Republished from The Maneater

Four months ago, Hilary Slaughter decided to try comedy.

The junior theater major, and member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, tried an open-mic event at the Eastside Tavern in downtown Columbia this June.

“I was bored,” she said. “I like to watch standup, and I’ve always wanted to do it.”

Since her comedic debut, Slaughter has performed at the Ashbury Coffee House in Chicago and the Hyena’s Comedy Nightclub in Dallas. On Sept. 30, she decided to take a shot at Déjà Vu Comedy Club’s Last Comic Standing 2010.

Slaughter opened Thursday night at The Vu with a six-minute set during which she joked about drive-thru prostitutes, sang a rendition of Ke$ha’s “TiK ToK” with more realistic lyrics and talked about the reactions she gets when people find out her mother is a neurosurgeon.

“It’s, ‘Oh my god. You’re mom’s a neurosurgeon? She must be like so smart. Is she so smart? Is your mom so smart? Do you feel so stupid around your smart mom all the time?’” she cracked in a faux dumb blonde tone.

Slaughter’s performance earned her enough votes to move on to the semifinal round of the competition, which offers a grand prize of $150 and a future booking date.

“I think it was a good performance,” Slaughter said. “I’m always looking to improve and get better, but I think it was a good performance.”

Slaughter’s mom, Diana, is a common source for her material.

“I guess because her job is so serious, and what she does every day, all day, is emotionally draining that she comes home and just wants to laugh and have fun,” she said. “So if I can make her laugh, it makes me happy.”

Members of Alphi Chi Omega sorority were out in full strength to cheer her on. Twin sophomores Jessica and Lauren Rouse were two of Slaughter’s sorority sisters in attendance.

“She’s funny all the time,” Jessica Rouse said. “She just randomly stands up and says funny stuff.”

Slaughter used her humor to write Alpha Chi Omega’s “Toy Story”-themed recruitment skit this year, and Lauren believes Slaughter’s skills could take her to the professional level.

“She has definite potential,” Lauren Rouse said.

Slaughter has a serious interest in becoming a professional comedian in some capacity.

“It would be cool to do it as a career,” she said. “I do hope to do something with comedy. I don’t know about standup as a career but comedy for sure.”

Slaughter’s dream would be to work on “Saturday Night Live,” but her main desire is to do what got her into standup in the first place.

“I love to make people laugh,” she said.

Original: http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2010/10/5/slaughter-kills-deja-vu-comic-contest/