BELLAIRE • MEMORIAL • RIVER OAKS • TANGLEWOOD • WEST UNIVERSITY

Just for laughs

By Samuel Shahda, age 14 | May 27, 2025

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CLASS CLOWN Eighth grader Samuel Shahda has enjoyed working on skills like improvisation in a new comedy class called Ha-Ha Academy, a partnership between Xavier Academy and The Riot Comedy Club.

Ha-Ha Academy is a class offered through my school, Xavier Academy. It’s a comedy program that takes place at The Riot Comedy Club and teaches students comedy techniques. We have been learning types of comedy, writing acts, and creating skits. We really just want to make the world happy!

When I first walked into the class, I was curious to see what comedy was all about. I felt nervous, even though I was with my friends. But I got accustomed to it. This class changed the way I see comedy. I learned a lot about improv, creating skits, and writing jokes.

I enjoyed the process of making new skits. For example, we created an improv skit about Kim Kardashian and Neil Armstrong on the moon! It was exciting because we got to use our acting skills. This skit was like a tag team in which two people start out as the two characters, and when someone says freeze, that person tags out one of the people on stage and takes their place. This is called “improv” because we are improvising, or coming up with things to say and do as we go, not using a script.

Our class had the special opportunity to perform at The Riot Comedy Club during their comedy festival in April. When we performed, we used our improv skills to create our skit. Even though I've performed before as an actor in theatre, performing at the festival was different – the stage was different, the audience reactions were different, and I was nervous. We performed three skits. One of them didn't go that well. It was an improv conversation between Mickey Mouse and Beyonce. We weren’t getting much of an audience reaction, and we were stumbling over our words. As the show went on, though, we got better. I think our best skit was where we were teachers who had to live at school. We got a lot more on that one, and our skills were much better. Overall, it was fun, even though it was kind of scary! I'm glad we did it.

I’ve learned about what comedy can do for the world. My classmates and I have had so much fun! I have also built confidence from this class. I want to give my regards to Mr. Brian Gendron for being a great teacher!

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