Jonathan Bellah has a chance at being the last comic standing — at least in Baton Rouge.”Doing comedy is one of my favorite things in the world. It’s such an adrenaline rush,” the  history senior said.Bellah is a semifinalist in The Funny Bone’s Last Comic Standing Baton Rouge contest. Comics compete Thursday nights at 9 p.m.”It is similar to an open mic setting, but we have judges [and] some professional comedians,” said Tommy Pancoast, manager of the Funny Bone.Last Comic Standing Baton Rouge, which has no affiliation to the NBC television show, consists of four weeks of preliminary rounds — two of which have passed — followed by semifinal and final rounds.Pancoast said anyone, professional or amateur, can sign up for the competition.”We encourage anyone who thinks they are funny and who wants to get on the stage to sign up and bring some friends,” Pancoast said.While it’s not necessary to sign up for the competition, Pancoast  recommends calling and preregistering due to limited spacing.Each night of the preliminaries, approximately 10 comedians have a three-minute set.”As we whittle down the contestants, they’ll get more time on the stage,” Pancoast said. The winner of the competition gets a guest spot to open for a big-name comedian.”It will be a nationally recognized talent — someone who has been on television,” Pancoast said.Bellah is one of 12 semifinalists performing in the competition. Bellah, 22, started doing stand-up comedy a little more than a year ago. His first show was last year at the University’s Last Comic Standing.”I would love to make a career with it, but I realize that, for the most part, all it is is a pipe dream, which is why I haven’t foregone my final year of college, hired an agent and put my name in the pro draft,” Bellah said.While he loves doing stand-up, Bellah said he keeps it as a hobby mostly for monetary reasons.”If I could make money at it, I would consider doing it professionally,” Bellah said.In the meantime, he remains a student at the University and pays the bills by working at Voodoo BBQ & Grill.Bellah said the competition during Last Comic Standing Baton Rouge is tough.”There are plenty of good comedians in Baton Rouge that come out and do their thing,” he said. “It definitely wasn’t easy.” While he’s not nervous about the semifinal shows, Bellah did admit to being anxious, saying he would be “stoked” if he won and got to perform with a big name comedian.However, Bellah’s comedy isn’t used solely in front of an audience. He confesses to using it in bars as well.”My friends and I were out a couple of weeks ago. I sat down next to a girl at a bar and said, ‘Do comedians get a discount or do we still have to pay full price?’ which apparently is offensive,” Bellah joked.Some University students, while disliking the prices at the bar, enjoy the comedy scene developing in Baton Rouge.Thomas Bonck, sociology senior, said he has a lot of fun at comedy shows in the area.”My favorite part of the shows is watching the comics pick on the audience,” Bonck said. “It’s fun to watch all the people suddenly become self-conscious. And with famous comics like Dave Coulier coming here, comedy is definitely on the radar.”—-Contact Catie Vogels at [email protected]