Today we continue the epic saga that is the story behind Lenny Dee Town.

8. Jarley & Jarley — Hal, the tech god, found the Jar Jar mask on eBay not long before the show. Jared had written a Star Wars sketch, but somewhere along the way we decided that we needed a Jar Jar Binks sketch. The overwhelming mundaneness of this one was offset by Tim’s over-the-top (or maybe spot-on) portrayal of the Gungan himself. The inside joke you may not have caught:

• We’re about nine years late with a Jar Jar reference.

9. Bon Bons — What to say that this sketch doesn’t already? I found the funny glasses (which aren’t very easy to see in the video) at Walgreens for two dollars. The script for this one took the longest to get off-book from, and Jameson (the student in and writer of this sketch), Nathan (1st representative), Tim (2nd representative) and I went over it several times every night in the hour before the show started. Originally, Nathan was supposed to have oranges in his hat that would, when he removed his hat, would roll around unrestrained, but they limited his head mobility too much. The inside jokes you may not have caught:

• Carleton students did, indeed, choose Bon Appetit as their new dining services provider.
• My suspenders didn’t snap this time.

10. World War II — I screwed up the “radio” line in this one. It should be much funnier. Henry and Tim play a lovable mother and son, respectively. The inside joke you may not have caught:

• Jared has secured his place as the Dee’s token “old-timey radio voice.”

11. Crime — There wasn’t a whole lot of planning that went into this sketch, but everything came together very nicely in the end. We encouraged John-John (#4) to sneeze on Chase (#3) from backstage, and were very pleased when he did so. The inside joke you may not have caught:

• Actually, this sketch is pretty straight-forward.

12. The Vietnam Conflict — The thrilling conclusion to the end of Captain Riley Obvious’ military career, which spanned several decades. Many Lenny Dee members are actual hippies, especially Jared (lone gunman). The inside joke you may not have caught:

• The “five gunshots” sound effect is a Lenny Dee favorite. We’ve used it in every show for the past year.

13. Jizzle Diamond — A warm-up we sometimes use to come up with ideas, is to write two unrelated words down on paper, in two columns, for two minutes. This brought us such goodies as “Gerald Winkler” (more on him later), “ardent nosebleed,” “bouillon safari,” “biddle baby,” and of course, “jizzle diamond.” Fun fact: Leah (the sexual old lady) had to say the “Herbert Hoover” line in front of her parents Saturday night. That’s commitment! The inside jokes you may not have caught:

• Henry, who was Captain Obvious’ wife, is meant to be the same character in this sketch.
• Jameson did not, in fact, ever finish the Rubik’s Cube. Chase (not in this sketch), on the other hand, can finish one in two minutes.
• In Spring ‘07, there was a sketch where Tim outlined the anatomy of a Lenny Dee sketch to the audience (it was one of the more meta things we’ve ever done). In it, he admitted (indirectly) that Lenny Dee often has abrupt, awkward endings to sketches. This one, I think, is an outstanding example of that.

14. Guns A-Blazin’ — Jared (Rob) had most of this sketch written out himself. I giggle a little bit every time I think of Tim, as a Popeye’s Chicken ad voice, saying “God is dead.” Check out Laura’s hand motions when she asks “Ann Coulter or Sarah Palin?” and her later catch phrase. The inside joke you may not have caught:

• “Grasp ‘n’ glisten” sounds really, really dirty.
• Jared (who pre-recorded the radio lines) reprises his role as FDR.

15. Here At Last — The sketch’s title (as opposed to “Big Chuck Wilmer’s Auto and Body Shop”) refers to the fact that we tried to foreshadow the coming of this sketch as much as possible. Many locations on the map are given in reference to Big Chuck’s (next to Popeye’s, two blocks from Speckler & Speckler). The impetus for this sketch: when I was writing “I Can’t Let You Do That,” I wanted Dave and Amanda to be driving to a funny place. An auto mechanic named Big Chuck sounded appropriate. We decided to write this sketch based on that line. Early ideas had a customer asking Big Chuck why he was called that, and him replying by vomiting copiously (get it? Big Chuck?). Eventually, it was decided that he was only big in comparison to his co-workers, who were British orphans. Leah and John-John are just adorable in these roles, and so knowledgeable about economics. The inside jokes you may not have caught:

• When Nathan and Henry come out for the song at the end, they are both wearing yarmulkes.
• Chase’s current course load somehow always works itself into at least one of our sketches.

So that’s it! I realize I said that I would have more for you nine days ago, so I’ll try to make it up in the upcoming days with lots of pretty drawings and whatnot. In the meantime, here’s the program from our show! Look forward to February, when I’ll give out more secrets and lies from our winter show! Yay!