Last night, racy jokes and lewd skits weren't just about making people laugh.
Four of Penn's comedy groups - Bloomers, Simply Chaos, Without a Net and Mask & Wig - participated in the eighth annual Charitable Laughter show at the Irongate Theatre.
The proceeds of this year's event will go to the Village of Arts and Humanities.
And the performance, it seems, was a hit.
"It was a great show," said College freshman Alex Pearse. "Everyone knows Mask & Wig, but I really enjoyed seeing three groups that were completely new to me."
Freshman Betty Huang echoed these sentiments, citing her unexpected favorite act of the night: Simply Chaos, Penn's only stand up comedy club.
When asked about her motives for attending the show, Huang said she was there "mostly for entertainment."
Like Betty, most of the audience was more focused on the "Laughter" facet of the event than the "Charitable" one.
The lesser known component is, however, very important to those putting on the show.
"It's a great chance for comedy groups around campus to get together and develop a community," said Engineering senior James Wong, chairman of both Mask & Wig and SMAC.
Wong also commented on this year's charity of choice, the Village of Arts and Humanities.
"The organization uses the arts to keep kids in the North Philly area off the street, and also uses proceeds to help beautify the surrounding community," Wong said.
Chase Jackson, managing director of the Village of Arts and Humanities, described the organization's latest project: A park in North Philadelphia adorned with "bottle-tree" sculptures that repesent the community's deceased members.
Wong encouraged students to attend other benefit shows that will take place later in the school year.
