The Late Night Players
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The Late Night Players

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The best kept secret in music

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"Word Nerds Unite!"

Are you a logomaniac? The dictionary definition of the term is: "One who is obsessed with words, talking." The four Brandeis grads who call themselves the Late Night Players are proud logomaniacs who take their affinity for the English language and blend it with sketch comedy, topical humor, and a little something they call a "dance-off" to create an unpredictable melange of mirth that's taking over colleges across the country.

At last year's Charleston Comedy Festival, the Late Night Players had audiences rolling with their localized anagrams (they spend much of their van time amusing each other and massaging ideas for each custom-tailored show), their pointed parodies of dubious public figures (or should we say "Dubyious"?), and cast member Seth Reibstein's remarkable worm-dancing skills.

When Aaron Kagan, Andrew Slack, Zach Sherwin, and Reibstein graduated in 2002, they were determined to turn the Late Night Players, which was already a hit around campus and the Boston area, into something more than just good times to remember in the rueful throes of middle age.

"Between summer of 2002 and the summer of 2003, we were just fumbling around and figuring out what we were doing," Reibstein says. "By fall of 2003 we were touring pretty substantially and by the next summer, we were all doing this full-time."

While it's certainly not rare to see a group of ex-students in their mid-20s crisscrossing the country in a van, they're usually hauling around guitars and drum sets, not to mention a hefty sense of entitlement. Not so with the Late Night Players, an "indie comedy" troupe who spent 115 of the 365 days of last year performing across America at schools ranging from Alvernia College to Temple University, as well as various comedy festivals and even – gasp! – some corporate parties.

This year, the LNP have moved into the digital realm, creating videos for hire, like the "America Online" anagram vids they did for the software giant, or "Harry Potter and the Dark Lord Waldemart," a sharp parody they made for the activist group Wal-Mart Watch that's been viewed more than 100,000 times on YouTube.

They've also incorporated mashups (mashup: a mix of two or more popular songs, particularly effective when the two songs seem incongruous) into their act and their highly amusing website and MySpace page (myspace.com/latenightplayers).

"Overall, we've tried to make the show more of an enveloping experience," Reibstein says, "with music and multimedia and more updated cultural items and references. We really tried to get away from esoteric stuff for a while because people weren't really engaged, but we've found a way to infuse the show with some more intelligent, absurdist material but in a way that it can still connect with people."

Speaking of connecting with people, it doesn't take a genius to appreciate one of the Late Night Players' staples – the dance-off. Reibstein, who is, well, let's just say "not physically imposing," and Sherwin, who is a gigantic stern-looking fellow who often wears his ample hair styled in afro puffs, challenge each other to a duel of the dogs set to C+C Music Factory's ubiquitous jam, "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)." Dear lord, it's hilarious. In Reibstein's own words: "It'll knock your hat into your socks." –Sara Miller - Charleston City Paper


"Late Night Players"

It takes talent to make grammar, politics and the Ten Commandments funny. With a special brand of smart comedy, however, the Boston-bred Late Night Players handle the art of sketch comedy with the exaggerated wit of Adam Sandler and the enthusiasm of Jimmy Fallon.

The boys (Seth, Seth D., Zach, Aaron and Andrew) — college buddies hailing from Brandeis University — apparently decided one day, “Hey, we’re funny. Let’s try getting paid for it.” Their camaraderie is obvious most of the time, as they stifle their giggles and seem to anticipate each other’s punch lines. Seth stands out in particular as the master of character acting — the only player who seems to have a firm grasp on what it means to play a role convincingly. The rest of the group seems to be Seth’s silly entourage.

Silly they may be, but that does not mean the Late Night Players cannot thrive on intellectual humor. In fact, the group’s trademark crowd-pleaser is its use of anagrams, created with ridiculous phrases and sketches built around them. Unlike other slapstick comedy troupes, the Late Night Players make a point of finding humor in the members' political convictions, like poking fun at White House press secretary Scott McClellan’s impossibly ridiculous statements — they read excerpts from McClellan’s press conference speeches and warn audiences to pay attention as he gets “wordy, dirty and absurdy.” It is in this track of intelligent humor that the Late Night Players’ potential is most obvious. They write, think and act funny without overdoing it.

If only the same could be said for their whole show. Like many of their counterparts in the sketch comedy realm, the Late Night Players fall into the trap of attempting to pull off hokey, outrageous skits with mindless, mundane jokes. When not putting their sharp wit to good use, they fall back on exaggerated, corny humor that might as well end with rimshots and cymbal crashes. Hence, sketches like the recurring “Ask a White Guy” utterly crash and burn. Pathetically empty skits like this one add up to a disappointingly hot and cold show, leaving the audience wondering what happened.

Still, if the Late Night Players can realize their true niche is in smart comedy rather than goofball college-boy antics, they may have a truly bright future ahead of them. With more experience, they may just pull off being the first bright sketch comedy group out there.

