LOL Senior Show

Written for my final journalism class at Cedarville, spring 2024.

When he was walking past the Involvement Fair booths during his first semester at Cedarville University, senior Logan Carter didn’t know that he was about to make a connection that would change his life. Stopping at the student improv comedy org’s table was a snap decision.

“Weston Deru came up to me, he's like, ‘hey, you look funny. Do you want be funny and be do improv?’” Carter reflected.

A couple of weeks later, he did his first audition. That was the beginning of his four years in LOL. 

Since then, the members have changed, the name changed, and Carter himself changed. A rebrand during his sophomore year rebranded the org from “DTR”, which stood for “Define the Relationship”, to “LOL”, which stands for “Love to Laugh”. Both names served different purposes: DTR reflected the improv group’s style of defining situations on-stage, while LOL reflects their mission of sharing laughter and joy.

“I came into LOL thinking that I was going to make other people laugh,” Carter said, “and now I'm coming out of it realizing that I'm sharing this laughter with other people. God has given us laughter and our goal is to share that with other people.”

The students in LOL embrace this idea as they take prompts and ideas and turn them into performances and skits while onstage. Improv is the art of making something from nothing, and making it funny– not always easy, but something the LOL members love doing. 

Carter came into LOL during a difficult time. Due to COVID restrictions, they were unable to perform for his entire first semester. They still met, but their meetings were focused on bonding instead of preparing for shows.

“We'd gather together once a week, do games for an hour, and then do ‘group therapy’ for an hour,” Carter laughed. “My first year, prayer requests would go on for an hour, because there was a lot of things to be in prayer about.”

The routine of rehearsals, practices, and prayer have been one of the few consistent things in Carter’s time at Cedarville. He switched majors, has seen friends get married and graduate, but he’s always had practice. The relationships he’s formed through the group have stood the test of time and have made his performances better. 

“I always talk about comedy being a language that we speak to one another,” he explained. “You can improv conversations with people, but if you're going to be speaking the language of comedy with someone, it is better to know them on a more personal level.”

He described improv comedy as being a lot like sitting by the side of the road and watching cars go by. 

“You don't jump out into traffic and try to control the cars, because you're gonna get hit and run over,” he said. “Just calmly observing the traffic and pointing out what's there is the way to go about it. You're not trying to control your thoughts–you're directing the flow of your thoughts and your ideas.” 

He’s been able to integrate this idea into his everyday life, as well: throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks and moving with the flow of ideas instead of trying to force them is something he’s even mentioned in job interviews.

With graduation coming up in a few weeks, reflecting on his time in the org has been bittersweet. At the most recent LOL show, many LOL and DTR alumni came back to campus to celebrate the graduating seniors.

“It feels strange,” Carter said. “I feel like I'm joining a group of the elite. I realized that I was gonna be a part of this group of people now. It felt strange, especially because the show itself just felt like a normal show.”

Carter’s final show was typical– a series of games and skits, where the members made up situations and responses on the spot. The only thing setting it apart from any other show was the video homage at the beginning, a surprisingly somber ode to the graduating seniors, just before the group dove headfirst into their usual tomfoolery. 

Carter may pursue other comedy groups after graduation but says he doesn’t expect to find anything like LOL in the outside world.

“You can do standup, there are other improv groups, but none of them will be like DTR or LOL because this is a special group at a special place.”