The Students of Comedy class was a great experience in helping people, interested in developing a stand up comedy program, to go forward to accomplish that goal….and to help them clear their bucket list.

Everything was covered- from the business aspects of doing open mics, producing, getting gigs to writing which included formulas I hadn’t seen before. Enjoyed performing followed by feedback and group suggestions to punch up jokes (happy to report their suggestions helped!!) Class always great energy and fun!!

Quite simply, Tom is the bomb. He is the best part of the workshop. He taught us a bit about the realities of doing stand-up comedy out in the world, inspired us, pumped us up and suggested ways to make our material better, tighter and smoother. I looked forward to the class every week. I enjoyed being involved in helping to improve the other student stand-up routines too. Though I was concerned I might mess up my routine or forget part of it, the showcase went well, people actually laughed (even more than once!) and most importantly, IT WAS A BLAST! Thanks for everything, Tom.

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.

Afraid to try comedy?  Relax.  Nervous about what you might say or about getting up in front of others?  Relax.  Never done anything like this before?  No problem in Tom’s class.    Tom is kind, gentle, funny, encouraging and a master of comedy.  Through his class it will all come together.  He makes it work!

I loved being able to get Tom’s feedback between classes. I really appreciated that we jumped right into things on day 1 (which was really hard at the time). I liked that Tom gave us handouts on things but didn’t overwhelm us with too much information. Working through material as a group was always really fun and extremely helpful too. This was a great experience and ended up being far better than I imagined it would be. Tom was right; it did get easier. From this class, I was able to do something I never imagined I could actually pull off – and I ended up being very proud of what I did at the showcase! Thank you for being a great teacher, guide, supporter, believer and champion for us.