On a Monday night, you can find the executive board of The Plague in a back room of the seventh floor of Kimmel, but they don’t necessarily want you to.

“We had 50 people come in here for the first meeting,” Tisch senior and vice president of the magazine Johnny Bauers said. “You can’t run a comedy magazine with that many people.”

And writing the university’s only intentionally funny publication, as the Plague calls itself, is no joke: by the end of the semester, this team must produce an entire magazine of funny articles (“Purell Executives Amazed They Still Have To Add Bitter Taste To Discourage Ingestion”), monologues (“It’s Not Just The Molly Talking), lists (“Our Favorite Episodes of Mythbusters”), fake quotes (“Wayne Gretzky’s First Drafts”), letters (“Accountants in Love”) and lyrics (“Rolling Stone Kids”).

After the pizza arrives and people start to trickle in, a few clipboards are passed around, each with a different question on top (“Where did I leave my umbrella?” or “How can we keep peace of mind?”) for everyone to quickly answer as the meeting takes place. It is a free-for-all, slightly more politically correct version of Cards Against Humanity played in the background of the entire meeting.

The next portion of the meeting is for writing with very little instruction; the only prompt is “The Circus.” Gallatin junior and magazine treasurer Nic Sanchez pauses the quiet Charlie Brown music playing from his computer and everyone begins to write; I am reminded of a writing teacher I had in high school who made us journal for 30 minutes without putting our pencils down. I don’t think the same rule applies here, but many people, like Stern senior and president Rajat Suresh, write non-stop about bearded ladies, post-apocalyptic circuses and the elusive fourth ring. Some tap out monologues on iPhones while others handwrite or type their ideas.

After what seems like a very long time, the writing session is called to a halt and the floor is opened for reading. At first, no one volunteers. After most of the editors have read their pieces, however, nearly everyone in the room wants to share. It is a supportive reading environment for members to share laughs and workshop ideas.

Before the hour comes to a close, the clipboard responses must be read (“Oh shit, we forgot to read the lists!”) so that the good ones can be used in this semester’s Table of Contents, which provides no actual information about the magazine’s contents. Sanchez provides plenty of genuine chuckles and a few hearty belly laughs during the list-reading, often provoking more laughter from the audience. Many of the answers, however, elicit no
such response.

The Plague has been entertaining NYU students with satirical writing since the 1970s and will continue to publish once per semester until the end of time. They meet every Monday at 6:30 in Kimmel 710, but the editors would like to stress that new members are no longer welcome this semester.

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Oct. 11 print edition. Email Camille Larkins at [email protected].