Members of the audience were laughing so hard they were nearly crying at Comedy Corner's fourth annual comedy festival, SICK IV: The Voyage Home, held Saturday night at the Arizona Ballroom.

The Southwest Intergalactic Comedy Kermis is based on Comedy Skidmore, a festival in New York, said Audrey Ching, a member of Comedy Corner and an anthropology freshman.

Student groups gathered from UA's Comedy Corner, Northern Arizona University, UCLA, Notre Dame, Arizona State University and The People Who Do That, a Tucson troupe.

Conrad Diven, a biology and chemistry sophomore who is on the sponsorship committee, said 165 tickets were sold for the festival.

Genesis, who said he has been a professional comedian for 11 years, hosted the festival.

"I've performed with Comedy Corner before. I like them. We have a good rapport," he said.

Each student group performed a series of skits or improvisations, and encouraged audience participation during the latter.

"Last year, we had the chance to mingle with everyone after the show," said Nicole Johnson, a Comedy Corner member and theater senior. "I got tips on stand-up from the UCLA group, which helped because I've never done stand-up."

"Events like this are important because it keeps the drama alive throughout the country," said Charlie Spauling, a drama teacher at Immaculate Heart High School.

The show started at 7 p.m. and ended at 11:45 p.m. Charlie Mahaffey, a political science senior, did not mind. "It was worth $3. They have more stuff to perform in more time."

Johnson, who has been involved in Comedy Corner for two years, agreed. "Comedy is a lot harder than drama. When you have to rehearse it over and over, it's much harder to be funny."