Watching reruns of any TV series is usually unbearable, especially when that TV series is intended to make you laugh. But this year’s MV SNL seemed to prove this sentiment with a production that had their audience laughing all night long. And despite a few blemishes, and expected awkward moments, the 2012 cast of MV SNL left us with a valuable lesson Saturday night: that everything is a thousand times funnier when you know the people donning the dress, wearing the wig and putting on the accent.
If you haven’t noticed yet, the theme that gave root to the show was “class” and naturally the producers had to find the most casually dressed teacher at Monta Vista to host, Mr. Brashears. The show began on a high note, with a sketch entitled Romeo and Juliet: FBLA vs DECA? It took the well-known school rivalry between Monta Vista’s leading business clubs and gave it a creative twist, with guest appearances from Romeo and Juliet in a love story that could definitely go into business. The ending of the first sketch, segued beautifully into the intro video, leaving the audience giddy for more.
After the event suffered a small setback, with sketches that seemed to leave the audience with more questions than smiles, the show was back on track with Mr. Subliminal. Mr. Maloney, played by senior Aneesh Prasad, had the uncanny ability, staged, to convince, mind wash, his fellow employees of anything by subtly, obnoxiously, embedding his intent into every sentence. But all jokes aside the secretary’s Brooklyn accent, accurately portrayed by junior Maddi Klein, was truly “unfawgetable.”
But the biggest highlight was the Visiting Queen a sketch that poked fun at England’s famous royals. The plot was based loosely on Kate Middleton’s first meeting Prince William’s parents, featuring Brashears as the Queen and senior Sruti Mamidanna as Prince Phillip. After customary introductions were made Prince William was called out of the room leaving Kate alone with the elders. Immediately the royals morph from their previously poised selves into a pair of hungry British dogs, interrogating Kate mercilessly. When a flustered Kate middleton responds, that their secretary already briefed her on all the royal etiquette, she gets the response of “I’m not talking about salad forks, love. This ain’t the Princess Diaries.” No, the Princess Diaries it most certainly was not, that wasn’t nearly as disturbing or funny. Brashears and Mamidanna’s hilarious dynamic was evident from the crowd’s booming laughter, for it was truly a smashing performance, almost overshadowing the hilarity brought on with the image of Brashears in a dress. Almost.
The intermission was preceded by a guest performance by Seventh Day Breakdown, who although very talented, may have not been the best performance choice for Friday night’s old fashioned audience.
The night ended as it began, with a buzz. Literally. Celebrity Jeopardy was the last sketch, and with an odd grouping of Batman, Katniss, Sean Connery and Michael Phelps as contestants, laughter was expected from the very beginning. Despite a few oddly misplaced jokes of the “your mama” variety the audience was visibly shaking with laughter.
MVHS SNL 2012 was a night filled with epic dresses and truck loads of laughter. Despite a few sketches gone awry and less than hilarious characters, by the end of the show the production had managed to find it’s true SNL essence and made Saturday one classy night.
