John Druska

John Nicholas Druska (b. Dec. 5th, 1984) attended Indiana University from 2003 to 2007. He graduated with honors from the College of Arts and Sciences with a degree in Cinematological Studies, a discipline he invented through the College's Individualized Major Program. He attended IU on a Chick Evans Scholarship and lived all four academic years at the Scholarship house located at 1075 N. Jordan Rd. He is best known for his two year membership in Bloomington's IU sponsored sketch comedy troupe All Sorts of Trouble for the Boy in the Bubble, and for various appearances on local TV stations IUSTV and WTIU.

Biography

Druska was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was baptised at Old St. Mary's Church, but shortly thereafter his family relocated to Defiance, Ohio. In 1994, the family made it's final move to Berwyn, Illinois, a suburb 1 mile west of Chicago.

Druska attended public school through his 8th grade year and attended St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago for High School. There, he acted and bowled.

When Druska was 13, he became a caddie at nearby Riverside Golf Club, a private course. He would retain this title (in addition to stints in bag room and as Co-Caddiemaster) for ten years, finally retiring after completing the summer following his graduation from IU. This job allowed him to receive an Evans Scholarship, one intended specifically for Midwestern caddies. Druska has stated this Scholarship alone enabled him to pursue college at all, let alone Indiana University.

All Sorts of Trouble for the Boy in the Bubble

In the fall of 2005, his junior year, Druska auditioned and was accepted into Bloomington's premiere sketch comedy troupe, All Sorts of Trouble for the Boy in the Bubble. His fellow inductees included Hanna Dillon, Brett Alexander, World Record holder Jon Coombs, Sandy Danto and Aaron Waltke, whom Druska would live with and help found Moon County in latter years.

Druska was a consistent writer whose content usually employed creative obscene language and outlandish awkward sexual or social situations. He often wrote himself as a normal person who is pushed to unrealistic levels of rage over inane or unimportant details. Several sketches revolved around Bloomington-centric phenomena such as "The Pizza Express Complaint Department," and "Sprickets." Druska and Danto also portrayed sportscasters providing play-by-play of drunk co-eds hooking up at Bloomington's various bars. Druska collaborated with Matt Loman several times for unspoken, silent scenes relying on extremely awkward invasions of personal space as their comedic crux. Druska has stated one of his proudest moments with the group was compelling a group of spectators to leave a Boy in the Bubble show after seeing an abortion related scene which he penned.

At his first after party, Druska finished a ceremonial forty ounce bottle of malt liquor in an impressive less than 60 second time. This, coupled with his 21st birthday later in the semester, and the consistent celebrations of the 2005 Chicago White Sox playoff run, often mid-rehearsal, earned Druska the reputation as one of the group's stronger drinkers. Despite this, Druska has maintained he never performed with the group while under the influence of any substances.

Druska was the keynote speaker at Hanna Dillon's 2009 graduation roast.

IUSTV and other Television Appearances

Druska was a featured contributor on the IUSTV comedy news program "IU Live." In a Weekend Update format, he would editorialize in a direct address to the camera. Some of these pieces also garnered negative backlash, particularly a segment where Druska "accidentally" satirized Islam.

In addition, Druska starred in three different S.C.A.P. sitcoms on the PBS affiliate WTIU, in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Controversy in Bloomington

On October 26th, 2003, Druska was relieved of his duties as a dishwasher at Kappa Delta sorority, due to being caught the night before breaking into the kitchen with several other Evans Scholars in order to steal food. This initiated the great Scholar purge from Kappa Delta, a trend that was only reversed when Druska, New Scholar Educator in 2006-07, orchestrated several meal jobs for incoming freshmen Scholars at the house.

In the early morning of September 11, 2004, Druska was issued a Public Intoxication Citation by the Bloomington Police Department. It should be noted that the Police did not arrest Druska, possibly due to several drunken underhanded compliments Druska paid them at the time of confrontation, which are documented in the official police reports of the citation. An unreleased recording of Druska's school-ordered meeting with Alcohol Counselor Walt Keller remains in Druska's personal collection.

It is widely believed Druska attended an Atwater party while under the influence of copious amounts of LSD. Druska has tried - unsuccessfully - to disspell these rumors by stating he was faking the hallucinations and was rather under the heavy influence of alcohol.

RogueDeathSquad and the Evans House 2007 Bowling League

The Spring of 2007, despite Druska's known talents for bowling, saw his first appearance in competitive bowling since the Illinois State Championships of 2002. Druska and Evans suitemate Chris Lausche assembled a team to vie for the title, and acquired the only in-house defending champion from the previous season, Jordan Collins. For their fourth teammate, the team was deadlocked.

The seemingly indestructible Team Boozebag, comprised of Josh Mielcarek, Steve Dawson, Steve Zent and Samantha Vincent-Feipel, unhappy with a previous non-championship season, inexplicably released Zent into the free agent pool, optioning Vladimir Kroshinsky's contract in hopes of a championship season. This maneuver is often equated as the Bloomington Indiana Amateur House Bowling League equivalent to drafting Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan. RogueDeathSquad acquired Zent and easily progressed to the playoffs that year.

In the quarterfinals of the championship night, RogueDeathSquad won by way of forfeit, which set up an epic old school/new school showdown for the semifinals. It would be RDS vs. a stalwart sophomore squad of Jay Quillin, Ryan Nagle, Karl Schaefer and Tyler Olson (it should be noted that Team Boozebag failed to progress past the quarterfinals). The match remained extremely close until Druska, who had been drunk and inconsistent most of the season, picked up a near impossible 1-2-10 split in his 10th frame. Lausche tacked on 27 more pins on his final volleys, making for a narrow, 12 point margin of victory.

Audible catcalls of "sandbagger" and "cheater" cascaded down from the crowd as RogueDeathSquad entered the lanes for the title match, but they easily disposed of their challengers to capture the championship, Druska's first professional title and Collins' third consecutive.

Post Graduation

Druska currently resides in Los Angeles, CA, pursuing a career in acting. Most of his friends are fellow IU graduates.