12.  A Bunch of Sketches – Bananas bananas bananas! This is one of the few times when we’ve had a series of related vignettes when we don’t disperse them throughout the show (for example, Wolf Andy, Captain Obvious, Gerald Winkler, etc.). The first vignette asks a question that I think we’ve all asked ourselves at one point or another, “Do bananas have butts?” This is Tim’s debut as a bananas on stage, and Laura’s as a (human-headed) gorilla. What happened to the mask? We have no idea. The second features Jae Jae and Lizzie as two laundry-folding stay-at-home (I guess) bananas. It’s interesting that each vignette portrays a different anthropomorphized version of bananas (these two can use their hands, while Tim couldn’t). We finally arrive at the third vignette, where everyone is eating (real) bananas! I have so many, so many bananas, and I fit so much banana meat in my mouth. So much that, when I burst out laughing at Leah on the ground, it all spills on stage! The inside jokes you may have missed:

• The bumper music between each of the vignettes is the theme song for Nannerpus, a delicious-looking food that was in a Denny’s commercial during this year’s Super Bowl. Personally, we think it’s a failure of a commercial in that Nannerpus, which is not meant to be appealing, actually appears to be hilarious, fun, and tasty.
• I’m not exactly sure how you can have a direct view of a banana’s anus without seeing its butt, but I’m not in medical school. Maybe someday.

13.  Apocalypse, Version Y2K(9) – Lenny Dee (alright, mostly me) has always been a huge fan of post-apocalyptic sketch comedy. As far as I know, this is one of the first shows where we’ve actually depicted the Apocalypse. This version grew out of Emogene writing a sketch for John-Michael (which is appropriate and a little cute because he wrote Monitoring the Recession for her) as a robot living during the Y2K(9). I reprise my role as Renegade, in what is perhaps an origin story for the man thriving in the post-apocalyptic future (you would get the reference if you saw Dog Eats Turtle). My favorite moment in this sketch is Tim’s interrupted and awkward entrance onto the scene. The inside joke you may have missed:

• Renegade, I suppose, is the big one. John-Michael’s distinctive lack of a “robot voice” is another. Oh, and the line “How about we make love? It’s the end of the world” inspired Jared, Nathan and I to write a rock opera entitled, or at least containing the song “Let’s Make Love Like It’s the End of the World (‘Cause It Is).”

14.  Surprise in the Dark (Tribute to Hal Edmonson) – Some background is certainly needed here. Hal Edmonson, tech director extraordinaire and all-around great guy has served as some sort of major structural part of the skeleton of Lenny Dee for the last two years, but, being a senior, graduated not long ago. His feats include, but aren’t limited to, finding a Jar Jar Binks mask on eBay, taking care of ridiculous lighting and sound requests, all while serving as a major player in ETB (Experimental Theater Board). The first half of this sketch, involving me searching the dark stage with a flashlight while Laura plays piano, eventually discovering the monstrous visage of Tim Carroll. The latter half was performed one night only, on Saturday. The inside joke you may have missed:

• The flashlight portion of the sketch was originally written to (intentionally) be the least funny sketch Lenny Dee had ever performed. The idea, then, was that Hal would see us rehearsing this, be totally confused and probably a little disappointed in us, and then when we performed the song for him, he would have his mind blown. As it turned out, the flashlight sketch was actually pretty popular, and on the night we sang, Hal couldn’t hear it too well, so we sang it for him again (though slightly more off-key) at the after-party. Irony, right?

15.  Marco, the Sly Hitman from Houston – A sketch written with only a character name/phrase as inspiration (similar to Lenny Dee Town’s Big Chuck Wilmer). It’s a sitcom about a man who, upon losing his job in the recent economic crisis (yeah, we went there), begins killing for money. As it turns out, there’s very little that’s sly about Marco, and much more that’s fatherly and caring. The inside jokes you may have missed:

• This isn’t a joke so much as me bragging, but I recorded and sang the entire “Marco” theme song myself. Three vocal parts, drums, and two keyboards (gotta love that GarageBand).
• A real inside joke: the five gunshots. Keep counting.

16.  Where’s… An Off Day? – This sketch was originally performed in the Spring ‘07 show (whose name may be lost forever, unless someone can find it and bring it to me!). The joke here is that the audience hasn’t, up until this point, seen Waldo’s lower half, which, of course, is pantsless.

17.  She’s Flying High – One of those fleeting, wonderful sketches where what you see is exactly what you get. I have nothing else to say.

18.  Lincoln vs. Darwin – If you’ve watched Bravo in the last few months, you may have come across a show entitled Make Me a Supermodel. A Carleton student, Colin Steers, was a contestant on this season of the show. I’ll admit it, he’s hotter than the average Carl. Turns out, he’s also a pretty funny guy who does a mean (though clean-shaven) Abe Lincoln. This sketch, mostly written by former Lenny Dee member Greg Hunter, was highly relevant this year, the 150th anniversary of both Abraham Lincoln’s and Charles Darwin’s births. I know who my biology roommate Peter was rooting for in this grudge match. One major chnge from Greg’s script was the latent sexist line “…you can’t. ‘Cause you’re a woman.” This was originally a slap in the face toward evolution, calling it a “humbug.” We also added the tortoise, played by Leah, crying over Darwin’s dead body. The inside jokes you may have missed:

• Apparently, origami paper cranes = finches.
• COLIN STEERS CAMEO!!!

19.  That’s Still Wolf Andy! Pt. 3 – Wolf Andy (finally) graduates from Carleton College. Will we ever see him again?

20.  A Complexxx Rap Group – Ever have spirit assemblies in middle school? One of the most memorable ones at mine (Whitman M.S.), was a performance art group: a saxophonist, dancer, and slam-poet performing together. While maybe appropriate for a college-aged liberal arts audience, it totally went over the heads of me and my fellow middle schoolers. To write this sketch, the four of us involved actually spent some time freestyling during one memorable practice. So did John-Michael’s two prospective students that he was hosting, one of whom said something so foul and indecent that it shan’t be repeated here (but if he comes to Carleton, and is interested in Lenny Dee, he’s in fo’ sho’). The sketch also features an appearance by Shaggy, played by Emogene (the second time in this show alone that we have a white woman playing a black man… sort of a reverse White Chicks thing). The inside joke you may have missed:

• Leah, Jared, and I get to play ourselves, while John-Michael plays the socially aware Jake. Emogene, as was stated, plays Shaggy, which actually isn’t that different from her everyday persona.
• Even at the time we performed this sketch, in early May, swine flu was all but forgotten about.

21.  Apocalypse, Version Z – Is it a movie trailer? Is it a love story? Is it Zombies sweatin’ to the oldies? I like to think that this sketch is all of those things, and more. More being fat zombies, too often overlooked in the zombie culture. The inside joke you may have missed:

• The theme from Rocky, played during zombie Tim’s workout montodge, is a reference to last Spring’s (incredibly depressing) musical montage sketch starring Chase.

And with that, another year of Lenny Dee is finished. I probably won’t write a lot on the subject until October again, but I hope you’ll be back, ready to read more about Carleton’s only sketch comedy group. You’re an expert on us now. Join me in a farewell to departing seniors Tim, Leah, Jae-Jae, and Hal. They’ll be missed. Join me in welcoming Jameson as rising Junior Dee-rector. He’s back in America, and back in our hearts. And again, thanks for reading.