When the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) adds COMEDY as a team sport, Washington University’s Kids On Campus is a sure bet to be crowned the #1 seed in collegiate humor. In a rollicking two-hour show Saturday night at the Village Black Box Theater, the cast and crew slayed the packed house with a freight train performance of sketches and filmed parodies accompanied by the eccentric funked-up energy of the KOC Band.  

The show’s opening skit, “When You’re Here, You’re Family” – a spicy satirical take on a date night in The Olive Garden – set the table for a night of irreverence and impertinence as the cast cleverly broke the ice and established a warm, yet edgy rapport with a sold-out audience.  As Lil Kriket, the world-weary rapper/media influencer Sam Auditore and her adoring back-up mime trio maintained the briskly paced blend of satire and physical gags that have become the signature of Kids on Campus’ smart, raucous style.

Sharp, character driven writing from Head Writers, Peter Michalski and Olivia Schriber, combined with energetic staging and choreography by Stage Manager Bela Marcus and a crack tech crew gave the Kids cast a solid setting for comedic gems; this included“Jump Rope,” featuring flawless timing from Kids’ President Amanda Sherman, followed by “Semester in Review,”  the Kids’ send-up of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update.

The evening’s filmed segment highlight, “Happy Birthday from the United States Postal Service,” was a brilliant bullseye aimed at the smarmy, cynical commercialism of our postal system with a spot-on performance from Schriber as a maddening customer service operator.  Camera work and production values guided by Digital Media Chairs, Danny Bruns and Shaun Rousso, were top-notch. 

Other stand-out sketches included “Lime Time,” a whacked look at addiction therapy, “Cousin Jonah,” featuring the hilarious bombastic antics of Jason Lyons as the obnoxious cousin who came to ruin dinner, and the show’s sweet, nostalgic farewell from the Kids’ departing Seniors, “Sluts at the Beach,” where cast members slimed themselves with gallons of sunscreen as they rode off into the sunset of their WashU comedy careers.

If this show is any indication of the ‘bench depth’ of comedy talent at WashU, Kids on Campus will certainly be Division 1 with a national championship in their future.

To see a student’s review of the Kids On Campus show, click here:

Sketch comedy is alive and well in the Village Black Box