When Robby Haynos ‘22 was 9 years old, he saw Brian Regan do standup. Though Regan was a comedian Haynos loved and was excited to see, what he remembered most was seeing everyone around him happy, enjoying themselves, and of course, laughing. At this moment, he thought, “this is what I want to do.” From then on, Haynos has written journals full of jokes that have yet to be told.

Haynos is preparing to perform in his first special titled “Classically Handsome,” produced by the Robinson Players, the Bates student-run theatre organization. 

Originally, this event was supposed to be for his birthday. He wanted to do a show outside with a small number of friends and tell them all the jokes he has written over the years, especially the jokes he has written within the past year during the pandemic. 

Haynos mentioned his event idea to his friend on the Robinson Players board, and Haynos’s friend brought it to the rest of the board. The board then told Haynos that they wanted him to perform in Schaeffer Theatre for three nights. 

Haynos stated that when he first started writing jokes, he never really wanted to “‘perform,’ perform for a long time.” Haynos’s jokes come to him on the fly — he described that they either pop into his head or emerge through conversation. 

Either way, all of his jokes went into journals, which he didn’t normally share with people until he did some shows when he was about 16 or 17 years old. Yet, when he arrived at Bates that changed completely — well, almost.

Haynos’ show was originally scheduled for April 1-3, but was pushed back because of the campus-wide lockdown. The show has been rescheduled for April 16-18. 

When asked about his style of comedy and what comedian he is most like, Haynos laughed and said it would be egotistical at his age and young career to say which comedian he’s similar to. 

“Stylistically I’m playing around a lot … I like to think I have my own unique twist on everything.” He went on to say that he tries to draw from every comedian he watches and admires such as John Mulaney, Tom Segura, Nikki Glaser, Michelle Wolfe, and Dave Chapelle, to name a few. 

What Haynos has taken away from all his favorite comedians is that he does not “want to shy away from difficult topics … the point of doing comedy to [him] is speaking truth to power.” 

“I want you to feel uncomfortable at my shows, but I don’t want you to feel attacked.”

Haynos has considered this in all the jokes he has performed, making sure to strike the right balance between highlighting difficult truths in society, but also ensuring no extra harm is done. 

 He mentioned that some comedians have taken a stance against “cancel culture” where these comedians believe that they can say whatever they want, “but that’s not how it works … that’s not how I roll,” says Haynos.  

Haynos has described that his dream of being a comedian has been a pipe dream of sorts his entire life. But at one point he decided “f*** a pipe dream … I’m going to do it.” But, as a Rhetoric, Film, and Screen studies major, Haynos says that if comedy does not work out he will always have “that super stable T.V. industry” to fall back on.

Show times are 9 p.m. on Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets can be reserved on Eventbrite.