Binghamton University’s Bing Stand-Up hosted its first virtual performance of the semester last Friday in a show called “Hot and Sexy Comedians in Your Area.” Using YouTube Live, the show featured a group of six masked comedians performing on a small stage, with a few select audience members off-camera to provide laughs for the stream. This is the second semester that Bing Stand-Up has had to adapt to the digital performance environment, albeit with a small audience.

While COVID-19 punchlines crept into many performers’ sets, the jokes and personalities were still the main focus. Early in the show, a masked-up Grace Scouten, treasurer of Bing Stand-Up and a sophomore majoring in human development, joked about her parents’ finalized divorce by comparing it to a variety of people and things, such as Kurt Cobain, Matt Lauer’s career and movie theatre previews.

“These are things that are things that are shorter than my parents’ marriage…that stage of [COVID-19] where everyone still thought it’d be over in two months,” Scouten said.

The focus was very much on the humor, but with Scouten and the other comedians alone on a computer screen instead of a traditional stage, you can see the shadow pandemic precautions cast over any attempt of student groups to gather. The mood, though, was anything but gloomy. Bing Stand-Up comes off as less of a club and more of a close-knit friend group. Performers teased each other before passing off the mic and oftentimes ended up as punchlines in each other’s jokes. The few carefully selected live audience members had the same effect, with good-natured heckling and cheers at inside jokes, even making fun of the club itself. Later in the set, Simrohn Iftekhar, social media chair of Bing Stand-Up and a junior majoring in computer science, addressed the title of the show.

“It’s like those types of ads you get when you’re pirating anime online,” Ifetkhar said. “Or when my mom is trying to convince me to find a man.”

After the show, Ifetkhar explained the idea behind the show’s title even further by comparing it to the themes of shows in past years.

“Typically, in the spring semester, we do a sex-themed show because our show would usually land near Valentine’s Day and sex sells,” Ifetkhar said. “So, this year it was cybersex. You can expect funny stories and takes from us on relationships, sex and why feet pics are so goddamn expensive.”

Much like a theme as goofy as cybersex might indicate, the vibe of the performance was casual and fun, something even the awkward disconnect of watching a livestream can’t fully take away. While some technical difficulties were present, specifically with the stream’s audio, Bing Stand-Up is keeping the club active despite the pandemic. In a year where several clubs have had to cut down on meetings or cancel altogether, it’s refreshing to see a student group fully embrace the world of virtual-only meetings in all of their absurdity. Evan Groder, vice president of Bing Stand-Up and senior majoring in philosophy, politics and law, explained the difficulties of performing virtually.

“[Bing] Stand-Up is a uniquely personal and social experience,” Groder said. “In this online format, it is definitely difficult to foster that same cohesion as compared to all being crammed into a classroom together trying things out. Our numbers have definitely tightened since the pandemic started, but we also have some killer new members. As for bringing us closer together, we’re a total family now and I couldn’t be happier.”

Virtual or not, Bing Stand-Up is one of the most energetic and funny groups on campus and their shows are worth checking out.