The Lilting Banshees

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. 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. 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. Lillian Johnson (January 2019). "Lilting Banshees Host Reunion Show". Old Gold & Black. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  5. 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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