Joining a diverse comedy scene at Dartmouth — characterized by stand-up performers, improv groups and satire magazines — sketch comedy show and termly humor magazine Can’t Sell Culture offers a new approach to comedy, according to co-founder Lulu Alonso ’25. The group provides a “writer’s room environment” focused on collaborative comedy writing, she explained.
“[Before Can’t Sell Culture, Dartmouth] literally did not have a sketch comedy group,” Alonso said.
Founded in the spring of 2023 by Alonso and Connor Norris ’25, the group tries to maintain a membership of 12 to 13. Norris added that every member — from the founders to the newest additions — plays a role in content ideation.
“We have a big joke exchange at the beginning [of the term],” Norris said. “Everybody brings what they have to the table and reads it, and [if] people laugh at it, it might go in. And then if it falls flat — then that’s it.”
The best ideas are workshopped and fitted into the group’s sketch shows, which take place twice a term and are open to the Dartmouth community, Alonso said. According to Sophie Cohen ’26, who ran the club when Norris and Alonso were on off-terms and study abroad programs, these shows often take place in smaller venues such as Greek houses or basement rooms around campus.
A few times per term, a subsection of Can’t Sell Culture meets to work on the club’s termly magazine, according to Norris. While not everyone attends, the meetings offer a collaborative space — members have even invited input from students at other schools, Norris said. For example, one of the magazine’s writers attends Duke University, and Can’t Sell Culture has a “magazine exchange” planned with the Harvard Lampoon and Yale Review, Norris said. The magazine also welcomes submissions — including short jokes and drawings — from Dartmouth students who are not in the club.
When complete, the magazines typically consist of short jokes or bits and comedic drawings. The copies are then printed off campus, shipped back to Hanover and distributed by various members of CSC. A copy of the magazine will be delivered by the club to the lobbies of most residence halls, according to Norris.
“We get the boxes [of magazines] and then go out like Paul Revere in the night,” Norris said.
According to Norris and Alonso, many different comedy writers inspired the magazine, but George Meyer, a writer for “The Simpsons” who edited a niche publication called “Army Man” in the 1980s, was integral. “Army Man” magazine contained short, one-off jokes and gags as well as absurd drawings — similar to the content published in the Can’t Sell Culture magazine.
Norris and Alonso, both members of the Dog Day Players improv troupe who shared a love of sketch comedy, came together during the winter of 2023 to brainstorm and trade comedic influences. Eventually, they came up with a written “constitution” outlining the club’s structure, audition process and other foundational details.
To generate interest among potential future members, he and Alonso then began to reach out to “funny” people across campus.
“We reached out to people who we thought were funny or that would be interested,” Norris said.
After getting some backing from the community, Norris and Alonso had to formally pitch the idea to the Council on Student Organizations.
“It was a big round table and we had to Zoom in and justify it to everybody,” Alonso said.
From the outset, this was a difficult task, Alonso said. At that point, Dartmouth already had several other comedy groups on campus — from Dog Day to rival improv troupe Casual Thursday — and COSO questioned whether Dartmouth needed another similar club. Can’t Sell Culture’s unique positioning as a sketch comedy group — with an accompanying magazine — ultimately helped set the club apart, Alonso said.
In the spring of 2023, the first round of auditions began. Auditionees were asked to recite a monologue, which could be drawn from nearly any source, and to do an impression. Impersonations during the audition included Machine Gun Kelly and “a guy you wouldn’t want to be stuck in an elevator with,” Norris said. Today, the audition process looks much the same, Norris said.
“We were just looking for what the auditionee finds funny,” Norris said.
In its first term, Can’t Sell Culture accepted around 10 members, in addition to the founders. This fall, the group accepted an additional four.
According to Cohen, the overall number fluctuates when members are off campus. Even as members come and go, the group has maintained a warm, casual atmosphere, according to Cohen. Alonso expressed similar sentiments about the group’s vibe.
“Our meetings are just so fun,” Alonso said. “They’re maybe a little too casual, but they’re very casual. … I definitely just want to translate a feeling of comfort and relaxation.”
According to Cohen, the group’s greatest challenge so far has been managing large crowds at smaller venues — although she joked that her non-existent “great security team” usually keeps people in check. Now that the club is entering its second year — and gaining popularity — the spaces are sometimes too small for the audiences trying to enter, Cohen explained.
However, Alonso said Can’t Sell Culture’s biggest challenge is yet to come: with Norris and Alonso graduating in June 2025, the proverbial torch of leadership must be passed on.
Norris and Alonso selected Cohen and David Adkins ’26 to lead the club next year, according to Norris. Despite a change in leadership, Can’t Sell Culture appears to have a bright future.
Cohen said she has high hopes for the club moving forward. She has been happy with the way things have been run so far and plans to continue in much the same manner — although she has goals to upgrade the group’s shows to bigger venues.
With the momentum of the last two years, Can’t Sell Culture is set to be a major force in the comedy niche of Dartmouth’s performing arts scene. Norris and Alonso said they are excited to see how the club will continue to change and mature over the coming years.
“I would love if it was to continue … and blossom and have a life of its own,” Norris said. “I think it’s a really great group that we have. I would just love for it to live on in good spirits.”
Connor Norris ’25 and David Adkins ’26 serve as cartoon editor and opinion editor, respectively, for The Dartmouth. Neither was involved in the writing or production of this article.
