Friday Night Live Lights Up the Stage

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Friday Night Live (FNL) took place in Gilbert Hall on Friday, March 7. The one-hour show, a take on NBC’s popular Saturday Night Live, covered topics such as news and politics. The actors performed the show twice, once at 7 p.m., and again at 9 p.m. Admission was $10 for students and $15 for the general public.

FNL Vice President Jamie Mazur, a junior, said that “the show wouldn’t be possible without our amazing director Nancy Fracchiolla. She’s basically the Lorne Michaels of FNL. Nancy is truly the backbone of the show. The show also wouldn’t be possible without our President Ryan Loyola.”

The FNL cast has been preparing for this original production all year. In the weeks leading up to the show, they feverishly wrote sketches and rehearsed, Mazur said.  

As the show approached, Mazur said he and the rest of the cast felt mounting pressure. Mazur said that preparation entailed “lots of stress, lots of laughs [and] lots of Ryan yelling, [but] we love him for it.”

Mazur said that the cast had lots of fun putting the show together and, in the end, all their effort was worth seeing the performance come together. Since FNL stages many shows each year, the group says that it has grown accustomed to dealing with tight deadlines.

The March 7 performances included skits such as a drunken, retiring weatherman, vaping jokes and Oscar references. They encompassed what it means to be a Pali teen by giving out satirical awards, which included “most AP courses” and “best stoners.” The most “AP courses” showed a girl who appeared to be extremely stressed and fatigued and made a reference to her needing Adderall® in order to keep up with her rigorous class load.

During the same skit, another student was presented with an award for “most college essays written.”As she walked onto the stage, the girl was working on an essay. This conveyed the stressful process of applying to colleges.

The show also featured political jokes, touching on a variety of topics, including Donald Trump’s legal troubles. There also was a “CNN Segment” about a rock band whose members lived a sober life, negating the typical rock-star stereotype.

FNL also held a segment where a news station was broadcasting a standard report until the weather man entered and began celebrating his last day at work. He danced, sang and took off his shirt, much to the delight of the audience.

The seats were generally filled and those in attendance appeared to enjoy the show, as they chuckled often.