Irene Tu, a Weinberg sophomore, apologizes for the dozens of messages you may have received from her titled "VOTE FOR NORTHWESTERN!!!" in the past month.
"I hate being that person who spams everyone on the listservs, and Facebook, and Twitter," Tu says. She promised to stop – if you'll click the link just one more time.
The votes garnered through Tu's aggressive marketing tactics have put Northwestern in the finals for this year's Rooftop Comedy National College Competition. The annual TBS-sponsored standup contest pits schools from around the country against each other in online voting matches to crown the nation's funniest college students, and Tu, along with NU teammates Nigel Ng, Thom Schwartz and Mary Gulino, are close to claiming the title.
According to Tu, Northwestern has never made it past the first round in the five years of NCCC voting. Now, they're in the final four, against UCSC, Emerson College and University of Maryland.
"We only have, what, 8,000 students? I wasn't expecting it," Tu says. "But there's definitely a very strong Northwestern comedy community."
"I was surprised," says Ng, a McCormick sophomore. "I think that, out of all the schools in the finals, we're the smallest. But we have comedy groups on campus, and they're a loyal supporter base, which definitely helps."
At the audition event on campus, the audience voted for eight NU standup comedians to perform at Up Comedy Club, where judges selected Tu, Ng, Bienen senior Schwartz and Communication sophomore Gulino – all members of Northwestern Comedy Forum – to represent the school. They have since won the Midwest Division, defeating Columbia College, Ohio State and University of Minnesota. Ng is also nominated for MVP, which will be chosen by the judges' panel.
"The voting, it's a little bit annoying to be honest, because this is the fourth time," Ng says. "But, yeah, I think we stand a chance!"
The winning NCCC team members will win trips to Chicago – not much of a trip, in NU's case – and will perform at the TBS Presents Just For Laughs Chicago festival in mid-June, where they'll grace the stage alongside big names like Aziz Ansari, Vince Vaughn and British comedian, John Oliver. The final round of NCCC 2012 voting ends Thursday, May 3.
"I really wanted us to at least get past the first round," Tu says. "But now, anything less than winning is disappointing."