Constant adrenaline and high expectations course through the air as the cast and crew of “Saturday Night Live” rush to meet deadline. There are two hours between the first dress rehearsal and the start of the aired live show, and if something needs to be fixed or changed, it happens before 11:30 p.m. Nothing stands in the way of start time. After working over 70 hours that week, it all comes to life in front of millions of viewers as the announcer declares, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”

While working at “Saturday Night Live” means getting little to no sleep, fast-paced schedules and strict deadlines, John Mulaney (COL ’04)  only expresses joy when talking about his profession, “Nothing compares to working here. At ‘SNL,’ you can just get better at what you do. Constant creativity.”

A writer for “Saturday Night Live,” Mulaney is the mind behind Bill Hader’s flamboyantly gay and the questionably drugged character Stefon (“You know, it’s that thing when … “). Mulaney even makes appearances on “Weekend Update With Seth Meyers” when he needs to address the community about such troubling issues as why one cannot buy Girl Scout Cookies without contacting a girl in a beret. “Just put them in a store and I’ll buy them. …They [Thin Mints] are fantastic. Put them in the freezer next time, unless you don’t like having your mind blown,” Mulaney said, while asking why Thin Mints can’t simply be sold in stores year round.

Although a job at “SNL” is a dream for many, it’s not all play. The production of the show for Saturday night starts on Monday when the cast and crew meet with that week’s host for the first time. Between Tuesday and Friday, the writers create 40 to 42 sketches, which means little sleep and numerous rewrites. As if writing dozens of complete sketches from scratch isn’t enough work, the writers at “SNL” are also the unofficial producers of all of their sketches, “I didn’t realize how much we would learn about producing,” Mulaney said.

After five hectic days, Saturday arrives, proving that the workweek for “SNL” writers very much extends into the weekend. With the first run-through in front of a live audience at 7:30 p.m., writers have exactly four hours to correct anything with the show before the 11:30 p.m. deadline, when the live show starts airing. Mulaney added, “People are literally sprinting to other places with corrections and fixes.”

Mulaney now tours the country doing stand-up when he isn’t in the mix of “Saturday Night Live,” but he officially began his performance career on the Hilltop. Many young comedians and aspiring performers assume that it is necessary to attend universities well known for their performing arts programs, such as University of Southern California, UCLA or New York University in order to pursue their dreams. However, comedians John Mulaney, Mike Birbiglia (COL ’00) and Nick Kroll (COL ’01) prove that you don’t need to go to a school for the arts in order to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.

Mulaney’s trajectory, for instance, started with the Georgetown Improv Association. “It was a great way to start my time at Georgetown and every year got better,” Mulaney said, explaining that it was his time with Georgetown Improv that helped him create a network with other talented students. This, in turn, helped establish a path to an actual career in comedy.

It was during Mulaney’s time in Bulldog Alley, home of the Georgetown Improv Association, that he met Birbiglia and Kroll. “The best thing about being there was meeting Nick Kroll and Mike Birbiglia and doing something with comedy,” Mulaney said.

In an industry where a network of close connections proves necessary to help market your talents, the friendships established at Georgetown would later help Mulaney land a profession with one of the most famous variety shows in television history.

A pivotal point in Mulaney’s career came when he realized that he needed to make it big with an everyday crowd, not just his fellow striving performers who make up the audience at “open mics,” where comedians gets five minutes to perform. Constantly performing for audiences alongside Birbiglia allowed Mulaney to build up his comfort level on stage, while honing in on his abilities as a paid stand-up comic.

After graduating in 2004, Mulaney continued to work with Birbiglia and Kroll, both of whom played a role in shaping his abilities to perform stand-up and scripted acts for audiences. Performing comedy with Kroll provided Mulaney with an avenue to meet new comedians and talent; and Birbiglia took him out on the road, so to speak, to perform in front of new audiences. This time, however, it was a professional gig.

