Hey Everybody! My name is Tom Runkel and I've been told I'm a pretty funny guy. I've loved comedy my whole life. My sister introduced me to SNL at a young age and that was it for me. I knew I needed to make people laugh. Last year, I took a comedy sketch writing class in nearby Pittsburgh, PA, and I absolutely LOVED it. The featured photos come from our end-of-class show where we got to showcase the sketches we wrote and perform them for a packed (albeit no cover charge) house. In these particular sketches, I played a mobster shark paying off the mayor of the town in "Jaws" and the self anointed King of Donuts.

Now, this class was from a local and growing bar/comedy spot named Bottlerocket (cheap plug). So you can imagine that when I found they were partnering with the improv group, Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), I was ecstatic! An honest-to-goodness nationally recognized comedy institution right in my backyard.

But, obviously, recognition comes with a price tag. While my sketch writing class was only a couple of hundred bucks (which I still had to scrimp and save for), the introductory class for UCB is almost 500 smackers! Not to mention my 40-mile drive in and out of the city for each class (about an hour each way depending on traffic).

Now you may ask yourself, "Tom, why don't you just save up the money like you did the last time?" The short answer is time. I'd love to get in on the ground floor with the first class and it starts in mere weeks. Not enough time for me to save more than double what I did the last time.

So, if you can find it in your hearts (and more importantly, your wallets) to help me make this dream a reality, I would forever be grateful.