The organizers of the Keenan Revue vowed to fight a "war against humorlessness-ness" this weekend - and then delivered on their promise with 38 skits during the three nights of the 30th annual show.
Audience members in Saint Mary's O'Laughlin Auditorium Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights reacted positively to the two-hour event.
"Let's just say my face kind of hurts from laughing so much," Notre Dame freshman Liz Berger said after Friday's performance.
The introduction to the show mentioned the Revue catered to a mostly female audience, which became apparent as both acts of the show began with Keenanites stripping off their clothing in synchronized dance routines.
The Revue touched on several current issues at Notre Dame. In a series of sketches, Keenan Revue stuntman Vince Lyzinski spent 30 seconds braving "The Vagina Monologues," the "Gay and Lesbian Film: Filmmakers, Narratives and Spectatorship" event and open-mic night at Legends.
Another skit commented on Notre Dame's lack of diversity. It introduced the University's most diverse class, consisting of about 20 white students with popped collars - and one Hispanic student.
Notre Dame football also served as the subject of several skits. In a parody of the Superfan sketches from "Saturday Night Live," Superfans of head coach Charlie Weis predicted "Da Irish" would beat Georgia Tech in the opening game of the 2006 season by a score of 256 to negative four. They opined that Notre Dame junior football wide receiver Jeff Samardzija would emerge victorious in a game against a team of sharks in the Atlantic Ocean.
One of the most well received skits centered on Sergeant Tim McCarthy, the famous pun announcer at Notre Dame football games. In the skit, McCarthy is pulled over by the police for driving under the influence when the policeman finds a dead prostitute in the backseat. The McCarthy impersonator tries to use his jokes to get out of an arrest, but is led away by a police officer while saying "Remember, if you get behind the wheel while hammered, you just might get nailed in the prison shower."
Notre Dame and Saint Mary's girls were also the brunt of many jokes. In a skit titled "Indiana Jones and the Basilica of Doom," Jones embarked on a quest to obtain the Golden V - virginity - which lay under the protection of ResLife. He found the Golden V and replaced it with an item of equal worth - a case of Keystone Light. When Indiana returned from his mission with the Golden V, he was surprised to see his young sidekick already had two and asked where he got them. The sidekick replied, "I went over to Saint Mary's. They give them out for free."
ResLife was another popular victim of the Revue's humor. Keenan resident Michael Varley sang "REScape," a song to the tune of Enrique Iglesias's "Escape." Varley sang, "You can run, you can hide, but you can't escape ResLife." In another skit, a Keenan Geisha berated a lower Geisha for breaking parietals.
Two skits transferred computer or Internet programs into real life. In "Facebook Party," a male Notre Dame student sent the "Facebook guy" to poke a potential love interest, and later a "beautiful bus" ran the girl over. The skit ended in a confrontation between Facebook and MySpace.
Members of Keenan 4 North brought the computer game Oregon Trail to life. As they traveled along the trail, they discovered "wild fruit" - represented by a flamboyantly gay man wearing a "Gay? Fine by Me" shirt.
The Keenan Revue is known for testing the bounds of propriety, and this year was no different. One skit showed severely disabled people competing in the Special Olympics version of Global Guts. The Keenan Revue News displayed a picture depicting University President Father Jenkins as the lead actor in the sequel to the movie "The Forty-Year-Old Virgin."
Notre Dame sophomore Kathleen Karrenbauer attended the show Friday night.
"I think I liked the Oregon Trail part the most, and [I liked] the fruit scene because that was so unexpected," Karrenbauer said. "The handicapped one I really didn't know what to think ... It was funny, but at the same time, I was like, 'I can't believe they just did that.' But that's the whole point of the Keenan Revue."
