Four Funny Guys to hit the road

By Tiffany Royal
FOR THE POST

Athens' well-known comedy troupe now is touring and spreading its off-the-wall humor to the masses. Four Funny Guys and Matt is an Ohio University group, and its members have come a long way since their 1997 debut in Mentor, OH.

Adding to the original members Michael Busch, Allen Kellogg and the Matt, Matt Rodriguez, the group now includes the antics of Derrick Blount, Anthony "Smokey" Deptula, Jenny Kelsey, Scott Miller, Mike Robertson and Jimmy Schurman.Half of the cast (Blount, Busch, Deptula, Kelsey and Schurman) attends OU.

"Right now we are doing college shows," said Busch. "But hopefully we will be doing comedy clubs soon."

During its tenure at OU, the group has performed for organizations like Habitat for Humanity and Campus Greens. They also have performed for Big Brothers Big Sisters and at a recent festival at nearby Rio Grande College. They also opened for Greg Fitzsimmons, a nationally known stand-up comic, Busch said. But the group wants to take the show on the road to invade other campuses with its sophisticated humor.

Now an official OU student organization under the name Comedy for the Masses, the Funny Guys have the benefits of regular student groups, such as funding and transportation.

"We wanted to expand certainly to other colleges, as we have been able to successfully build our comedy group here," Schurman said. "We were interested in touring, and we figured colleges of similar size and similar demographics like OU would be the safest place to start."

This past weekend the group hit Ohio State University with an unofficial audience count of 220. The Guys' best turnout was last spring at Memorial Auditorium with a crowd of 350, Schurman said.

"I am the president," Schurman strongly affirmed.

"Yes, we must reaffirm again and again that Jimmy is the President," Deptula solemnly replied, followed by group laughter. The group said its own material has become more humorous over time.

"The writing has improved with our shows," Busch said. "We try to write new stuff for new shows at OU since most of the people (there) know our material. When we go to other schools, we do stuff that we think is the best."

The material now includes more musical numbers and "One-Man Symphony," a skit blaming God for the creation of boy bands. A wide variety of the group's material includes religious, social and political satire, Busch said.

As for the future, Four Funny Guys are just waiting to see what happens.

"Pretty much this quarter and especially in the spring, is the deciding factor of where we are going with the group," said Busch. "We are hoping to get a lot of shows in the spring and even get an agent to represent us. If things are going well then, who knows what will happen."

And just remember - Jimmy is the president.

The group's next show will be Feb. 2 at 8 p.m. at Ohio Dominican College in Columbus. The next OU show will be Saturday, Feb. 10 with two showings: 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.