NIU students let their funny sides show in Diversions Monday night. Eight students fought it out in the comedy arena in order to win the Certs College Comedy Competition at NIU. The event, which was sponsored by CAB, Certs and US Concepts INC, drew a crowd of over 100 students to enjoy the acts of fellow students and veteran comedian Randy Calvert.

“We are very fortunate to be one out of only 100 colleges and universities nationwide to have this event,” stated CAB Special Events Coordinator, Jennifer Spaulding. “This event turned out really well, thanks to everyone involved.”

The contestants came from a variety of academic backgrounds which varied from illustration to computer science. Their comedic backgrounds were equally wide in range from the first- time performance of Dave Imielski, whose friends told him to give it a try, to Henry Treftz, a fourth time participant.

The contest winner, John Quilico, a 22-year-old English major who was in the contest last year, claims that he toned down his act accordingly for this year. When asked why he came back for a second try he said, “People may think that this is funny, but I find performing on stage and doing comedy more exhilarating than sex.”

Quilico will compete with other regional winners and may eventually be submitted as one of three national finalists to be judged by comedian Jerry Seinfeld for the title of Funniest College Student in America.

According to Spaulding, the eight contestants were judged by two students and one representative from US Concepts. The student judges, Juliann Greene and Sophia Rim, were instructed to judge the contestants on originality, stage presence, humor content, crowd response and flow.

The emcee of the event, Randy Calvert, was a past winner of the national competition. “I have had a great opportunity to travel around across this country and see what talent we have on campuses,” Calvert said.

Calvert attributes the increased access to stand-up comedy through cable TV and comedy clubs as the reason for improved comedy at these competitions. He also added that the performances Quilico and second place winner Dave Imielski gave were quite funny.