I had only two things left on my bucket list. Climb Mt. Everest or take a stand-up comedy class. Sure glad I chose the latter of the two. I thought it would be fun but it exceeded all of my expectations. The six weeks just flew by. Could hardly wait for the next class to begin.

Tom Riehl is a genius as a teacher, mentor and psychiatrist. If you ever wanted to know if you have the talent for stand-up this is the class for you. Want to know how to put a comedy routine together, set ups, punch lines —-this is the class for you. You have the magic formula. It works.

A great sense of community. No one felt like they wanted to outshine everyone else. It was very much about the work. Tom was so good at making suggestions based on the work you would bring in. An overall great creative environment.

The handouts were textbook quality – I was amazed at the quality and depth of information on each sheet. Also the freedom to perform TBD minutes for the graduation showcase (I was looking at another class and they provided only 6 minutes max) along with a video copy of the set.

Tom was such a supportive and helpful coach in educating us to the basics of stand up comedy and then helping us improve what we wrote with the collaboration of our fellow students… I felt very supportive and appreciated my class mates in improving my set… Graduation Night Was A Blast!!!!

I’ve taken it seven times. Class sucks.

So many things. First, I love how Tom works with your material as an artist and doesn’t try to make you write jokes that are not your style. He really encourages each comic to dig into their individuality and he has the amazing talent of pulling out the best in you. Additionally, Tom has created an incredibly collaborative environment in which artist feel comfortable not only sharing their jokes but their process. We entered as strangers and left as friends. Incredible experience.