Remember how I used to do Dee-rector’s commentary for all the Lenny Dee shows? Well you’re about to make some new memories! …With the third installment of Dee-rector commentary for Lenny Dee, focusing on Lenny Dee: You’re Outta Line, the Spring Term 2009 show. It’s been several months with only a few changes to the Dee’s line-up, so you should have a pretty good i-Dee (pun) of all the members by now. We’ll start with the sketch that wasn’t actually a sketch, but got its own YouTube video:

1.  Dee-Rector’s Intro (Vote for Chase Kimball!) – In which Tim and I introduce the show, but not before passing around a petition to have Chase Kimball on the ballot for CSA Senator (or something like that). A few people asked me if the pie exchange of questions and answers was scripted, and I can assure you that it most certainly was not. It came about as the result of Tim Carroll’s razor-sharp wit. My answer to what it’s like to be Tim was less razor-sharp and more rambling and nonsensical. And then we get the signatures, and we start the show! The inside jokes you may have missed:

• Tim’s favorite Chase story actually has very little to do with Chase, and much more to do with ManZone, a “Northfield community [unintelligible] for men and those who love them.”
• “Chase your dreams. Chase your Kimball.” might be the best campaign slogan ever.

2.  Dee-Rotica (this should be numbered 1., but I’m sticking to the odd system) – This was one of the rare sketches from the past year that was almost completely scripted. It also deals with the economy (but more about porn)! You may notice that Leah’s boom mic is, in fact, a broom stick with a sock taped to it. Jae Jae pronounces “vulnerable” as “vonnerable.” I also think that this sketch makes Tim’s and my homoerotic stage debut. The inside joke you may have missed:

• More of an inside joke you definitely missed: there were actually VHS copies of our real porno available after the show. Yeah. And because you weren’t there, you missed it. Sorry. Maybe next time.

3.  Raised by Animals – This sketch is based on the somewhat shaky premise of having our actors portray feral children all grown up (when Lenny Dee as a group is much more comfortable playing actual animals). I guess the message is that platypi are not only freaks of the animal kingdom, but people raised by them are social pariahs, ostracized not only by human-raised humans, but also animal-raised. And then Emogene comes in with the bear suit. The inside joke you may have missed:

• Nathan continues his tradition of appearing partially nude (for the second sketch in a row, Batman!) during a Lenny Dee show. Also, did you know that he’s not currently a Carleton student? If everything goes according to plan, he’ll probably be around for a grand total of 14, maybe 15 shows. Hot damn.

4.  Where’s… Surgery? – Did you see the Winter ‘08 show, Lenny Dee Presents: Dog Eats Turtle? It was a pretty good one, and this sketch was (nearly verbatim, but with different actors) a part of that show. The original sketch portrayed, as this one does, a frenetic surgery scene, at the end of which, the surgeon in charge asks “Who decided to schedule surgery in Little Nourse [Theater]?!” It was a laugh and a half, but not as good of an opener to the show as we had anticipated. Oh well, right? The inside joke you may have missed:

• Tim kinda looks like Waldo, right?

5.  Room or No Room – Apparently there’s this sort of popular game show where people just have to pick a suitcase from another one and they win money. Personally, I’ve never seen it, but Jared wrote this sketch parodying Carleton’s ResLife actions this year with the game show Deal or No Deal. This sketch is chock full of references to dorms and houses that are available for draw at Carleton. The inside joke you may have missed:

• Sweet Lou’s Waffle Bar and Café (sorry Jared… not a Waffle Haus) went out of business this January. I liked it a lot, but admit that it was a fairly niche market. Waffles. Maybe someday.

6.  That’s Still Wolf Andy! Pt. 1 – Remember Wolf Andy, the hit possibly anthropomorphic wolf student at an unnamed high school from Lenny Dee Goes There? He’s back, and he graduated. And entered Carleton College. He even found friends who are very reminiscent of his friends in high school, although different characters altogether! The inside joke you may have missed:

• Nothing. Wolf Andy is totally accessible and hilarious, right?

7.  Monitoring the Recession – Holy Jones. What a weird sketch. This one went by the development name “Lizard CEO” for the longest time, and it’s one of those sketches that I still have trouble calling by its “show” name. The premise, according to John-Michael, is that Emogene, who usually plays bears (remember?), is also pretty funny in a lizard costume (remember?). The rest, I suppose, is an accurate depiction of just how much Lenny Dee understands the current economic situation. The inside jokes you may have missed:

• The line “Hey Fed Chairman Bernanke!” was written in the script as “He Fed Chairman Bernake!” I like to imagine that it’s still that line, somewhere in the universe.
• I’d also like to order a Lizard Yacht.

8.  Where’s… Chariots of Fire? – Another reappropriation of a Winter ‘08 sketch, which I wrote, and which deals with a grown child-couple who speak solely in transportation euphemisms (“I think it’s time for the H.M.S. Tommy Trolley to roll the f*** out of my house!). And then there’s Waldo, who doesn’t quite seem to know what he’s doing there either. The inside joke you may have missed:

• When Lenny Dee writes domestic sketches, we like to cast parents who could plausibly create the children on stage. In this case, although it isn’t referenced in the sketch directly, within Lenny Dee canon, Mel is adopted. Nyah!

9.  That’s Still Wolf Andy! Pt. 2 – He’s back. He’s got a messenger bag instead of a backpack. And he kills and eats Toff.

10.  Twitter – This whole sketch is an explanation, and an apology, on behalf of Twitter. What you might not know is that over half of Lenny Dee (me, Lenny Dee itself, Jameson, Nathan, Emogene, Jared, Chase, Lizzie, and Dee-lumnus Leah) have Twitter accounts. It’s a constant love-hate relationship, with emphasis on the love. The inside jokes you may have missed:

• Though Jared asks “Who is it?” Tim isn’t on the phone with anyone at all. It’s his hand.
• Laura plays Shaquille O’Neal because she has red hair, which means she’s Irish, and O’Neal is an Irish name, so they’re probably even related, right?

11.  You’re Beautiful – This sketch was one of our first guest sketches in a long time. Evan Franco, campus cool dude who I lived not far from my freshman year, noted that Nathan and I bear more than a passing resemblance (an aspect of our relationship that was noted in the very first sketch of our first term in Lenny Dee, Fall ‘06). But it just so happens that, not only do we resemble each other, but we resemble the physical ideal for humans, male and female alike. Jae Jae and Emogene know this. Now you do too. The inside joke you may have missed:

• Dr. Evan? Dr. Franco? Yup, that’s an Evan Franco reference. Implants everywhere!

Guess what! You’re only halfway done reading the Dee-rector commentary for Lenny Dee’s Spring ‘09 show, You’re Outta Line! Come back soon for the thrilling conclusion.