A tradition that started in 1976, the 46th-annual “Keenan Revue” hosted by Keenan Hall kicks off Thursday.
After COVID-19 protocols moved last year’s show into Notre Dame Stadium, the dorm’s signature comedy event will return to Stepan Center this year.
As custom, free tickets were given to students with a two-ticket limit per student ID.
On their main platform, @keenanrevue on Instagram, the hall posted a 30-second informational video with the caption “It’s like SNL, but on Thursday and Friday too.”
Ticket distribution occurred from 4-6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 1 in LaFortune Student Center. The 2022 Revue runs from Feb. 10-12, with a show each night from 7-9 p.m.
Residents of Keenan Hall rehearse for the annual Keenan Revue.
Residents of Keenan Hall rehearse in Stepan Center for the annual Keenan Revue. The 2022 Revue will take place Feb. 10-12.
Like other years, this year’s show will include skits, dancing and live music.
Senior Patrick Brennan, this year’s producer, as well as head writers and seniors Luke Maurice and Luke Sheridan-Rabideau have all been involved in the Keenan Revue since their first year at Notre Dame.
Brennan’s involvement in this year’s Revue began earlier in the academic year.
“I found out that I was the producer of this year’s show before fall break,” he said. “Like two weeks before Christmas, we had the theme picked. And the week before Christmas, we had our music picked. The skits were picked the second week of school.”
Maurice also said the process for formulating the Revue can begin sooner.
“During the summertime, ideas are just kind of thrown into a document,” he said.
Brennan explained that Revue rehearsals are a big community-builder for the dorm.
“There’s not one person ... practicing for the Revue that is not absolutely necessary,” he said. “Every single person in there needs to be in there and we could not do without them. It’s like the biggest community exercise and that’s the coolest thing about it.”
For the ticket distribution, Brennan said the police helped to make sure everything was orderly, due to the size of the event and the high demand for tickets.
“We’re expecting about 2,000 people per show this year, so we’re excited. About 6,000 people are going to see us,” said Brennan. “And these guys running the show are also seasoned vets. I say I get nervous about the event but it’s all exciting. Because in a couple of nights your friends and family will be out. And it’s just like, I’m excited to see what they think of it, excited to get out there and make people laugh.”
Brennan also discussed the support that helped make the Revue happen this year.
“I also really appreciate all the administration’s support because even last year, the one guarantee that we had was that the Revue was going to happen — [in] the stadium, but it was going to happen,” he said. “We didn’t know where it was going to happen and in what capacity but it was going to happen. And this year, it was like the same thing, and maybe to an even greater extent that it was going to be in person. People are going to be there. They might be masked, but people are going to be there.”
Sheridan-Rabideau emphasized that the Revue this year is important for younger classes.
“The freshman class have not seen the Revue, of course, most of the sophomore class has not seen one and you know the juniors haven’t experienced one in some time. It feels incredibly important also for us to really do as good of a job as we can to kind of keep the legacy going,” he said.
In addition, the fundraising cause for Keenan Hall is a personal one.
“We do also get all types of charity donations throughout the show that we donate to Dismas House, which is a house in South Bend that houses recently released, reforming incarcerated people,” Brennan said. “And we’ll go to do dinners with them as well. But there will be people from Dismas here [at the show.] It’s pretty exciting.”
