DJAMILA NOELLE GROSSMAN/Arizona Daily Wildcat "Comedy Corner" - From left: Members Jonny Svarzbein, a music education senior, anthropology graduate student Alaric Weber and media arts senior Justin Thomas partake in an improvisation rehearsal for the Comedy Corner. The club will perform at Arizona State University on Saturday.

The guys and "girl" of Comedy Corner have taken on a long tradition of acting like fools to entertain their fellow students at the UA. But as their comedic pond grows smaller, new members are keeping the nation's oldest college comedy group alive.

Four new members were added to the comedy troupe last fall, increasing the total number of members to 12. One of its oldest members Justin Thomas, a media arts senior and the group's director, is enjoying a final run with Comedy Corner before he graduates in May.

"Performancewise, we only have one girl and it's killing us," Thomas said. "Girls are like gold in the world of comedy because they're exponentially more rare than males. Not necessarily in their talent, but in their willingness to do it."

That one woman - family studies and human development senior Andrea Martinez - said being the only female has its pros and cons.

"I'm almost guaranteed in every show because I'm the only female," Martinez said. "It seems that most roles for girls are the mother, daughter or hooker roles."

Comedy Corner holds auditions every semester, but none were taken this spring, Thomas said. They write new material every week, but rookies are tested on both sketch and improvisation material.

"We have them play a few of our most basic improv games and read through some scripts of past sketches," Thomas said.

Some sketches are cut short, and the one auditioning must improvise his/her way through the rest of the bit.

"Improv is easier than writing material because you go through practice and training, which almost becomes a muscular reaction, whereas writing involves plotting down ideas in a logical order," Thomas said. "I've seen some of the pros on TV recycle material and I'm not a fan of that."

When it comes to writing material, "Everyone pulls their own weight," he added. "It's all collaborative."

Martinez has been acting since age 4, but hadn't done any since high school when she auditioned for Comedy Corner.

Getting used to performing improv was terrifying at first, she said, but with practice and support from the other performers, she's gained more confidence.

"I got into it thinking that I'd like sketch more, but I've grown to like improv more," she said.

Like Martinez, Luke Mills, a media arts freshman and Comedy Corner newcomer, enjoyed acting before coming to college.

"I did theater in high school, so when I got to college, I looked for a sketch comedy group or something," he said.

Though Mills has no plans of pursuing comedy as a career, he said he performs it now as "something constructive to do while in college."

"I write some stuff, but mostly I just perform," he said. "Good improv is fun to do, but if you have a really well-written sketch, it's just as fun to do."

Improv is also favored by Travis Clayton Tinney, an undeclareded freshman and Comedy Corner newbie.

"We have some really great sketches so there is always the exceptions, but for the most part I enjoy improv slightly more," he said. "Improv is just a little more fun 'cause not even the cast knows what is going to happen next."

Tinney also performed in comedy groups while in high school and auditioned for the Charles Darwin Experience-(because they held their auditions first)-before making his way into Comedy Corner.

"Fortunately the gods knew that it was not meant to be and CDE dropped me," he said. "Then I auditioned for Comedy Corner and sparks flew. I am really glad with the way things worked out though.

"There is a really great group of people in this group and we are like one big interracial family. Well, actually there's only one guy in the group who is half Mexican, and other than that, we are all white."

Call it an act of charity, because Tinney also joined Comedy Corner to make a difference.

"I'm not gonna lie," he said. "Sure, I enjoy trying to make people laugh, but mostly I am just trying to touch some people and change some lives one offensive comment at a time."

Comedy Corner performs in the Cellar at the Student Union Memorial Center every Friday at noon.