Charles Wojcik is the funniest student at Columbia
We learned how to deal with the hecklers and the haters
When Charles Wojcik returned from serving in the US Marine Corps, his first move was to sign up for a comedy writing workshop in New York City.
Charles, a student at Columbia’s School of General Studies, didn’t share his comedy aspirations with anyone as a kid because he didn’t want anyone to change his mind. He says he has always wanted to make people laugh. Now he’s older, he’s pursuing a career as a professional comedian. Of course, he still has to face a heckler sometimes, but now with the chops to retaliate with humor.
We asked him some questions about his experience with comedy so far, and we learned a thing or two about how to deal with the hecklers and the haters.
Let’s begin with some background information: your age, hometown, year and major.
I’m 25, from Commack, NY and I’m a junior majoring in English and Creative Writing.
How did you first get started in comedy?
I wanted to do it in high school and didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t want to be told, “oh you can’t do it, you can’t be funny.” I didn’t want them to change my opinion. In March 2014, I got out of the Marine Corps. A few weeks later, I took a comedy-writing workshop in New York City.
What life experiences have you incorporated into your routine?
All of my material is basically out of my experiences in life. Granted, it’s not 100 percent factual. Every joke is inspired by something that has happened to me. I endured a lot of bullying growing up, and comedy was a way of coping with that.
Where have you performed so far?
Stand Up NY. Bar shows in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Have you ever had a bad experience with an audience member? Any hecklers?
Some people have been so traumatized that they never get up on stage again. You’re never going to learn from anything unless you have a bad show. One time I had a heckler. She was drunk. The first couple of times, I ignored it. Then she didn’t stop. I cracked a joke and she stopped. It was empowering.
What was the joke?
I said I joined the Marine Corps because I know how to kill people.
Are there aspects of your life you won’t touch in your stand-up or is nothing off-limits?
For me, nothing really is off-limits; it’s about whether I can make it funny.
What’s next for you once you graduate?
My goal is to become a professional comedian. I’m interning at the Daily Show in the fall semester. For me, it’s good because I’d like to write for television as well.
That’s so awesome! You said earlier that when you were younger, you didn’t want to tell anyone you wanted to be a comedian. How has that changed?
I’m older and most of the people who would change my opinion are older too. We are more mature. No one has told me, “You probably shouldn’t be doing this.”
Any tips for people who want to tell a good joke?
When you’re writing or telling a joke, your goal is to get laughs every 10 to 20 seconds. If you’re getting one laugh a minute, you need to work it out. If you’re getting wordy, you just want to get that in the shortest amount of words so you can get to the punch line. You’re trying to get the attention span of a person. You want laughs to get the rhythm going.