Arts

Andover Night Live Features Videos and Live Sketches for UTB’s Final Show

When Under the Bed (UTB) member Nick Demetroulakos ’19 was suddenly pushed on stage by Rhea Chandran ’19, he never expected to be the recipient of a “promposal” by Eastlyn Frankel ’18. He stood alone on the stage as a video of Frankel acting as magician David Blaine played on the projector. The video, also featuring Harry Kahane ’20 and Ace Ellsweig ’18, ended with Kahane reciting a message on a poster asking Demetroulakos to Prom on behalf of Frankel.

“I just stood there because Rhea told me not to come back. And then it was David Blaine, but Eastlyn, and then once there was a poster and once she was like, ‘You’re going to read this poster,’ I was like, ‘Alright. She’s going to prompose,’” said Demetroulakos.

Andover Night Live (ANL) is UTB’s annual parody of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” Taking place in Kemper Auditorium at 8:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. this past Saturday night, the shows featured a combination of videos and live sketches.

“There isn’t really another show like this on the Andover calendar. I don’t think there’s something of this scale that’s written and produced entirely by students with literally zero faculty input or oversight, so I think what you get is that the show can be as big or as small a deal as the group that year decides to make it,” said Charlie Mayhew ’18, Co-Head of UTB.

Many of ANL’s jokes and skits revolve around the everyday happenings at Andover, poking fun at many aspects of the school that have brought up contention in the past, such as Blue Key Head kisses and the 4×5 schedule.

“People need to have something that they could just go to and laugh. And also, I actually think that, especially at ANL, the topics that they covered, a lot of it was pretty direct critique at the school. So bringing that sort of humor and getting everyone to laugh about it is just nice,” said Nastia Aumueller ’18, an audience member.

ANL’s first video skit was a spoof of Drake’s “God’s Plan,” titled “John’s Plan” as a reference to Head of School John Palfrey. The video featured Demetroulakos and Kahane dressed in various “hypebeast” accessories rapping about the problems within the school, such as the lack of a library next year, as they ran around campus throwing Monopoly money.

“Harry texted me really early on in the winter and said, ‘I want to make a rap parody video.’ And we were still thinking about some other songs, and then I was listening to ‘God’s Plan,’ and then I was just like, ‘John Palfrey. John’s Plan.’ And I texted him, and I was like, ‘We need to do ‘God’s Plan,’ but ‘John’s Plan.’ And he was like, ‘Yes. Perfect,’ ” said Demetroulakos.

In another sketch, Kahane, Sam Korman ’19, Cheyn Cole ’19, and Sam Bird ’18 all acted as members of the Admissions Office. Sitting in a line and holding folders containing profiles of fake students, the four evaluated a few rounds of applicants, mocking the recruitment process of new students. Kahane, donned in a black cloak with black makeup smudged around his eyes, acted as an oracle, determining whether or not each prospective student was worthy of admission, based on his prophecies.

“I think my favorite skit was actually the last one. It’s kind of making fun of Team Shuman. It’s funny because each kid who got in here got in because of some sort of sorting hat kind of thing in Harry Potter. But [Kahane] came up with the brilliant idea to be an oracle, and he had this long prophecy that they wrote the day of, and I don’t know how he memorized it,” said UTB member Michael Codrington ’18.

ANL’s last video primarily featured Mayhew as he embarked on a secret mission to expose and embarrass the members of TUB, a male secret society on campus. Mayhew’s many antics included him masquerading as TUB, organizing fake dinners and club meetings along with leaving an inflatable tub full of soda in front of the library. But as the video reached its end, Mayhew eventually gave up his endeavors, instead spending time with the other UTB members.

“I think I liked the last video [the most]. I’m a pretty sentimental person. It’s been an explanation of what’s been happening with TUB these past few weeks, but also, it’s weird that it’s because of this, but it’s finally hitting me that [the Seniors are] leaving because of stuff like this,” said audience member Hywot Ayana ’20.

The second and final show also featured a dedication to the Seniors from the rest of UTB. All of the graduating Seniors were gifted with a group photo of UTB with signatures from each member.

“When I take the sum total of how it’s changed me and, to an extent of less magnitude, I changed it, I’m very sad it’s over. I think after my first practice as a [Junior], I called my mom, and I said, ‘These are the coolest, funniest, most talented kids I’ve ever met.’ And that’s how I feel now: the coolest, most talented, funniest kids I’ve ever met are the 14,” said Mayhew.