From hair color to noise complaints, no topic was off limits at Fickes Hall’s community hall night. For their monthly event, Fickes resident assistants decided to put on a comedy roast.
“We thought the community hall night needed to be a time when residents and RAs bonded,” said first floor residence assistant (RA) Alice Shy. “We thought the best way to bond was through comedy.”
Signs around Fickes advertised the event, asking for clever and good-natured jokes. There were also pleas to keep the mean-spirited and offensive comments at bay.
On the night of the event, residents gathered in Fickes’s piano room. They were welcome to food and drinks while also having the opportunity to come up with an anonymous roast. There were sticky notes and pens available to write a comment and drop it into one of the three small buckets, one designated for each floor in the dorm hall.
The floor was opened to jokes about the RAs, residents, and entire floors. Fickes occupants were reminded to remain considerate once again before the fun began.
Second floor RAs Cat Giles and Tiffany Schmitt and third floor RAs Jacy Clark and Allison Kline were present to act as roastmasters for the event. After making sure the comments were not too vulgar, the resident assistants blindly chose a slip of paper from the overflowing buckets and read it aloud.
“It was very tasteful,” said Clark. “My favorite quote was when Cat [Giles] said [I] have more orange on [my] body than Florida.”
“I liked it a lot. It was so much fun. I liked roasting my RA’s,” said third floor resident Maya Carey. “We need[ed] some time to calm down, relax and not freak out because it’s the end of the semester. It was fun to [have] some laughs and joke around with our RAs.”
First floor resident, Kaitlyn Shirey, agreed.
“It builds community, and it gets us all in the same room together, and we bond,” said Shirey.
After the first round of roasting, a second round ensued with a smaller group of residents and the RAs. This round was focused more on individuals than entire floors, but the tastefulness was still there.
“Some parts were funny, then some parts were a little mean,” said first floor resident Imani Constant. “Some parts weren’t funny at all because they were just saying compliments which [was] okay I guess but it’s a roast. You have to fire it up a little bit. Overall, it was well done.”