For any standup comedian, “material” is everything. Yes, it will require editing, fleshing out, road-testing, but the quality of the material is crucial. Does it pulse snappily through to a meaningful resolution? Is it insightful without being mean? Sharp without being cruel? And most vitally of all, is it actually funny? Certainly the six students and four tutors on Camille Bordas’s very fully imagined university MFA in standup are ready for every moment of their lives to be mined for material.
The Material, Bordas’s second novel to be written in English (the first two were in her native French), slams together this constantly revolving cast of characters for 18 continuous, frantic December hours. Moving from edgy faculty meeting to eviscerating workshop to “active shooter on campus” lockdown (it turns out to be a prank call) to, finally, a comedy battle against a rival Chicago improv group, almost every interaction along the way is examined for its potential as “material”.
