Joel and Phil go back - way back to their time together at Kenyon College, where they cut their teeth as members of the campus sketch comedy group Beyond Therapy. They would go on to become educators, a profession marked by its brave embrace of life's hilarities- all the while vowing to someday join forces for the good humors of humanity. Hilarious Youth is a vision born of the joys of teaching and comedy, writing and performing. The joy of life itself!
Phillip Laurent
Phillip is a teaching artist based in San Francisco, CA. He has a bachelor’s in Studio Art and Political Science. In pre-pandemic days, he was active on the live storytelling / early childhood education and theatre circuit. For seven years, Phillip served as director of the Theater in Education program at Young Performers Theatre in San Francisco, bringing performative storytelling, reading and collaborative problem solving exercises to schools throughout the city. He has also worked extensively with elementary and middle school students, teaching play production and filmmaking classes, as well as directing dozens of live performances. Phillip is a playwright and director who produces works performed by and for the youths. He got his first taste of formal funny business as a comic strip artist for his high school newspaper. From there Phillip would go on to join and eventually lead Kenyon College’s Beyond Therapy sketch comedy troupe, where he met good pal and fellow Hilarious Youth co-founder: Joel Jablon. The irony of the class clown turned teacher is not lost on Mr. Laurent.
joel Jablon
Joel Jablon is an English teacher in Portland, OR. Joel is originally from Washington DC, moved to Ohio to earn his bachelor’s degree in English and Philosophy, eventually moving to Portland to attend Lewis and Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling. Joel loves hiking and camping in the Great Northwest, biking to school everyday, and, of course, writing. Joel’s focus has been on writing comedy since high school, starting the Improv club as well as planning performances for the group. He was accepted in Beyond Therapy, the longest running sketch comedy group at Kenyon College, which he eventually led. He still teaches satire classes to Portland high-schoolers today. Joel loves superheroes, probably too much, especially Batman. Joel is excited to be traveling to Morocco this spring after receiving a Fulbright Teaching for Global Classrooms fellowship. Don’t worry; he’ll be back before the summer!