Tomorrow night, something will grace the main stage of Washington Hall that has never been seen before at this University - a live sketch comedy show created entirely by Notre Dame students. "The Mike Peterson Show" is in its first season on the school's cable access station and will be presenting its Year-End Spectacular Friday evening at 7 p.m. NDTV, Notre Dame's television station, was built from the ground up just three years ago. In the beginning, it was a small group of students who worked to air one show every two weeks. Today, the channel has expanded to include two weekly shows, including "The Mike Peterson Show" and a news program. More than 60 students from a variety of schools and majors within Notre Dame run the station."The Mike Peterson Show" began when Adam Fairholm, the co-creator and executive producer, had an idea to expand the comedy skits in NDTV's original program into something resembling his own version of a late night talk show. With inspiration from famous shows such as "Saturday Night Live" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," Fairholm and Peterson formed their plan. They wanted to form a new sort of institution on the campus of Notre Dame, and create a buzz around it. Since the show first aired at the beginning of this semester, six episodes have been created.Besides Peterson himself, who plays many roles including host, writer, director and editor, 25 other members of NDTV have been hard at work on this one episode alone. This includes a large group of writers, the executive producer, three camera operators, sound and video operators and many others. Peterson had been the comedy producer before the show was created and was consequently chosen to host the newly-created show."We have a blast doing it, and I think it really shows through," Peterson said. Guests for the Friday special include Sergeant Tim McCarthy, the famous pun announcer from Notre Dame football games, and Jeff Stephens, the talented rapper who makes his home in Keenan Hall. Peterson also promises a live house band, much like Conan O'Brien's "Max Weinberg 7.""The show will consist of sketch comedy, as well as live bits that will go on throughout the course of the show, so you never know what is going to happen," Peterson said when asked about the content of Friday's show. "The Mike Peterson Show Year-End Spectacular" is a great event to showcase the creative talent of Notre Dame's students. For those students who want to catch up on what's already happened, re-runs of previous episodes can be viewed on NDTV on any television with cable on campus or at the station's website, www.NDTV.net."This is something new for ND, something you've probably never seen before," Peterson said. "It's definitely a low risk show. The tickets are free, so you should get more than what you paid for.""The Mike Peterson Show Year-End Spectacular" will begin Friday at 7 p.m. in Washington Hall. Tickets for the show are available at the LaFortune Box Office.
