The laughter levels were high Tuesday night during the VEISHEA Says I’m Funny stand up competition, but it was the laughter during Dan Cole’s act that rang the loudest and earned him the title.

 

Cole, a sports reporter for the Iowa State Daily, was first began his stand up career in November of 2011,

 

“My friends told me I should do it, they kept telling me that. And I thought maybe I could do it. So I started writing material in October and I put together a seven-minute set. I rehearsed it like 100 times to make sure I didn’t screw up. I was so nervous” Cole said.

Pat Flattery, a friend of Cole’s, would often perform at open mic nights at the M-shop and invited Cole to come along,

“Dan and I went to open mic night together, and he went and just hung out to see what it was like,” Flattery said, “Andrew Lopez would go up every time, and Dan would kind of pick up on how he did things and eventually started writing his own jokes.”

 

In high school, Cole claimed to be fairly introverted and it took some courage to stand up for the first time,

 

“I was really shy in high school and not very socially outgoing. It wasn’t really something I could see myself doing, but if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right.”

 

For some comedians, the first show can be nerve-wracking and sometimes humiliating, but Cole made sure he prepared extensively,

 

“My first time went really well, it was just an amazing feeling. It felt really rewarding and I was like I want to keep doing it.” Cole said “so pretty much once a month or so since then I’ve been doing it a lot here at open mic [at the M-shop] and a couple of times in Minneapolis at Acme, which is a big comedy club up there.”

 

Coel explained that he was more pleased with himself for doing stand up more than anything,

 

 “The self gratification that I got from it, proving to myself that I could do it, and also afterwards when people see you around and recognize you and say ‘hey I’ve seen you do stand up, you’re really funny.’ It makes you feel like you’ve done a good enough job” Cole said.

 After Flattery would play his set, Cole would take the stage. Flattery said he saw an improvement after every open mic when Cole would perform

“The first time he was a little rough, he was persistent and every time it got more polished, and got better and better” Flattery said “you could tell that he improved every open mic night and he definitely proved that VEISHEA Says I’m Funny.”

 

For aspiring comics, Cole advises to start at smaller venues where you feel the most comfortable,

 

“If you’re thinking about doing it for the first time, you should” Cole said, “a smaller venue like the M-shop is a great place to start…when people come here, they want to laugh. Starting out in an environment where you feel more comfortable and confident is great. You never really know until you try. I know a lot of people who’ve said they’ve been thinking about doing it and I definitely tell them to do it” Cole said “give yourself a chance to succeed.”