— Issie Lapowsky - Washington Square News


"Fox Force Five"

If the five members of the Late Night Players look a little more mature than kids just out of college, remember: it's not the years, it's the mileage.

The sketch comedy group logs about 100,000 miles a year touring from Maine to Mexico. (Okay, Texas.)

This all-male quintet of "four-and-a-half Jews" formed at Brandeis University in Boston six years ago. One of the members, Andrew Slack, hosted the Late Night Snack with Andrew Slack on campus TV, and the group grew out of that.

"We knew we were going to do something, not necessarily humor," says Late Night Player Seth Reibstein. "We didn't know if it was going to be dramatic re-enactments of old Russian short stories or what."

The group performs standard sketch comedy, with a penchant for anagrams, musicals, topical humor, and dance-offs. Each show is framed in a series of "backstage" scenes.

"Our general show is a mix between random sketches and scenes of us putting the show on, kind of a Muppet Show type of thing," Reibstein says.

Each of the guys plays a stock character during these scenes: the rebel, the nerd, and so forth.

"When those scenes come on," Reibstein says. "I'm Seth, who is dumb and nice and likes to dance, and Zach, for instance, is the authoritarian who wants the show to go as planned."

The dance-offs, in fact, are often between Zach the Boss and Seth the Nice Guy, settling their rivalry to the peacemaking sounds of C&C Music Factory.

And the anagrams?

"It's one way that we try and customize the show toward wherever we're at. We take a name and on the van ride over whip out some Scrabble tiles and see what we can get. At Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (in upstate New York), they have this notorious seven-to-one male-to-female ratio, so we anagrammed 'Scary No-Erect Penis Hell.'"

That's destined to become part of the college's lore.

The Players do about a dozen gigs a month, and Reibstein says each show features one or two new sketches, on top of the fresh knock-knock jokes and anagrams. The writing is a result of long days on the road.

"It's either that or stare out the window," he says. "We're all really neurotic and energetic, and I guess we're still pretty young. We're antsy to get out there as much as we can."

They're apparently still young enough to give a damn, too. The group is looking for a diesel van with an extra gas tank so they can create an environmentally friendly set of touring wheels by running off biodiesel created from old deep-fryer grease.

"We're all very politically and socially minded," Reibstein says, "and we do a lot of free benefit shows. If we had a show that we're paid for that night, we'll try and do one that day for a local nonprofit."

These shows range from entertainments, "just to lighten up the day for people who work real hard on thankless jobs," to fundraisers, like the big one they played for the Campaign to End AIDS in Washington, D.C.

This might not be the Players last trip to Charleston — they share the same college agent with The Have Nots! Plus Reibstein says he loves hushpuppies and hot boiled peanuts. - Charleston City Paper


