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A troupe of new comedians will show off their skills for the first time during a “Funny Womacks and Friends” show on Friday evening at the Explore More museum in downtown Harrisonburg.

Hosted by Harrisonburg-based comedy couple The Funny Womacks, the show will be held at 7 p.m. and feature Chris and Dawn Womack, the five members of their graduating comedy class, and former comedy student Kacey Damaty.

The show is the finale of a four-week comedy class that the Womacks taught. They challenged students in the class to develop a five-minute stand-up comedy set using their individual voices.

“They’ll each be doing an original stand-up comedy set between five and eight minutes about their own life experiences,” said Dawn Womack. “They have a variety of experiences and comedic voices, so the show should be interesting — and a lot of laughs.”

Womack said former student Kacey Damaty is “fabulously talented” and has helped the Womacks host other shows before, including at Court Square Theater in Harrisonburg. Her stand-up routine will close out the show.

“We want to bring her back to grow and evolve her blossoming career,” Womack said.

This current class, which started Sept. 25, is the Womacks’ fifth group of students.

“We can’t give it all away, or no one would take the class,” Womack said. “But we teach the basics of stand-up comedy — how to be aware and observant of the way they look at the world, to find their own funny ideas, we call them premises. We teach them what a setup is and what a punchline is. We teach them what comedians you see on big stages or streaming services do.”

Every graduating class performs a show with the Womacks. The shows are professionally produced, which Womack says is a way for students to either begin their careers or “check off their bucket list.”

Kacey Damaty was part of the May class and said it was a valuable experience. She said she has done a few open mic nights in Charlottesville, but the class was her first practical experience.

Damaty said her favorite part of the class was the “writing cycle.” After the students performed their comedy routines at the beginning of the class, they workshopped the routines with each other.

“You get feedback from other students, and then you have ten minutes to write based on the feedback, and then you get up again and perform,” Damaty said. “It’s a really unique and special opportunity. Once a week, you get a writers’ room experience.”

Damaty said her style of comedy is conversational, based on her own life.

“I like to tell stories,” she said. “I think for all comics, most of what we talk about is rooted in experience. The way Chris and Dawn teach, that’s where they start.”

Womack and her husband will perform first to “warm up the stage” for the five students, while Damaty will last. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $12 or at the door for $20.

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