Chock full of trivia facts and ideas for the next Saturday Night Live skit in his mind, Jack uses every day at Explo to find inspiration and motivation to further his interest in comedy writing.
At Explo, I’m taking a sketch comedy class and a class called Acting and Directing for the Camera. When I grow up, I want to be on the set of Saturday Night Live. It’s something I’ve grown up watching, so it would be so cool to have the opportunity to be on it. My favorite technique that I’ve learned so far is a type of [improv] sketch known as a heightening sketch. In a heightening sketch, it starts off as a normal situation, but then it keeps heightening and getting funnier until it meets this breaking point. And then at the end, there’s something called a button, which is a quick, funny way to end it.
I’ve been doing sketches for a while now, but I’ve never really thought they were any good. Since coming to Explo, I’ve become a lot more confident. I’ve learned that I actually am pretty talented at what I’m doing and by learning a few of these techniques, I can make my writing even better. I’m thankful that Explo has helped me with my confidence and my writing.
Something that you wouldn’t know about me by looking at me is that I know trivia facts about just about anything. Like, Steve Jobs was a class clown until middle school. He actually only did his homework for the first time after he was bribed with money and a lollipop. If one of the smartest people ever only was able to accomplish things with the right motivation, I know that I can also do all these amazing things, with the right motivation. I’d say that Explo is great place for people to explore what I want to do later in life and find the motivation to do that.
Jaryd Frankel