Howard University’s annual Springfest kicked off with the student-led Howard Night Live on Monday, April 13. The student-led sketch and music show drew mixed reactions as delays and technical issues overshadowed parts of the performance.
The show ran over an hour and a half later than publicized, causing many to leave before the show ended. Despite technical difficulties, many still enjoyed the comedic depiction of all things Howard, with show producers grateful for the creative experience.
The show started off on the set of the U Street Metro station, where a frazzled Howard student waited for the train while putting in an order for wings, bumped into a failed talking stage and dealt with Howard Middle School students.
Other sketches included Kamala Harris working at McDonald’s, an eclectic Miss Beauty Black pageant, a girl finding her “Howard Husband” in a rat and a recurring storyline parodying the movie “Sinners,” where two student party promoters try to get big on campus.
Serenity Davis, a freshman chemistry major from Santana, Texas was enjoying the show by the halftime intermission.
“I think it’s like a good entry, nothing too physically exerting,” said Davis, explaining how she thought the event was a good start to Springfest programming. “Its a good way to get out of the dorm and support our Howard peers.”
The musical performances included both student and local talents like Shau, Me’Kayla Chenai, Eleven tha Outcast, Sasha Corlette, London Mechelle and a surprise appearance from Isaia Huron.
Nova Johnson, a junior television and film major from Chicago, was one of the seven writers who produced and directed original material for the show. According to Johnson, the writing room meetings started as early as December in preparation for the show.
“Sketches – and short form writing in general – is always in process, so it was about a five-month-long process,” recounted Johnson.
While it wasn’t Johnson’s first time in a writing room, she still enjoyed the collaborative nature of such a large-scale project.
“It’s always really cool to be in a room of writers and having people read your work and give feedback,” explained Johnson.
Despite the show’s relatable material, issues like microphones cutting out mid-sketch and lengthy transitions between each act left show runners like Johnson somewhat disappointed.
“I was very excited to add it to my personal portfolio, but I don’t think there’s any actual recordings of what happened because the live stream kept going down,” Johnson said, who sent a link to her family back home. Like students attempting to watch the show virtually they ultimately weren’t able to access the show.
“Even watching my own sketch on stage and then having multiple actions have their mics cut out in the middle where I can’t hear them any more,” Johnson said. “It was just like ‘Oh! I really think that would’ve been funny had y’all heard that,’ but they didn’t.”
The special talent of the night was Isaia Huron, an alternative RnB singer with over 600,000 monthly listeners on Spotify who released a new album earlier in April. He was meant to close out the show; however, due to time constraints, Huron performed before many of the other talents, causing confusion in the crowd, with many leaving during or after his performance.
“I don’t really mind. I feel like if I was in the crowd, I would’ve also been confused, or needed to catch a shuttle or any other reason,” Johnson said.
Despite confusion, there were still students left over in the crowd to watch the final sketches and musicians, like Semester Update, inspired by “Weekend Update,” a segment on “Saturday Night Live,” which starred members of the writing room as news anchors.
Copy edited by Daryl R. Thomas Jr.