When a group of Emerson students gathered in 1976 to perform comedy sketches and improv, they couldn’t have known they were starting a legacy that would endure for half a century.
This year, Emerson Comedy Workshop (ECW)—the student comedy troupe co-founded by alumni including Denis Leary ’79, LHD ’05, and Eddie Brill ’80—celebrates its 50th anniversary, marking five decades of helping students find their comedic voices, forge lasting friendships, and launch careers in entertainment.
ECW members commemorated the milestone this spring with an anniversary celebration featuring archival photos, newspaper clippings, and a watch party showcasing sketches and videos from throughout the troupe’s history.
“The legacy aspect is very inspiring,” said Ben Johnson ’26, a Writing, Literature and Publishing major and ECW’s former head editor. “It’s cool to realize ECW has been around for 50 years, and hopefully it remains for 50 more.”
Building Something New
ECW’s origins date back to the fall of 1976.
“We formed this comedy group and started doing shows,” recalled Brill. “They were wildly popular. There wasn’t one show we didn’t sell out.”
The troupe combined sketch comedy, improvisation, film, and music at a time when Saturday Night Live was still in its infancy and college comedy groups were rare.
“We had great actors and great writers,” Brill said. “We worked pretty hard at it.”
The early years of ECW included future Academy Award winner and Emmy nominee Steven Wright ’78—who went on to become a legendary comedian—and would do film bits for ECW. Actor/comedian Mario Cantone ’82 perfected skits he’d later perform in a Broadway show.
Brill recalled a skit that served as a sequel to The Wizard of Oz, but instead of following the yellow brick road, the message was to follow the Emerson Wall.
The group’s success eventually caught the attention of the late legendary television producer Norman Lear ’44, LHD ’68. After Brill approached Lear about the troupe, Lear helped champion the comedy troupe to Emerson.
“Next day, the school asked, ‘What did you tell Norman Lear?'” Brill remembered. “They said, ‘Whatever you said was good. He’s donating money and the school will match it.”
For Brill, who later spent 17 years at The Late Show with David Letterman and served as the show’s comedy booker, ECW remains one of his proudest accomplishments.
“We were just kids,” he said. “But we were really creative and worked hard. Most of the people have gone on to have incredible careers.”
A Launching Pad
Among those who followed in the footsteps of ECW’s founders was 7-time Emmy Award winner John Frink ’85, longtime writer and executive producer for The Simpsons.
Frink transferred to Emerson after seeing an admission packet that referenced Lear presenting a comedy workshop at the College.
Joining ECW proved transformative for Frink.
“It changed my life,” he said. “It validated this class clown who was sent to the principal’s office all the time because he was joking in class. This was the first time I was rewarded for being funny. It launched my career.”
Frink says ECW performances routinely filled theaters. “If people knew you were in Emerson Comedy Workshop, you were rock stars on that campus.”
The experience of writing and performing sketches became a foundation for his professional career. After Emerson, Frink joined the famed Groundlings improv troupe in Los Angeles before later landing a writing job on The Simpsons, where he has worked for nearly three decades.
“It really transferred well for me,” says Frink. “From ECW to the Groundlings, and from there into television.”
Fun fact: The Simpsons character Professor Frink is named after John Frink ’85. Although he wasn’t working for the show yet, he had friends in the writers’ room, and they asked if they could name a character after him.
Rebuilding the Tradition
Like many student organizations, ECW has experienced periods of reinvention.
One of its most significant revivals came in 1994, when Micah Best ’96 helped resurrect the troupe after a previous incarnation had faded away. All of ECW had graduated and the group hadn’t recruited a new cast.
The group was going to die, and after being turned down twice by another campus comedy troupe, Best learned that ECW’s charter still existed and decided to bring it back.
“All I had to do was go to the student union, claim it, and get the group going again,” Best recalled.
Working with fellow students from other comedy groups like the Swollen Monkey Showcase, Best led a group to rebuild the organization by creating a new constitution, recruiting members, and establishing a commitment to hold auditions every semester to ensure the troupe’s longevity.
“We received recognition and funding as an official student organization. Thanks to alumni like Steven Wright, Eddie Brill, and of course, Denis Leary, we started off with a pedigree that we knew we truly hadn’t earned. So, all we had to do was live up to them. No pressure,” Best jokes.
Best, Thaddeus Stephanak ’96, and Steve Sabellico ’07 (he finished his degree years after first matriculating) showed up to every meeting, improvising, making each other laugh until they cried and turning those laughs into sketches.
“We would workshop ideas, play games, improvise scenes, write, collaborate, and try our best to develop our concept of what we wanted our ECW to be,” Best recalls.
Their first show, Heads Down, Thumbs Up, premiered in December 1995.
“The house was packed and the laughter filled the room,” Best said. “…we had successfully breathed new life into ECW.”
Liesl (nee Hetzke) Toates ’96, one of the troupe’s early members during the revival, remembers both the comedy, including one of her favorite skits—Indiana Jones and the Soup of the Day—and the friendships.
“ECW is where I found my people,” she said. “We all wrote sketches and contributed and acted, but more, we made each other laugh so much.”
She still keeps in touch with many of her fellow cast members nearly three decades later.
Continuing the Legacy
Modern day ECW members and recent alumni say the sense of community remains one of the troupe’s defining qualities.
“I joined ECW because I wanted to keep practicing theater, particularly comedy, as a Media Arts Production major,” said Sydney Hnatov ’28, ECW co-vice president. “My favorite part of ECW has definitely been the people. This is such a good community to be part of.”
For Soren Allwerdt ’26, a Comedic Arts major, ECW provided a place to learn the fundamentals of comedy performance and writing.
“I was always inspired by the Emerson alumni that were part of this troupe,” Allwerdt said. “Here, you get a chance to learn how to sketch and write and act; it’s a very good starting point for the industry.”
Check out Emerson Comedy Workshop’s YouTube to watch recent shows and performances.
Hayden Murray ’28, ECW’s social media manager, echoed the sentiment.
“ECW stood out to me because of all the troupes at Emerson, it felt like the most familial,” Murray said. “Everyone is here because they love the outlet of comedy.”
For alumni returning to campus last spring for the anniversary celebration, seeing ECW continue to thrive was a reminder of the organization’s lasting impact.
“I’m very happy that the troupe is still around. I have very fond memories of this club. Being in this troupe made me the man I am today,” said Stephanak.