Sketch Comedy: A Campus Dee-light!

You all are probably tired of reading my blog posts about accidentally joining activities. So, I swear this is the last one! Anyways, today, my accidental club of choice is Lenny Dee. Lenny Dee is our sketch comedy group (à la SNL) here on Carleton’s campus. It is definitely my favorite activity I am involved in (like the bonafide favorite, favorite). Read more if you want to learn more about me making a fool of myself!

Becoming a Student Comedian

As suggested, I never envisioned myself becoming a student comedian. I thought of myself as more of a one-off joke type of person. My housemates, Kapani and Isabel, suggested I audition for the group due to my quick wit and proclivity for accents. I was still pretty unsure of myself because I didn’t know how I would function in a more structured setting. Ultimately, I decided to just put myself out there. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Within just a couple of weeks after joining the group, I felt like I found new friends and a new creative passion. 

Being a Student Comedian

Practicing

Although I had become a certified campus funny person, I was still a little nervous about my comedy chops. As a group, we meet twice a week for about two hours. In addition to our time spent all together, we also write on average one sketch per week–about three pages of writing double-spaced. This ends up being a pretty time-intensive club, but I appreciate the creative outlet. At our meetings, my sketches typically garner good laughs within the group, but I am never quite sure how they will translate into a performance. 

Performing

I had my first chance to perform during the fall term. My anxiety was running rampant all throughout tech week. Performing had never been my strong suit, and I was really nervous my mediocre acting abilities would ruin some sketches. The sketch I particularly stressed over was a sketch which I wrote about mimes at marriage counseling. Ultimately with our many hours of practice, the show ended up incredibly.

With this newfound confidence, I’ve also performed well these past two terms. I’ve gradually become a better actor (look no further than my British accent). In my opinion, Lenny Dee’s shows just keep getting better. As we all grow together as a group, our shows become funnier and funnier. Sure, not all sketches get the same amount of laughs from the audience nor do we always perform our best, but that doesn’t matter. Lenny Dee’s performances are just the outward-facing part of the organization, not the entirety.

Moving Forward

As much as I’ve loved this past year of Lenny Dee, I remain excited about the future. It was incredibly sad to see all the seniors leave. This is a bit of a theme with my blog posts, but honestly, I’m so thankful for the relationships I’ve developed with seniors whether it be through activities, working, or just residential life. Since I’m abroad in the fall I will not be involved in the audition process this upcoming year, but I have faith the other members will make good picks. Maybe check out our Youtube? Be warned it is college sketch comedy.

Aidan (he/him) is a rising Junior from Batavia, IL. He is a Religion and French and Francophone Studies double major with a Cross-Cultural Studies minor. You can often find him at the campus’s two dining halls chatting with other students while working as a student dining hall manager. He enjoys spending his time outside of class cooking and hanging out with his housemates in the Culinary Interest House and performing in Carleton’s sketch comedy group. Aidan also loves to broadcast music to the greater Northfield community on the college radio station, KRLX 88.1 FM. Meet the other bloggers!