Teis Jayaswal. A name to remember, folks. Jayaswal, a senior, began Comedy Copper (CC for short) late last June out of his garage near 23rd Ave. in N.W. Portland. But to understand CC, the brief story of Comedy Club (different from CC) must first be told.

Jayaswal and fellow senior Emma Weightman founded Comedy Club, the school lunch club version of CC, last April. It was a huge success.

“Every Thursday, it would happen again and again. We would count- ‘Whoa, he got 90 people! We got 200 people!’…It was getting bigger and bigger every single day,” says attendee senior Emily Ehlers.

Jayaswal reflects on his best comedic moments of those club meetings positively. “The two strongest performances I’ve had were last year during this two week period of Comedy Club when it was onstage in the intimate seating and those were two really funny performances where I roasted Jake [Ehlers] once, and I got a lot of laughs for that… I ended on a really gross masturbation joke. Mr. Pearlz was there.”

Jayaswal adds, “I do a lot of impersonations just in everyday life, and especially at home with my family, in Danish. I’m really funny in Danish. I’ve always wanted someone to learn Danish so they could, speak Danish to me.”

When the school year ended that year, for everyone who wanted to keep up the jokes over the summer, Jayaswal founded CC with fellow seniors Jake and Emily Ehlers and Ella Stewart.

“I didn’t think it was gonna be a big thing when I started it,” Jayaswal reflects. “I thought we were literally gonna take stuff out [of my garage], put a spotlight in there, and then just sit, or stand around on the ground.”

Jayaswal speaks almost reverently when he talks about Ella Stewart’s vision for the garage. “Because Ella had a vision and she wanted to make it really pretty and visually appealing,” Jayaswal explains, “it spiralled to something I didn’t imagine with curtains and lights around and painting it, I didn’t think we were going to paint it.”

Since its birth, CC has come in and out of existence, when Jayaswal finds a free Friday or Saturday to host it during the school year. Nonetheless, senior Gaby Lemieux, who frequently attends, has only great things to say. She says it’s pushed her to be more creative.

“I’ve never done so much creative work, like in my spare time, like just written comedy sets on my own.” She was so inspired to write and perform, Lemieux was honored as the MVP for performing a completely original set every week over the summer.

Emily Ehlers agrees, “I never thought I could write comedy,” to which LeMieux chimes in “And then you did and it was [freaking] hilarious”

Besides a creative-juice maker, Lemieux also sees CC functioning as a safe haven away from the monotony life often becomes, saying “I wouldn’t have made it through this year without that stress release.”

While Jayaswal began CC with humor in mind, it became something more over time. “The thing that I’m most proud of, is the community that’s come out of it. Not necessarily the comedy.”

But the question still stands, why the name Comedy Copper? Emily Ehlers removes the veil. “Comedy Copper, because it’s not quite comedy gold.”