Yesterday, I promised you “director’s commentary and insider information.” Today, that’s what you’re getting! Hopefully by now you’ve watched all the clips on YouTube and have a reasonably good idea of all the characters, sketches, and recurrent storylines (of which there are many). I’ll include, where necessary, actors’ and writers’ names. Ready? Go!

1. Welcome — A Carleton tradition is Screw Your Roommate night (the Friday of sixth weekend), a.k.a. Set Up Your Roommate. We wrote the mini-sketches you see here separately, incorporating the John McCain/Sarah Palin bit probably two nights before the show. Originally, we had meant to write and choreograph a song/dance number to the tune of “Summer Nights.” The first verse and chorus were written, but sadly, were lost because of the time constraints. The inside jokes you may not have caught:

• Nathan (first sketch, red T-shirt) made a name for himself two years ago for taking his shirt off at parties. It’s a tradition that he does so at least once in every show of ours.
• Equine Outfitters is a store in Northfield that’s tragically going out of business, after a year on Division Street. Their dirty secret? It’s actually a cover for the bondage gear market.
• I have flour in my hair.

2. Above the Influence — A parody of this commercial. Written by Jae Jae, a member of the Dee who took this term off but will be back in the winter. The song is “Smoke Two Joints” by Sublime. The inside joke you may not have caught:

• Neither Nathan nor Chase have ever actually been high, but are good actors.

3. Speckler & Speckler — Written by Henry (who plays the commercial voice in this sketch). One of the few totally scripted sketches, Nathan (Larry) and I (Fred) never performed this one exactly the way it was in the script. Fortunately, most of our lines consisted of various tragic/nonsensical reasons for suing, so there was room for improvisation. The inside jokes you may not have caught:

• Two years ago, Nathan and I were in a sketch portraying twin fetuses (feti?) inside the womb. Is it possible that they were born to a woman named Speckler, and grew up to become Larry and Fred? We may never know…
• Speckler & Speckler’s office is located two blocks from Big Chuck Wilmer’s Auto and Body Shop.

4. I Can’t Let You Do That — I wrote this over the summer, and we revised much of it as a group. The 2001: A Space Odyssey references came to mind only when I realized that I had written a sketch with a sentient machine and a man named “Dave.” Also, every town should have a Makeout Ridge. The reference to Big Chuck Wilmer’s Auto and Body Shop was an original part of this sketch, provided only as a destination for Dave and Amanda. The name was inspirational enough that we eventually wrote an entire sketch based on it. The inside jokes you may not have caught:

• The line “You met me at a very strange time in my life” (0:56) is lifted directly from Fight Club.
• The line “Open the Hyundai doors, pal” (2:34) sounds like “Open the pod bay door, HAL” from 2001: ASO.

5. World War I — Henry (Riley’s superior) provided the idea for Captain Obvious to be an actual military figure, and Jared, Nathan and I (the soldiers in this sketch) wrote the three vignettes depicting his rise and eventual fall. Of course, WWI was not referred to as such in 1917, but we felt it was important to spell it out. The inside joke you may not have caught:

• “Get Back” by Ludacris is a really, really good song.

6. Sweethearts on Parade — Jameson (tall, blonde fellow) wanted a sketch in which the lines were only song lyrics this spring. He didn’t get his wish then, but absence makes the heart fonder, and this fall he brought us a script that was pretty promising. The inside jokes you may not have caught:

• At Carleton, when “Like a Prayer” is played, it’s the cue for everyone present to take off their shirt. This is less an inside joke and more of a rigid, unchanging law for Carleton students.
• Sweethearts on Parade is the actual name of an album released by Lenny Dee (the pop organist, not the sketch comedy group) in the ’50s or ’60s.

7. Wise Old Owl — written by Tim, this is one of the few sketches that changed very little from conception to performance. I play Mr. Bullfrog, Chase plays Wise Old Owl. The inside joke you may not have caught:

• My suspender snapped and I couldn’t fix it. I came up with the line “Picked this up from Mr. Possum. If there’s one thing I always say, ‘If he ain’t lyin’ to you, he’s playing dead,’” on the spot. It doesn’t actually make sense, and I couldn’t use Mr. Possum for my next line, so I also made up Mr. Garter Snake. He don’t bite none.

This is a lot of words, so I’ll leave you with this map of Lenny Dee Town (actually Cal Tech, but Photoshopped) and the promise of more to come tomorrow.