In this issue of The Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development, Lawson uses the story of Dorothy's journey in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Baum, 1900) to illustrate the heroic journey metaphor, which typically begins with a to adventure. When you think of a call to adventure as it relates to the practice of developmental education, you might have a tendency to think of a ropes course, white-water rafting, or camping in the wilderness. But if you're an urban kid growing in New York City, instead of perils far afield, the call to adventure might lead you to Dangerfield's--a popular Manhattan comedy club. That is, children and adolescents who are looking for elements commonly found in adventure-based education, such as risk, challenge, and a break with the familiar (Schoel, Prouty, & Radcliffe, 1988), are attending stand-up comedy classes that are being taught in schools and comedy clubs. Premises, punch lines, and tags--oh my! To gain a better understanding of the phenomenon, I interviewed Karen Bergreen, a professional comedian who has been teaching children the art of stand-up for more than 5 years. The students in her classes range from 7 to 18 years of age, with an average age of approximately 11 years. The age of 11 may be a particularly sensitive period for humor development, as Fuhr (2002) found, because both boys and girls naturally increase their use of coping humor between the ages of 11 and 12. In a similar vein, Karen insists that she does not teach children to be funny; instead, she teaches them to tap into and develop their native abilities. She describes the classes as boy-heavy and wishes that more girls would take the classes to counteract what she describes as a female tendency to be overconforming. I asked her to explain the possible benefits of classes for her students, and she replied, It's great for their self-confidence and self-esteem. No one's ever appreciated their oddness. Audiences just love them! She went on to explain that many of the kids in her classes tend to have sort of a misfit quality and that typically these are not the popular kids. Some are though; she also teaches kids who are very popular and for whom this is just one of many extracurricular activities. I observed Karen one Saturday afternoon as she taught a 3-hour class. Karen has ground rules that prohibit the students from using material that is offensive, makes fun of ethnic or sexual minorities, or makes fun of another person's physical appearance. Furthermore, kids are not merely telling naked, pedestrian jokes (or naked pedestrian jokes for that matter). Instead, they are taught and encouraged to develop reflective humor born out of the contexts of their lives. A primary goal for Karen's students is self-expression. The comic enactments or empower them to stand up to aspects of themselves or roles that they are discouraged from asserting in everyday life. Students also use act-outs to invite audience members to laugh at troubling aspects of themselves that they are courageous enough to publicly portray in the moment but also seek to better understand, accept, or more effectively integrate into their identities (Limon, 2000, pp. 4-7). Thus, stand-up can potentially facilitate identity formation and congruence. I spoke with six of Karen's students and asked them how they hoped to benefit from studying stand-up comedy. All of them expressed a desire to develop their senses of humor, to gain acceptance from others, and to become more socially skilled. A second primary theme related to identity formation issues. There were two girls in the class, and both appeared to be seeking to actualize aspects or sides of themselves that have been constrained by the expectations of others. Elizabeth, age 11, stated that she is perfectionistic, and as a result, her peers and teachers do not recognize her humorous side. She explained, My dad is too serious--I don't want to be like that. …