Life > November 8, 2007

By Ryanne Wicker | Contributing writer

The deluge of politically incorrect yellow fliers plastered to every available surface on campus can only mean one thing: the return of the Lilting Banshees’ comedy performance.

At midnight Nov. 2 and then again Nov. 3, the Lilting Banshees Comedy Troupe performed its annual fall show, “In Search of Corner XVI” at the Brendle Recital Hall in Scales.

The shocking humor began before the group even took to the stage.

As the audience filed into the auditorium, a slideshow with the type of comedic one-liners featured on the fliers played for about 15 minutes, drawing first gasps, then laughter and occasionally applause.

No subject was safe and no material was too sensitive, but the slideshow turned out to be one of the most entertaining parts of the performance.

Throughout the live performance, the Banshees drew laughs through a number of skits depicting well-known aspects of collegiate life.

Particularly memorable was a segment exploring the effect of Facebook on college life and what would happen if the popular Web site were to shut down.

The described the confusion and hilarity that would result when students try to reestablish their friendships, relationships and somewhat-sketchy stalking habits without the use of Facebook.

The performances also featured such topics such as the dating woes of the element Chlorine (enjoyed primarily by the chemistry majors in the crowd), an expedition behind the tray machine in The Pit to discover who was really “cleaning” the dishes, four versions of the Boston Tea Party as interpreted by modern film directors such as George Lucas and Quentin Tarantino and a neighborhood protest of Canadian immigrations.

The Banshees ended the night with a skit depicting Wake Forest fraternities who turned to singing and dancing as a new form of advertisement for their parties.

Overall, the show was enjoyable and genuinely funny.

The actors were undoubtedly expressive and daring – completely willing to put themselves out there for the sake of the skits, and the audience was entertained for the majority of the performance.

At an hour and a half, however, the show ran a little long, and some of the humor came across as slightly forced.

The Banshees’ best humor comes in the advertisements for the show and the one-liners of the slideshow that precede it.

Many of the skits lacked that clever humor that I was expecting after spending several weeks reading the bright yellow flyers.

Overall, the performance was easily worth $3 ticket to get in, but there’s nothing to worry about if you couldn’t make it. The best of the Lilting Banshees is still plastered across the walls around campus.