The squeak of the microphone silences the bustling crowd as announcer Montana Burke steps onto the stage. The audience gives him a warm round of applause before he begins his introduction of the first comedian.

Senior Chris Tahkeal brought humor to WSU this year by creating the Stand-up Comedy Club. Tahkeal said he wanted to start the club because Spokane was the closest place he was previously able to perform and test new material.

“After a while, traveling to Spokane got expensive,” Tahkeal said. “So at Last Coug Standing I asked the participants if they would join a comedy club if there was one.”

The Student Entertainment Board hosted the Last Coug Standing in which students deliver a comedy performance as part of a competition. More than enough students were interested, and he said he got positive feedback from his fellow students.

“Getting participants was actually the easy part,” he said. “Nearly everyone from Last Coug Standing joined, and then our frequent comedians bring along a friend or two who want to participate as well, so there is always new material for the audience to laugh at.”

Tahkeal said he felt like the type of guy who could make his friends laugh easily, so he decided to try writing jokes. After writing awful jokes for a couple years, he said he finally garnered the confidence to perform.

“I love the feeling of being on stage and have been performing for a couple years now,” he said. “Being on stage is such a rush, and it’s a huge confidence boost when people laugh at the material you’ve come up with yourself.”

Like Tahkeal, comedy club member Joseph Gilleran said he’s been hooked on stand-up comedy ever since starting college.

“What stand-up comedy comes down to is writing material that you think is funny,” Gilleran said. “If you think something is hilarious, then most likely there is someone else who thinks that it’s just as funny.”

Gilleran said every show is a chance for him to try new material and build off of it to make it better.

Senior criminal justice and psychology major Jose Therese said she uses stand-up comedy to get over her fear of public speaking and to make people laugh.

“I pick things to talk about in my show that have happened in my life,” Therese said. “Nothing is made up.”

Like Therese, Tahkeal said he gets most of his material from his own life.

“Coming up with material is not an easy task, but I like to use my own experiences when coming up with jokes,” he said. “Whether it be penis tattoos on my face, meeting my insane girlfriend’s sisters, in all honesty, my life is a complete joke.”

Gilleran said the Comedy Club is unlike any club at WSU because of the diverse group of students.

“We have all different styles to comedy, and we are also welcome for more people to join our club,” Gilleran said. “In fact, we are so diverse that we literally come in all shapes and sizes.”

Tahkeal said he recognizes that some students might be hesitant when considering stand-up comedy because of how nerve-wracking being on stage alone can be, but he would highly suggest them to try it out.

“I think the biggest obstacle one must overcome is the fear of a bad performance,” Tahkeal said. “I’ve seen plenty of comedians have bad nights, and I’ve had quite a few myself, but nobody remembers the bad comedian. You have absolutely nothing to lose.”

Gilleran agreed with Tahkeal and strongly encouraged people to try stand-up and test their comfort zones.

“We are just college students,” Gilleran said. “We are not getting paid or anything so we are all just hanging out trying out different material, and we love to do it.”

The Stand-Up Comedy Club has performances at Stubblefields every other Thursday at 8 p.m., with a show tomorrow night. Anyone 18 years of age or older is welcome to attend the shows and join the club. The drinks aren’t free, but the entertainment is.

“The shows usually consist of six to eight comedians and one host, performing for five to 10 minutes each,” Gilleran said. “The shows are a lot of fun with some really creative talent.”

As for expanding the club, Tahkeal said it has been a slow but successful process. The audience continues to increase, and Tahkeal said he hopes flyers and word of mouth will aid further growth.

“I would love for our club to have a reputation of bringing plenty of laughs to the audience,” Tahkeal said.