The Lilting Banshees are a sketch comedy troupe at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.[1][2] They are notable for launching the entertainment careers of several alumni[3] and for being a popular campus attraction.[1]

History

The sketch comedy troupe was founded in 1998 by Ben Tomlin '94, Matt Jones '96, and several other theatre students.[4] The founders based their name on a CD of Irish harp music that Tomlin found in the theatre department sound booth.[5] In 2019, they celebrated their 25th reunion.[6] Over 40 alumni attended the reunion show. They performed classic sketches and unveiled a new fund in memory of alumnus James Buscher ‘98, who died in a car accident in 2010.[4][7]

Style and content

Members plan each show three months in advance. They meet regularly to pitch ideas for sketches, and after there are a sufficient number of them, they host a “War Room” session where they choose the sketches; according to tradition, each decision must be unanimous.[8] Previous topics have included the excessively long lines at Chick-Fil-A and how cavemen first discovered cow's milk. Some performances feature sexually suggestive content.[4]

Alumni

The Banshees have helped to launch the careers of several notable alumni in entertainment-related fields.[3]

  • Dr. James Hamblin is the author of If Our Bodies Could Talk and a staff writer for The Atlantic. He has served as a moderator for the Precision Medicine Initiative and interviewed President Barack Obama.
  • Sarah Schneider wrote and acted for CollegeHumor prior to becoming a writer for Saturday Night Live. After leaving SNL in 2017, she partnered with head writer Chris Kelly to create The Other Two, which premiered on Comedy Central in 2019.[9]
  • Emma Hunsinger is a cartoonist with work appearing in a variety of publications. She currently holds the record for the longest comic to appear in The New Yorker after releasing a ten-page feature.[10]
  • Shane Harris is an American journalist and author. He graduated in 1998. Harris was remembered for his portrayal and roasting of Chaplain Ed Christman's "What's in a Name?" freshman orientation speech.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 McKenzie Maddox (September 2017). "Lilting Banshees kick off school year". Old Gold and Black (student newspaper). Retrieved October 10, 2020. ...The Lilting Banshees, led by senior Sam Ederle, is a student-run organization that performs three comedy shows a year with two in the fall and one in the spring....
  2. ↑ Jessica Mark (August 2020). "How To Handle Homesickness". Old Gold & Black (student newspaper). Retrieved October 9, 2020. ...If you have the special skill of making others laugh, join the Lilting Banshees – our comedy troupe on campus....
  3. 1 2 Karen Newton, Style Weekly, August 6, 2019, Brothers in Comedy: Siblings from New York give their take on the demanding world of comedy, Retrieved July 24, 2020, "...Bret Raybould began doing comedy when he was a student at Wake Forest University. As a freshman, he joined a sketch comedy troupe called the Lilting Banshees and the experience made him fall in love with making people laugh..."
  4. 1 2 3 Lillian Johnson (January 2019). "Lilting Banshees Host Reunion Show". Old Gold & Black. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  5. 1 2 Cherin C. Poovey (24 January 2014). "Oh, Those Lilting Banshees! Where Are They (Funny) Now?". Wake Forest Magazine. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  6. ↑ The Old Gold and Black (student newspaper), Olivia Field, January 2020, Lilting Banshees Host Classics Show, Retrieved July 24, 2020
  7. ↑ Nick Gray (21 January 2019). "Lilting Banshees Comedy 25th Reunion at Wake Forest". nickgray.net. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  8. ↑ Olivia Field (March 2018). "Behind the Scenes with the Banshees". Old Gold & Black. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  9. ↑ Dieker, Nicole (10 November 2014). "How to Start Your Career in Comedy: A Guide for College Students". Vulture. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  10. ↑ Emil Wilson (12 March 2020). "Treating Myself to Gatorade and Gum: An Interview with Emma Hunsinger - SOLRAD". SOLRAD. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
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