Spring Break
The Daily OrangeComedy group pushes the limits for laughs
By James Shomar
Posted: 10/11/09, 11:36 PM EST Section: Feature
There wasn't one button that was left untouched during Penguin Without Pants' premiere performance of the semester Friday night.
Skits ranged from television show parodies to ones full of Anne Frank jokes. Some made audience members uncomfortable, but in the end, the room was still filled with laughter.
Penguins Without Pants, a student-run comedy troupe, brought out tears of laughter Friday night as they put on their show in the Jabberwocky Café. The student sketch comedy group performed the goofy "Pumbles the Bear with No Self-Esteem" skit.
They also performed a "To Catch a Predator" parody called "To Catch a Puppeteer," where Davis Haines, a sophomore in the School of Education, does an impression of Chris Hansen, the host of "To Catch a Predator," and catches a puppeteer (Ian Chin, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences) who is about to have sexual relations with a puppet. The confrontation goes on just as it would in the show - Chin pulls out strange things from his pockets including a bottle of bleach, asks questions why he was there, and even pulls out a fake internet conversation between the puppeteer and the puppet.
The group also performed a few skits parodying television commercials such as "Lawyers Who Wear Skirts," which was a joke based on the classic lawyer commercials that urge clients to call them up with grievances. There was also "The Man Condom" skit that demonstrated a sexual climax that ended up being more gross than actually funny. Later in the skit, "The Man Condom" ran out to sterilize the audience by touching them. The whole act was a bit awkward, but the audience was still in stitches.
The show featured around 16 different skits total, starting with the funny yet gruesome story of how their friend, The Penguin, was murdered by wild baggers and ending with a mock of many daytime television justice shows, "Chief Justice Rick Diculous."
Some of the more controversial skits, including an Anne Frank parody, did cause a few gasps in the audience. In the end, it was only laughs as she left her basement to go find Chinese food, only to run into a Nazi soldier dressed in uniform in the back room of the stage.
Caitlin Guthoff, a senior television, radio and film major said that this was her first Penguins Without Pants show and that she would definitely come to another show. She really enjoyed "The Vaseline Skit," where the performer rubbed himself in Vaseline and different characters handed him items that kept sliding out of his greasy hands.
Guthoff said, "It's sketch comedy. It's hilarious, zany skits whose purpose is to make you laugh, not to teach a greater lesson."
jashomar@syr.edu
Skits ranged from television show parodies to ones full of Anne Frank jokes. Some made audience members uncomfortable, but in the end, the room was still filled with laughter.
Penguins Without Pants, a student-run comedy troupe, brought out tears of laughter Friday night as they put on their show in the Jabberwocky Café. The student sketch comedy group performed the goofy "Pumbles the Bear with No Self-Esteem" skit.
They also performed a "To Catch a Predator" parody called "To Catch a Puppeteer," where Davis Haines, a sophomore in the School of Education, does an impression of Chris Hansen, the host of "To Catch a Predator," and catches a puppeteer (Ian Chin, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences) who is about to have sexual relations with a puppet. The confrontation goes on just as it would in the show - Chin pulls out strange things from his pockets including a bottle of bleach, asks questions why he was there, and even pulls out a fake internet conversation between the puppeteer and the puppet.
The group also performed a few skits parodying television commercials such as "Lawyers Who Wear Skirts," which was a joke based on the classic lawyer commercials that urge clients to call them up with grievances. There was also "The Man Condom" skit that demonstrated a sexual climax that ended up being more gross than actually funny. Later in the skit, "The Man Condom" ran out to sterilize the audience by touching them. The whole act was a bit awkward, but the audience was still in stitches.
The show featured around 16 different skits total, starting with the funny yet gruesome story of how their friend, The Penguin, was murdered by wild baggers and ending with a mock of many daytime television justice shows, "Chief Justice Rick Diculous."
Some of the more controversial skits, including an Anne Frank parody, did cause a few gasps in the audience. In the end, it was only laughs as she left her basement to go find Chinese food, only to run into a Nazi soldier dressed in uniform in the back room of the stage.
Caitlin Guthoff, a senior television, radio and film major said that this was her first Penguins Without Pants show and that she would definitely come to another show. She really enjoyed "The Vaseline Skit," where the performer rubbed himself in Vaseline and different characters handed him items that kept sliding out of his greasy hands.
Guthoff said, "It's sketch comedy. It's hilarious, zany skits whose purpose is to make you laugh, not to teach a greater lesson."
jashomar@syr.edu
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