Divine Comedy (BYU)

Divine Comedy is a scripted comedy troupe at Brigham Young University which performs skits that poke fun at Mormon culture, BYU clichés, and popular movies and TV shows.

The group began in 1994, but initially found it difficult to boost attendance during shows. Since then, attendance levels have grown and shrunk, enjoying differing amounts of popularity over different years and settling to the comfortable, sustainable level the group currently enjoys. As cast members graduate from the university, auditions are held to replace them. In 2010, Divine Comedy released a music video spoof, "Provo Utah Girls" (a spoof of Katy Perry's "California Gurls"), which received over 1,000,000 YouTube views, completely topping the normal 14,000 views each sketch generally received. Following that, "Firebolt" (based on another Katy Perry song, "Firework") received several positive comments from people of non-LDS backgrounds who appreciated the clean, fun, and witty humor presented by the BYU students.

In 2012, several members of the group moved to BYUtv to form the new comedy show Studio C. Under the direction of Theatre and Media Arts professor George Nelson, the group aims to bring smiles and laughs to everyone who watches them.

In 2012, Steven Rosenfield, director of the American Comedy Institute in New York City, visited BYU and presented workshops about the comedy business. He spoke about the challenge to write and present clean humor. He said of DC members, "They are fantastic ambassadors for Brigham Young University."

In May 2013, Divine Comedy troop members traveled to Chicago, Illinois and attended a workshop by comedic writer Derek Shipman. Also in the spring of 2013, Divine Comedy's offshoot TV show, Studio C, was featured as the cover story of BYU Magazine. Divine Comedy's parody music video "Fail" made it to the Top 13 BYU Videos of 2013.

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