‘Sundial’ writes comedy across the Oval

Muyao Shen
Fri, 29 Aug 2014 02:05:03 +0000
Multimedia, Video, comedy, guinness, humor magazine, list, ohio state, osu, the sundial

Members of OSU comedy magazine ‘The Sundial’ write ‘the world’s longest comedy list’ across the Oval on Aug. 27.
Credit: Muyao Shen / For The Lantern

“All senior BFFs were roommates as freshmen.”

“We couldn’t afford Ke$ha.”

“Math TAs actually don’t want you to fail.”

“Bruce Springsteen teaches History of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

If you’re an Ohio State first-year student and decided to walk through the Oval on Wednesday evening, you might have been lucky enough to see these pieces of very “genuine” handwritten advice from your peers.

The Sundial Humor Magazine, a student-run comedy publication at OSU, chalked a comedy piece on the sidewalk — from one side of the Oval to the other — Wednesday as a tool to recruit new writers and those interested in The Sundial.

“So this is the world’s longest comedy piece, Guinness (World Records)-approved — no, it’s not … (it’s) basically a sort of get-to-know-you event with people who are thinking about joining our organization,” said Collin Gossel, editor-in-chief at The Sundial and a fourth-year in composition. “We are bringing everyone together. We got a bunch of chalk. We got some free pizza and some soda. We are writing a comedy list that stretches all the way across the Oval.”

The original purpose of this event was to “have fun”, Gossel said.

“We wanted something that would be fun and easy and approachable, even if you’ve never been with Sundial before, but also something that people who would just pass by could look and (say), ‘Hey, wow, what’s this? I wonder who did that,’” Gossel said. “So integrating all of that together, we thought of something public, something easy … We should probably get a bunch of chalk and write a list across the Oval.

“It seems like the only natural thing to do.”

The list could sometimes “inappropriate,” according to Ryan Greer, a third-year in chemistry.

“I’m kinda a dirty-minded person,” he said. “So I came up with things that are kind of inappropriate to say normally.”

One of the pieces Greer wrote was “OSU stands for Oh Sexy Freshmen.”

Others pointed out phrases they chalked as well.

“I wrote that particular one. It was, ‘You are allowed to scream on the 11th floor of Thompson library. Go ahead and try it,’” said Jackie Shreves, a third-year in English.

The Sundial was founded in 1911 and currently publishes online only.

“The Sundial Humor Magazine: The only thing we don’t write is a magazine,” Gossel said.

Students who participated in creating the piece were mostly members of The Sundial, and many said they enjoyed being part of the student organization.

“The Sundial Humor Magazine is a great thing if you aren’t very funny and don’t have any friends, because that’s what’s true about almost every single person here,” Greer said.