Student contributes to comedy websites

Jon Savitt was one of the last people to set up a Facebook page, and absolutely drew the line at a Twitter account.

He finally gave in to his friends in May 2012. Nearly 2,000 followers later, he is glad he did.

“It all started with Twitter,” Savitt said. “That was my transition from having a natural sense of humor to actually putting stuff out there for people to look at.”

After being voted class clown in middle school, Savitt found he loved to make people laugh.

“It all came very naturally,” he said. “I have always found that humor and laughing are kind of essential to life to be able to get through everything.”

Aside from comedy, Savitt. a rising senior from Minneapolis, studies psychology at IU, plays intramural basketball and is an active member of Sigma Alpha Mu.

In July 2012, Stage Time Magazine published a guest column Savitt wrote.

“It was a really cool experience to see my name in a magazine, especially one in New York while I am in Minnesota,” Savitt said.

He said that was the first time he realized he enjoyed comedy writing. Since then, he has contributed comedic articles to College Humor, Funny or Die and Total Frat Move.

Savitt said he never really thought about the connection between his psychology studies and his comical writing. He was just interested in social psychology.

“I took a psychology route because I’m a people person, and the bottom line is that I like being personable,” Savitt said. “I like talking to people and making their life better.”

He has also been in contact with producers and supervisors at MTV with hopes to eventually pitch an idea for a television show.

“With social media these days, it has been incredible the people you can come in contact with,” Savitt said. “The pressure is almost taken away with people you would have never talked to.”

He said he does not know about 80 percent of his followers on Twitter, and has come across people as young as 15 and as old as 60.

However, his audience is mostly college students. During one of his classes, a girl approached and told Savitt that her friend retweets him often. He’s had other people tell him they’ve thought about getting Twitter just to follow him.

“It’s all over the place, and you can’t control who comes across it in social media,” he said.

The first verified people to follow Savitt on Twitter turned out to be regular comedians on Chelsea Lately.

“I talked to them a little and they told me I was really funny and to keep doing what I’m doing,” Savitt said. “Ever since then, I’ve been really inspired to keep going. I mean, I got positive feedback from people who are on TV.”

He said comedians like Jonah Hill and Adam Sandler are his role models, and earlier seasons of Saturday Night Live have served as writing inspiration.

Savitt said he hopes to continue down his current path until he finishes school, when he would like to write for television, possibly act and have his own television show.

Mike Nimmo has been friends with Savitt since middle school. Though he attends Saint John’s University in Minnesota, Nimmo said he has stayed connected with Savitt during his bout with fame.

“Jon is really, really creative,” Nimmo said. “He is one of those guys who knows what to say and when to say it. An idea will pop into his head and he will say, ‘I’m going to write about this and tweet this,’ and I say ‘Where in God’s name did he think of this?’”

Matt Randall, a fellow member of Sigma Alpha Mu, became friends with Savitt when Randall began recruitment in fall 2011. He said how Savitt comes off on paper is equivalent to his natural humor in person.

“I always think (his jokes are) funny because I know him, and I read them in the way he would say them,” Randall said. “He deserves all of it.”

Nimmo said he commends Savitt’s hard work.

“He’s resilient,” Nimmo said. “If some people don’t like the tweets or blogs, he doesn’t care what other people think and that’s what sets him apart from so many others.”

Savitt said though he works hard, he has also been fortunate due to modern technology.

“I’m lucky I’ve been networking in the past year, and I’m in a good place now where I can reach them,” Savitt said. “I’ve had an opportunity for a lot of people to follow me with a wide array of talents, and I think that shows many people can have the opportunity to follow their dream and do something they love.”