With skit names like "Gaybraham Lincoln" and "A Big Fat Floppy Cavanaugh" listed on the program, the 2007 Keenan Revue organizers set the tone before the curtains even opened Thursday.
Nothing was safe from the Keenan Revue writers, who targeted everyone from Breen-Phillips girls to University President Father John Jenkins during the three shows this weekend.
Popular skits included "Talk Love with Dos Padres," which featured two priests answering a fictional Notre Dame sex hotline to give students advice, "Catholic Disney World," a rendition of Aladdin's "A Whole New World" with inside jokes about Notre Dame substituted for the original lyrics and "And Then We Got In," which joked about what students learn after arriving at Notre Dame.
In addition to the skits, the Revue provided entertainment in the form of music and dancing. The audience seemed to appreciate the first musical number, "Rock & Roll All Nite," performed by band members with KISS-style face paint backed by pyrotechnics and a group of male dancers who stripped down to their boxers.
"Best choreography ever. I was looking out at the audience and everyone seemed to enjoy it," said Damon Jason, Keenan junior and Revue dancer who has performed in past Revues.
Senior Aileen Wu also enjoyed the musical numbers.
"The music was good, especially Panic! At the Disco's 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies,'" Wu said. "Another great Keenan Revue."
The audience's reaction was consistently positive despite a few technical difficulties.
Sophomore Ryan Oakley said he thought "the Bird Flu skit with the Wiggles" was funniest. Freshman Edward Yap said the Revue was an "outstanding show," but picked "Talk Love with Dos Padres" as his favorite.
While in the past, the Keenan Revue has been a source of controversy with its frequently off-color jokes - especially those about Saint Mary's girls - this year's show was less offensive, said Saint Mary's student body president Susan McIlduff.
McIlduff contrasted this Revue to the performance in 2004, when Saint Mary's students picketed outside in protest of the show.
"We only cut one skit. It didn't just bash Saint Mary's, but it wasn't comical. It was outright ridiculous," McIlduff said.
Since the Revue takes place on Saint Mary's campus, College student government representatives have been able to screen the skits for years, McIlduff said.
"We do cut things, [but] we want it to be funny ultimately," she said. "Everyone can take a joke and that's what the Revue is, but we don't want it to be outright ridiculous."
Despite treading the line between humorous and "ridiculous," the Keenan Revue seemed to please most audience members.
"Since I'm not gay or [overly] feminist, I just saw it for its humor. However, if I were otherwise, I definitely would have thought it pushed the envelope and might have been offended," freshman Anna Pavlov said. "Personally, I just thought it was funny."
