Fall Follies continues bringing laughs to Belmont

For more than 20 years, the sketch comedy show Fall Follies has been a tradition during Belmont’s fall semester.

The show gives viewers a chance to look at the Belmont community through a different lens and helps everyone take themselves a little less seriously. This year’s show will be taking place on Oct. 21 and 22 in the Massey Performing Arts Center on Belmont’s campus.

“Our biggest goal is to bring joy to the Belmont community,” said Kellen Schneider, the director of Follies. “We want to make people laugh, but we also want to make people think. We try to avoid having one without the other, because then it’s either just toilet humor, or us on stage pointing fingers and blaming people, which isn’t what we’re going for.”

The satirical comedy show focuses on issues around the Belmont community as well as the world. This year, the show will include sketches poking fun at Belmont parking tickets and Starbucks. There will also be a song about the Belmont Vision.

“Being able to produce a show like this has been such a great experience,” said Grayson Propst, the producer.  “Knowing that we’re helping these people’s voices be heard is really special.”

The Follies crew has been organizing numerous promotional events prior to the show, including several video shorts and a Fall Follies-esque impromptu car wash.

“We didn’t have a real reason for planning the car wash, we just realized that to call it a car wash you only have to wash one car. So after we washed that one car, we just started yelling at people telling them to come to our show,” said Schneider.

For many Belmont students, the show couldn’t come at a more necessary time. With the stress of midterms and the second half of the semester beginning to sink in, Follies acts as a deep tissue massage for your brain.

“I think Follies adds a calm to the community. Everyone is very wound up around this time, so the show is a good chance to unwind and laugh at some of the things they’ve been so stressed about,” said junior Jones Kolbinsky, a Follies player. “If it weren’t for this comedy group, I would not be at Belmont. They really changed my life. I hope that we can do the same for others out there.”

Overall, the Fall Follies team is excited and ready to show the students what it has been working on for the last year.

“These people inspire me every day to create the best content I can, and I really hope everyone can come out and let loose for a night and just enjoy themselves at our show,” said Schneider.

This article was written by Slater Goodson. Photo courtesy of Fall Follies Facebook page.