GRADUATION SHOW PROVES PRESENCE IS ENOUGH; CLASS OF 2012 GETS LAUGH 'JUST BY STANDING THERE CORRECTLY'

In a week about showing up, the Comedy Desk revisits Alejandro, Mr. Samman's 2012 graduation show, which he says taught him that "you don't need much to get a laugh. Sometimes presence is enough."

Scholars of sketch comedy agree. "Most students try to do everything," said one. "Ten characters, three accents, a wig. He walked out, stood in the right place and the room did the rest."

This paper notes the same lesson appears in this week's podcast, where a friend in a Tokyo hospital stayed three hours and barely spoke. "Presence is enough," said our critic. "He learned it on stage in 2012. He learned it again in a hospital bed. Some lessons need a callback." A Jedi Master on Dagobah, reached by swamp, agreed: "Enough, presence is. Needed, the wig was not."