Young comedians find the funny side of life

“How do two poets greet each other?”
According to Brian Hernandez, they say, “Hey haven’t we metaphor?”
If you have ever visited Brian Hernandez’s Twitter or Facebook profile they are littered with similar puns that one can’t help but chuckle over. Hernandez is a current junior and an IB diploma candidate and is known for his carefully worded puns that receive a multitude of likes, favorites and re-tweets and have even given him the unofficial title of “class clown.”
As a full-time IB diploma candidate, his puns relate with school issues, classes and his extracurricular activities and are usually “inspired from just things that happen to me during the day,” he said.
Though the puns are personal they are equally relatable. “I write them so people can have a nice little laugh once a day and to put a smile on their faces.”
His humor is driven by his constant strive to be different. For instance, his Twitter profile states, “You were born an original so don’t die a copy,” which is a mantra of sorts that he sticks to.
He adds a personal twist to his jokes.
Though his puns highlight his humor, his multitude of extracurricular activities really give an insight into his goals and future plans.
“I’m in the Statesmen Singers so I have to devote time to that as well.” he said. In fact, he aims to major in music in college.
In addition to Statesmen Singers, Hernandez beatboxes and participates in other creative endeavors like Art Club and Key Club.
“Hey, why am I so funny?” John Townshend asks a fellow student as he stands in the hallway. “I don’t know, but you are freaking hilarious,” his friend replied.
Townshend won the senior class superlative of class clown along with Lauryn Johnson. Though they both won the same award, they have vastly different approaches to their humor.
“I am constantly pulling pranks, both inside and out of the school,” Townshend said.He recalls one instance where he wore a gorilla suit, walked into a grocery store and bought bananas. He then proceeded to throw bananas at passerby, evoking laughs.
In addition to their humor, their response to their superlative was equally different. “I am not at all surprised by the nomination,” Townshend immediately stated.
“I am just really funny and I joke around a lot,” he said. “I knew everyone would pick me.”
Lauryn, on the other hand, expressed complete surprise over her nomination.
“I actually have no idea what made people vote for me,” Johnson said. “Maybe it is because I am just extremely goofy and I don’t embarrass easily.”
Senior Aleena Gharib believes that Johnson deserved the nomination.
“Lauryn is really unaware of her funniness,” Gharib said. “She doesn’t make a joke as an act and even her facial expressions can make a class burst into laughter.”
With these vastly different personalities, the senior class clowns show that “funny” doesn’t come in a neatly packed box but is found in being yourself.