Starting out as just young, witty and ambitious entertainers, Saturday Night Live birthed the careers of stars like Eddie Murphy, Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell. St. John’s has its own version of SNL called Friday Afternoon Live and it’s completely written, produced and performed by the WRED-TV.
“It’s done every other week and it’s our fun Friday,” Patricia Holliday, the vice president of the WRED-TV said.
The dedication put into rehearsals and production brought every skit to life. While it was fun to watch the commotion of the skits and overhearing the punchlines, the final product showed their collaborative effort. Among the highlights were Michael Bloomberg’s 4th opening address as Mayor of New York City, dinner with Miley Cyrus and other notable guests, and what it’s like ordering at hipster McDonald’s venue in Williamsburg.
Mayor Bloomberg gave his inaugural address, with the help of his signer, to his fellow New Yorkers about his recent health regulations. The opening monologue told the scary truth about how a “stop & seize” can quickly turn into a “stop and seizure attack”.
How can anyone really enjoy themselves without mentioning Miley Cyrus? The club made sure to give their own inside look at what it would be like to have dinner with the Cyruses. Everyone had something inedible to bring to the table: Miley brought Robin Thicke, Billy Ray unveiled his plan to prolong his 15 minutes of fame, Trace brought his girlfriend and of course, the dinner ended in an uncomfortable dance-off.
The Weekend Update, done in similar fashion as SNL, brought light to the serious issues in the world like Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent issues with Iran and SpongeBob SquarePants. In this skit, SpongeBob SquarePants was recently ired from the Krusty Krab.
In another act, the world is full of danger and the Pun-isher is on the scene. He won’t hit you, unless it’s with jokes and he holds a complete conversation only using celebrities’ names.
It’s fair to say that almost everyone can get one thing off of the McDonald’s menu without even looking. But what happens when your at a hipster McDonald’s in Williamsburg? What will you do when your server named “Daniel”, but is pronounced “Kieran”, only has vegan options for you? Looks like you’re not going to get your happy meal today, pal.
First timer, Fabienne Annylusse got to share her talents and operated the camera for the whole show.
“Like any other show, there’s rehearsals and as you know, practice makes perfect,” she said. “Each skit found their own place to go over lines, hear ideas and even implement new scenes.”
She added that each scene had its own props, whether it be plastic food for the Miley Cyrus and family dinner skit or just a couple chairs for a sit-down interview with ‘DJ Zeke’.
For those interested, auditions are on the 4th floor in the TV Studio in Marillac on Fridays at 1:30 p.m.
