As the Limestone Comedy Festival takes over downtown Bloomington for the ninth consecutive year, Indiana Law rising 3L Conor Delehanty will be a familiar face, hosting or performing in three different shows throughout the weekend.
The Indianapolis native studied philosophy, criminal justice, and religious studies at Indiana University as an undergraduate from 2008 to 2012. On December 1, 2010, Delehanty tried something he’d always wanted to do—standup comedy. Home to the nationally renowned Comedy Attic, Bloomington has become a small mecca of comedy in recent years, attracting both household names (John Mulaney, Amy Schumer, Marc Maron, and Hannibal Buress, to name but a few) and up-and-coming superstars from around the country. It provided the perfect environment for Delehanty to get started in the field.
“Had I started doing comedy earlier in my undergraduate career, I almost surely would’ve dropped out,” he said. But he finished his undergraduate education—with three majors—and moved to Chicago, where he took a job as a real estate appraiser. The flexible work schedule allowed Delehanty to continue performing at Chicago venues. That led to a move to New York City, where he honed his standup skills while working various jobs to pay the rent.
“But I had always been thinking about law school,” he said. “It was my plan before I even started doing standup. If I hadn’t started doing comedy, I would’ve started studying for the LSAT even sooner.” His older brother, Joe, graduated from the Maurer School of Law in 2013, and following his path seemed a natural road to take.
So after nearly a decade away, Delehanty returned to Bloomington—this time as a 1L. Performing for audiences around the country helped prepare him for life as a law student.
“There are similarities,” he said of the pressures of law school and making a group of strangers laugh, “but it’s also different. When you’re doing comedy, you’re in control. You’re the one presenting. I’m still getting used to being in the audience, so to speak, but I realized after the first few cold calls, just knowing how to react on the spot helps me deal with it more than most students.”
Delehanty originally had a plan to become a public defender when he started at Indiana Law, but a stint at a public defender’s office last summer pointed him in a new direction.
“My whole 2L year I’ve worked with the Conservation Law Center, and really enjoyed that, so working in a public interest field like environmental law is something I’m thinking about now,” he said. He has a summer placement with the Indiana Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division, where he’ll help Hoosiers protect themselves against deceptive and predatory business practices. Delehanty is also active with the Law School’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Law Association, serves as a fellow with the Center for Constitutional Democracy, and is an associate with the Journal of Law and Social Equality.
Through all the demands of law school, Delehanty has remained active in the standup scene, performing his dry, cerebral comedy whenever he can. The annual Limestone Comedy Festival serves as a showcase not only for Bloomington as a comedy town, but for the city’s many successful comics.
Delehanty will perform as part of the Blooming10, where 10 local comedians perform at the historic Buskirk-Chumley Theater, and host two other shows at the festival.
“It’s amazing to me how Limestone happens,” he said. “I still remember the first night of the first festival. But the best part about it is that I get to introduce Bloomington to comedians who haven’t been here before. In a lot of bigger cities, some people’s perceptions of the Midwest aren’t accurate, so I love getting to show visitors the true character of this town.”
Mixing observational material with personal storytelling, Delehanty hopes to continue performing as long as he can—even after he earns a law degree.
“I realize that every once in awhile I may have to make that decision,” he said of focusing on a legal career instead of standup, “but as long as I’m still coming up with ideas, as long as the well isn’t dry, I think I’ll still be performing.”
While he waits to go onstage this weekend, Delehanty is eagerly awaiting his spring semester grades.
“Tell my professors I could use some good ones,” he said.
It wasn’t clear if he was joking.
You can catch Delehanty at the Blooming10 Showcase at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Buskirk-Chumley, or hosting shows for Emil Wakim (Friday, 10 p.m.) and Ashley Gavin (Saturday, 10 p.m.) at the Blockhouse Bar.
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