Live from FSU: it’s Friday Night!

Whether you are a loyal fan who finds yourself planted in the same place in front of the TV every Saturday night or just happen to be scrolling through social media at any given time, it is highly likely at some point or another you have come across a Saturday Night Live skit. Improvisational comedy has been around since the 1960s and has given the world some of its favorite performers and shows to date. Within our community, improv comedy has found itself a home at Florida State with “No Bears Allowed,” FSU’s official improv troupe, whose formation led to the first edition of Friday Night Live (FNL) in January of 2019. Once a semester, FNL produces a live show that takes after the beloved Saturday night program and consists of original sketches, digital shorts, a weekday update segment, a musical guest and, of course, a host.

“Despite there being a few student-led sketch comedy groups at FSU already, there wasn’t a group that had adopted the formula of an SNL live show,” said current senior and FNL president Dalton Russel. “Creating a sketch comedy group that follows the same format as SNL gave the original creators a way to differentiate themselves from the other sketch comedy groups on campus, while also allowing them to pay homage to a show they loved.”

Russel has worked with the group for three years now, accumulating six seasons of the live show under his belt. He leads an executive board and creative cast that consists of students with backgrounds in theatre, digital media production, marketing and comedic writing. The show allows the students to practice and combine their talents to create a real live show that goes through the whole production process from the writing room to cut. 

“My favorite part is seeing how we start with nothing at the beginning of the semester and by the end, we have a whole hour and a half production,” said Julia Hoffman, vice president of FNL. “It’s insane to think about how much that goes on within 12 weeks.”  

Writing meetings are held for a month at the beginning of the semester where cast members will either write on their own or in groups. These writing sessions result in the sketches that end up in the live show.  

“The writers room is active, it’s collaborative. It’s probably one of my favorite places to be,” said FNL Marketing Head Reagan Olenick. “I joined because I love comedy and I love working with other people. It is a group who have always endorsed every crazy idea I’ve had.”  

Then, they begin rehearsals once a week while filming the digital shorts on weekends directed by various cast members. After around a month-and-a-half, they enter tech week where a stage manager and “techtras,” who double as tech and skit extras, join the process. Finally, it is lights, camera, action and the whole cast is on their A-game for the final production.  

“My favorite memory has to be the dressing room during the first show, after we had just finished the opening sketch. We rehearsed our sketches so much before that show that the jokes weren’t funny to us anymore, and so there was this slight worry going into the show that maybe our jokes just weren’t funny,” said Russel. “I remember waiting backstage and watching the two lead actors go on stage for the opening sketch. I could faintly hear them delivering their lines for about ten seconds until the laughter of the audience completely drowned them out, and I realized that the first joke landed.” 

Russel recalled the rest of his first sketch comedy performance fondly. The whole cast appears to have an amazing chemistry and thrive off the creative environment. To put things simply, they are just a group of comedy lovers and friends who get enjoyment out of working together and making others laugh.

“We aim to put up a comedy show that doesn’t go for the easy laughs that put people down or rely on shock value but finds a really strong joke in the given situation of a sketch that can be escalated and built towards its full potential as a joke,” Russel said. “We think that’s what makes the best comedy.”

You can keep up with FNL through their Instagram @fnl_fsu where they post about upcoming events and auditions in the fall. They also have a newsletter that can be joined by emailing fridaynightlivefsu@gmail.com. Additionally, they will be holding sketch writing workshops throughout the semester and are always looking for extras for their digital shorts, live sketches and to work behind the scenes of the live show.