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The Indiana Daily Student

arts

Student comedian explores dramatic side

IU senior Mike Blomquist writes dramatic scripts, but does stand-up comedy and is a part of the sketch comedy group Boy in the Bubble.

It was a Wednesday open-mic night at the Comedy Attic in September of 2012 when IU senior Mike Blomquist said he first attempted stand-up comedy.

He said it was a great feeling hearing his jokes go over well and making people laugh, and it made him realize that he wanted to continue that feeling and continue comedy.

“Not only do I like telling jokes, but apparently I tell jokes that make people happy, so why don’t we stick with that?” Blomquist said.

Blomquist will graduate this May with a major in telecommunications and an individualized major in script writing.

Blomquist said he was involved in theater in high school, and he decided to focus on comedy when he got to college and joined IU’s sketch comedy group Boy in the Bubble.

Consisting of 10 active members, Boy in the Bubble is IU’s longest running sketch comedy group.

Blomquist said they write all of their own sketches and perform every other week in the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts Building.

“I love comedy because it’s a way to bring people joy by depicting life at its best and its worst,” Blomquist said.

He said he takes after comedians Brian Regan and Louis C.K., with a comedic style he describes as 
“excited absurdism.”

People don’t always see the silliness in the world unless they take a step back from conventional life, Blomquist said.

Life then becomes surreal, and he said he likes to poke fun at that.

Blomquist also has a radio talk show every Friday on WIUX B-side.

He said he brings in different guests every week and likes to come up with a bunch of funny topics to discuss.

It’s a really great part of his week, Blomquist said.

Blomquist said his philosophy is to “live in 
comedy.”

However, when it comes to his script writing, Blomquist said, he writes mostly dramas.

Jesse Louden, fellow Boy in the Bubble member and friend of Blomquist, said Blomquist has two writing brains: one for comedy and one for drama.

“I would tell you where my inspiration comes from if I knew,” Blomquist said.

He said he loves to elicit thought and emotion from others, and that is why he wants to write scripts 
professionally.

Blomquist writes mostly drama because he said he gets enough comedy in everyday life and it frees his mind to write about 
whatever he feels like.

“I have always sort of been a writer,” Blomquist said. “Ever since I was a little kid I had what might be considered an over-active imagination.”

Louden said Blomquist has a peculiar way of thinking that contributes to his creative work.

Blomquist has written 14 screenplays, but he has not tried to sell any of them yet.

While he focuses mostly on TV writing, Blomquist said he has also written some stage plays.

Career-wise, he said he wants to write and sell screenplays and plays.

Blomquist does not have a motivator when it comes to his dreams, and he said it helps him because there will never be an “I did it, so now I can stop” moment.

“When I do it, I don’t usually think about a person or a motivator,” Blomquist said. “I think about if you’re going to do something for the rest of your life, what is going to make you happy?”

Overall, Blomquist said he likes to spend time doing something he enjoys.

He said if he manages to make people feel something through either his comedy or his more dramatic scripts, then he has done his job.

Blomquist can be seen performing comedy in Boy in the Bubble’s next show at 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, in Fine Arts Building 015.

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