligence or activism aptitude but the strong support system among students, both past and present.
“Georgetown is a school full of students looking to support their friends in any endeavor,” Blumenfeld said. “It’s really just a room full of friends out there.”