Discography

Colleges Played:
(* indicates multiple visits)
Adams State College – (CO)
University at Albany – (NY)
Alvernia College - (PA)*
Arcadia University - (PA)*
University of Arkansas-Fort Smith - (AR)
Augustana College - (SD)
Babson College – (MA)
Bates College - (ME)*
Bentley College – (MA)
Brandeis University - (MA)*
Bryant University - (RI)
Bryn Mawr College – (PA)
Cabrini College – (PA)
Castleton State College - (VT)*
University of Central Arkansas - (AR)*
University of Central Florida - Orlando - (FL)*
Central College - (IA)
Central Connecticut State University - (CT)*
University of Cincinnati - (OH)
Clark University – (MA)
Clarkson University - (NY)
Clemson University - (SC)
Colby College – (ME)*
Colby Sawyer College - (NH)
College of New Jersey - (NJ)
College of Staten Island - (NY)*
College of St. Rose - (NY)*
College of the Holy Cross - (MA)
College of William and Mary - (VA)
Columbia College – (MO)
University of Connecticut-Storrs - (CT)
Cornell University – (NY)*
Dean College - (MA)
University of Delaware - (DE)
DeSales University - (PA)
Drew University – (NJ)
Dreyfoos School of Arts – (FL)
Earlham College - (IN)*
East Carolina State University - (NC)*
East Stroudsburg University - (PA)*
Eastern Connecticut State University - (CT)
Eastern Kentucky University – (KY)
Eastern Michigan University – (MI)
Edgewood College - (WI)
Elizabethtown College – (PA)
Elon University - (NC)
Emmanuel College - (MA)
Endicott College - (MA)
University of Florida – (FL)*
Framingham State College - (MA)
Franklin Pierce College – (NH)*
Gannon University - (PA)
George Washington University - (DC)
Georgia Tech University – (GA)
Georgian Court University – (NJ)
Green Mountain College - (VT)*
Harvard University – (MA)
Haverford College – (PA)
Hamilton College - (NY)
Heidelberg College - (OH)
Hendrix College - (AR)
Hofstra University – (NY)
Hollins University - (VA)*
Hood College – (MD)
Husson College - (ME)*
Iowa State University - (IA)
Iowa Wesleyan University – (IA)
James Madison University – (VA)*
Juniata College - (PA)
University of Kansas – (KS)*
Kent State University – (OH)
Keuka College - (NY)*
Kutztown University - (PA)*
Lake Forest University - (IL)
Lakeland College - (WI)
Lasell College – (MA)*
Lesley Univeresity - (MA)*
Longwood University - (VA)*
Lycoming College – (PA)
Lyndon State College - (VT)
Lyon College - (AR)
Maine Maritime Academy - (ME)
Marian College – (IN)
Marian College – (WI)
Marietta College - (OH)
Marist College - (NY)*
Mary Baldwin College - (VA)
University of Maryland – (MD)
Mary Baldwin College – (VA)
Marywood University – (PA)
University of Massachusetts-Amherst - (MA)*
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts – (MA)
University of Michigan – (MI)
Monmouth University - (NJ)*
Moraine Park Technical College - (WI)
Morningside College - (IA)
Mount St. Mary's College - (MD)
Mount Union College – (OH)
Newberry College – (SC)
University of New England - (ME)*
University of New Hampshire - (NH)*
New York University – (NY)
Northern Illinois University - (IL)
Oakland University - (MI)
University of the Ozarks - (AR)*
Paul Smith's College - (NY)*
Penn State - Abington - (PA)
Penn State - Altoona - (PA)*
Penn State – Berks – (PA)
Penn State - Erie-Behrend - (PA)*
Pennsylvania College of Technology - (PA)
Phillips Academy-Andover – (MA)
University of Pittsburgh – (PA)
Princeton University – (NJ)
Purdue University – (IN)
Randolph Macon University – (VA)
Regis College - (MA)*
Rensselaer Polytechnic University - (NY)
University of Rhode Island – (RI)
Rockhurst University – (MO)
Rutgers University – (NJ)
Saint Bonaventure University - (NY)
Saint Joseph’s College – (CT)
Saint Joseph's College - (ME)*
Saint Thomas Aquinas College - (NY)
Salem State College - (MA)
Seton Hill University - (PA)*
Shenandoah University - (VA)
Smith College - (MA)
Southern New Hampshire University - (NH)
Suffolk County Community College - (NY)*
SUNY Cobleskill - (NY)*
SUNY Cortland - (NY)
SUNY Maritime – (NY)
SUNY Oneonta - (NY)*
Susquehanna University - (PA)
Sweet Briar College - (VA)*
University of Tampa – (FL)
Temple University – (PA)
Trinity College - (CT)*
Tulane University – (LA)
Union College - (NY)
US Miltary Academy at West Point – (NY)*
Ursinus College – (PA)
Vanderbilt University – (TN)
Vassar College - (NY)
Vermont Technical College - (VT)
Wells College - (NY)
Western New England College - (MA)*
Westfield State College - (MA)
Westminster College - (PA)
Westminster Choir College of Rider - (NJ)
Wheaton College – (MA)
Winthrop University - (SC)*
Wisconsin Lutheran College – (WI)
University of Wisconsin - Madison - (WI)
University of Wisconsin - Stout - (WI)*
Villa Julie College – (MD)
Yale University – (CT)
York College of Pennsylvania - (PA)

Clubs/Theaters:
Caroline's on Broadway – (NYC)
The PIT - (NYC)
Galapagos Art Space - (NYC)
Collective: Unconscious - (NYC)

Photos

Bio

THE LATE NIGHT PLAYERS are America’s most widely-touring sketch comedy group. Their show is comparable to “Saturday Night Live” and features skits, videos, raps and musical numbers, and a grand-finale dance-off that will blow your mind. Every performance is customized, smart, and effin’ hilarious.

The three members of the Late Night Players - Aaron, Zach, and Seth - have been seen at hundreds of college campuses around the United States; on VH1’s “The White Rapper Show” and the History Channel’s “Bible Battles”; on YouTube, with over 2 million views for their “Text-Your-Own Adventures of Spider-Man” video; and on the showcase stages of NACA Nationals and regional conventions. They’ve opened for Demitri Martin (“The Daily Show”), the Sklar Brothers (ESPN), and William Shatner. The troupe believes in being good as well as funny: they perform at benefits and social justice events, practice carbon-neutral touring, and donate a portion of merchandise sales to worthy causes.

"The Late Night Players are the funniest group we have ever brought to our school.” - University of Central Florida.

"A smarter Saturday Night Live.” – Boston Phoenix.

"Unless you are completely and totally booked every night of the week, I would highly recommend bringing these guys to campus." -University of Kansas.

"Hilarious...if you have the chance to see the Late Night Players, I’d definitely recommend it!" - A random blog the Late Night Players found while Googling themselves.

Exclusively represented for Colleges & Universities by:
Auburn Moon
www.auburnmoonagency.com
800.566.6653