imitated
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By KAREN FROST Staff Writer
Mike Austin thinks he's got David Letterman's number. The sophomore was the organizer of a team to develop a parody of "Late Night with David Letterman" - "Late Night with Michael Numberman." The Numberman show will be videotaped in Tager TV studios at 7:30 p.m. Friday. "We wanted to do something that people were familar with, so instead of 'Letterman,' we chose 'Numberman,"' Austin said. The parody will be very similar to Letterman's show, Austin said. I'll be dressed like him (Letterman) and acting like. him, but I won't be using his material. All of our stuff is original," Austin said. The format is the same as Letterman's, but the expansion of new ideas and a different style of humor is the true goal of the entire project, said Khris Kesling, head writer for the show.
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"We'll have humorous guest and serious guests for our first show. Friday night we'll have a parody of Elvis, Pat Sajak and Vanna White and then Super Frog as himself," Austin said. They will also have a "Super Mike" campaign instead of"Super Dave." Numberman will go out on location and do ridiculous stunts such as running with the track team in his business suit, Kesling said. These stunts have already been videotaped, he said. "We even have musician, Paul Waffer - a parody of Letterman's Paul Schaffer," Kesling said. "I lead the band. When things get dry, we fill the gaps with music and I banter back and forth with Mike," said Scott Kuehn, musical director and actor who will play Paul Waffer. "Letterman is so popular among college students," Kesling said. "We're trying to appeal to the colege audience. However, we're not making our jokes exclusive to the colege crowd," Austin said.
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If this is successful, the group is hoping to broaden their repertoire and possibly get on David Letterman's show to air 10 minutes of the Numberman show to Letterman, Kesling said. The group is even considering developing their own show with Samon's Cable Company, Austin said. "Maybe we can have a duel contest of Late Night shows, Kesling said. The group doesn't want to keep their jokes exclusive to TCU. They want to illustrate worldly views of humor so more people would understand, Austin said. "As long as we use our own material, there shouldn't be any copyright or producing trouble at all," Kesling said. "Our stuff may be a little controversial. We want to make a pre-apology to anyone we may offend. It's just ; good clean fun," Austin said. If their goals are reached, they are hoping that the visibility on Letterman's show would be good for TCU, Austin said. "It would be a big boost for the university," Kesling said. "We re trying to get people involved and promote some unity on |
TCU Late Night Crew
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this campus," Kesling said. But the group has had problems with unity on campus already. The radio-TV-film department denied their request for Studio A in the Moudy Building because it already had a set previously established, Austin said. Tager TV has agreed to do the taping of show in their studio, said Deana Murhide, production technician for Tager TV. The first videotaping is going to be closed to the public and open to the parents of the Numberman staff, Austin said. 'This is a gimmick for Parents Weekend. We want all of our other taping audiences to be really rowdy crowds," Austin said.
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The idea began to take shape last spring when they started the first "Late Night with Michael Numberman" show, Austin said. Austin approached Andy Haskett, instructor in radio-TV-film and video production supervisor, last year. "He encouraged us to proceed with the project," Austin said. "Our staff last year had 17 members. Now we are well over 50. We have writers, technicians, actors and artists but we are always looking for more people," Austin said. "This show is going to be better than last year. We have better questions for the guests and we're more organized," Austin said.
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However, Haskett said, "I am ambivalent about the whole project. " "David Letterman is probably the most popular nighttime show around and repeating the stuff that's already out there has serious limitations," Haskett said. The first showing of the video for the TCU audience will be on a Friday afternoon in the Student Center in conjunction with Programming Council's TGIF program, Austin said. |