And Mulaney is not the only one making inroads. Birbiglia continues to gain prominence in the realm of stand-up, especially in New York City, where he has produced his popular off-Broadway comedy show “Sleepwalk With Me.” Having released three comedy albums — one of which, My Secret Public Journal Live, was named one of the best comedy albums of the decade by The Onion — Birbiglia has perfected the art of storytelling.

Birbiglia captivates an audience’s attention by sharing stories about personal experiences with teenage employment, pornographic computer viruses and his infamous sleepwalking disorder. He kicked off his second show, “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend,” in New York City on March 31.

While the well-received “Sleepwalk With Me” contained stories of his experiences of growing up, he has chosen to take a new direction with his second show.

Birbiglia attributes a large part of his success to his time at Georgetown. His time with Georgetown Improv, he said, was particularly instrumental in his development. “The people I met really helped shape my experience at Georgetown and really my life … including John and Nick, [are] some of my closest friends today.”

Some would argue that studying at Georgetown is a disadvantage when trying to make it big and competing against performers who received degrees from more traditional arts schools. But according to Birbiglia there is a distinct advantage to attending a university that doesn’t focus on just the arts.

“Sometimes you meet people from NYU or another arts-focused school, and that’s all they know. At the time I don’t think I appreciated Georgetown. But in retrospect, I’m so glad I went there.” Birbiglia continues, “I was most affected by John Glavin’s dramatic writing classes. I use lessons I learned in those classes literally every day.”

“There’s an advantage to not being at an arts school,” Mulaney added, explaining that there is more to creating a career in the entertainment industry that other schools lack. “That’s the thing about Georgetown. You’re surrounded by successful people.”

Fellow comedian Kroll also continued to fine-tune his talent after graduation, and landed roles on TBS’s “The League,” a voice on HBO’s “The Life and Time of Time” and spots on popular shows like “Parks and Recreation.” He’s also played a modern-day Neanderthal on “Cavemen,” the ABC sitcom based on the GEICO character.

Kroll also used his abilities to further his career by contributing to “Chappelle’s Show” and “The Human Giant,” both popular sketch comedy shows. Alongside his television gigs, Kroll performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City and Los Angeles, a comedy theater founded by “SNL” alum Amy Poehler.

Kroll’s take on his time at Georgetown is unusual. There were, he said, certain aspects of the university, intentional or not, that helped him forge a path for himself as a known comedian — by learning the value of being a jack of all trades. Specialization, he said, would have been detrimental.

“The most useful thing I got out of being at Georgetown was to learn that I needed to do everything. Not how to do everything, but that you have to keep the ball rolling by learning all different aspects of doing comedy,” Kroll said.

But in other aspects, Georgetown wasn’t always a place for refining one’s comedic talent. “I don’t think they really took what we were doing very seriously and that hurt me,” Kroll said. “Which is ironic that I wanted my comedy to be taken seriously.”

Even with lackluster support from the university, there was still a niche for comedians, Kroll admits — even if it was more unconventional. He credits Georgetown Improv as a major factor in establishing lasting friendships.

“Being in the Improv group and the people I worked with in the group were the most useful things I got out of Georgetown.” Even to this day, Kroll remains close to Mulaney and Birbiglia, “We still write and perform together, do shows on the road together, help each other with ideas,” Kroll said. It is important to maintain a relationship with one’s roots, he emphasized — even for those with lives in the fast lane.

While Kroll believes that Georgetown wasn’t the perfect place for budding comedians, there are aspects of developing a career in the entertainment industry that don’t rely on the university that the aspiring entertainer attends. Fortunately, in this day in age, students aren’t confined to the boundaries of their campus. “The beauty of comedy in the digital age is how democratic it is. … You can be anywhere and do comedy,” Kroll said.

Today, the school no longer matters as much. Mulaney, Birbiglia and Kroll are testaments to the fact that it’s possible to become well known in the industry, even when coming from a pre-professional powerhouse. Aspiring comedians should not feel restricted by their school; rather they should seek to break out of the bubble.

“If you really want to do something, do it. Just do it,” Kroll said. “The only way to get good at doing something is to actually do it.”