Fink and 12 other students had to perform a five-minute stand-up comedy routine in front of an audience at the university's Eagle Café to finish their special topics class.
"I've never done anything funny," said Fink, a 20-year-old psychology major from Tampa. "I took the class because I heard all you have to do is watch funny movies."
You can't make someone be funny, said FGCU communications instructor Sam Walch, who taught the comedy class, but you can teach the person some tricks of the trade.
"Stand-up comedy really is just a very purified form of public speaking," he said. "It's a very distinct form of communication."
Walch, a retired stand-up comedian, said comedy class students spent the first part of their class time watching comedians such as Chris Rock perform and discussing how they interacted with the audience and structured their shows.
Photo by Darron R. Silva
Florida Gulf Coast University senior Leslie Harn of Immokalee performs stand-up comedy during the first-ever Eagle Comedy Jam at the school Thursday night,. Students participated in the jam as part of a comedy class.
Then, the students had to practice their own material in front of the class. The best way to come up with material is to take normal occurrences, figure out how they made you feel and find a way to express that emotion in a humorous way, Walch said.
"For some people, there's just that extra spark, and you can tell the difference between someone who is just telling jokes and someone who is truly funny," Walch said.
One of the best things about stand-up comedy, he said, is the truth behind the tales. Putting an often-controversial opinion out there as a joke makes it a lot easier for people to hear the message, he said.
"Stand up comedy is one of the very few places where you can really have free speech and say what's on your mind," he said. "It's one of the few places where you can speak the unspoken."
Turning a serious topic into a joke is a form of camouflage, he said.
"It's kind of one of the mysteries of comedy. We'll only listen to the truth when we don't have to take it seriously," he said. "If you don't like it, then it's just a joke. That's how it's kind of stayed under the radar for so long."
The diverse audience of more than 200 at the Comedy Jam was a great place to get those different views heard, he said.
"We've had problems in the past at FGCU, because it's such a commuter school, getting different groups of people to show up," he said. "It was great. Everyone came out to support their friends."
Walch acknowledged stand-up comedy is more difficult than traditional public speaking.
"I told my students if they can get through this, nothing in the world will ever scare them again," he said. "It's really one of the scariest things to do."
Leslie Harn, 38, took the stand-up comedy class to fulfill a communications requirement for his liberal arts degree. The stand-up routine was easier than a traditional speech class, he said.
"I've always been a person who makes jokes a lot," he said. "In public-speaking classes, it's all about preparing for the speech. This is better because you practice in front of a group."
Harn, who cracked jokes at the Comedy Jam about being a 19-year senior because he doesn't want to pay back his student loans, said he drew most of his material for the class from current events.
"Some of it is true, and some of it is not," he said.
For example, when Harn poked fun at the names of some psychological tests given to students, he used the real names of the tests, he said. However, his wife is not blind and does not need her seeing eye dog to tell her Harn is good-looking, he said, laughing.
Fink, who is comfortable with public-speaking, said the stand-up routine threw her for a loop and she did a lot more work for the class than she planned.
"I carried around a green notebook and wrote things down like (Walch) said to, and I met with my friends twice a week to come up with material," she said.
Stand-up comedy doesn't give you the luxury of research to know what you are saying is good, said Fink, who joked during the jam that her parents are hippies.
For the record, her father really did start the Jimmy Buffet Parrot Head Club in Tampa, she said.
"I'm fine with public speaking, but I was so scared to do this," she said. "I think it went well, but I think I forgot a few things. It's honestly all a blur."
FGCU students Nick Perez, Andrea Holbrook and Josh Sprague were the winners of the Comedy Jam. They will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Laugh in Comedy Café in Fort Myers.