Lab Rats, which has been taking over live stages around campus since 2003, will soon be taking over your television.Mississippi State’s acclaimed comedy troupe is about to begin airing its own biweekly television show, “Stuck in the Maze.” The show is the brainchild of Mike Schatz, current executive producer of the University Television Center’s sports program.
“I wanted to branch out and try something different,” Schatz said. “I had been to their shows before, so I knew they had talent, and I always wanted to do some kind of comedy show.”
The show’s format will be comparable to that of Saturday Night Live and will feature a lot of sketch comedy. However, Lab Rats’ signature improvisational comedy will also be present.
“We came up with a little different format so it’s half sketch, and it shows off their writing, but also the improv is still there,” Schatz said.
The show will be a very organized production, including credits and a host. The show will feature two blocks with short commercial breaks. The material for skits, much like those featured in the troupe’s live shows, is quite unique.
“Will Cooper is my sketch director, and his assistant is Gabe Smith,” Lab Rats manager Chris Tyer said. “I tell them, ‘Read newspapers, watch TV, watch the news. Pick and pull things locally, nationally, and try to write stuff about what’s going on.’ And then some of [the sketches] are just things we find funny. We don’t want to just do political humor. We want to make sure that it’s open and that we can do anything that we want.”
The sketches airing on the first episode of “Stuck in the Maze” include two, titled “Awkward Date,” which portrays a date between two nervous people who can’t seem to make anything work, and “Happy Last Day on Earth,” in which a group of friends reinforces a man’s desire to commit suicide.
“They’re both extremely funny,” Tyer said.
One of the major draw points of Lab Rats’ live shows is its uncensored feel. While a little editing is unavoidable, the troupe hopes that the television show maintains the envelope-pushing nature of their act.
“We’re trying to keep it as raw and edgy as we can,” Tyer said. “[‘Stuck in the Maze’] is regulated by the FCC and the university itself. Obviously, we want this to continue, so if we go in there doing dick and fart jokes they’re going to drop us before we even get on. We know how to play ball, but we’re still going to keep it as raw and edgy as possible.”
The concept of a Lab Rats’ show airing on university television has come up before but was met with little support and thus failed.
“They just stuck a camera in one of our live shows,” Tyer said. “There was really no direction behind it. There was nobody driving to get it actually put on the air.”
With the effort and hard work of Schatz and others, however, this program has gained a lot of backing.
“When I went to pitch them the idea they were already willing to do a show,” Schatz said. “So I got it moved to our studio which had better equipment, better cameras and better audio. I gave them full range of the studio so they can use the green screen to do the sketches with, and the lighting will be a lot better. It will come out better. The faculty’s all about it. There’s going to be a nice little crowd of faculty members there on Friday watching the first show, so the pressure’s on.”
While the show’s first episode has not yet been filmed, ideas are already in the works for expansion and improvement. Some possible future episodes may include athlete and faculty guests and long-form improv, in which an entire short play is improvised. Schatz said that if the show is successful, he hopes to make it a weekly, hour-long affair.
“Students, faculty and anyone that wants a good laugh should tune in,” Tyer said.
The show will air Monday at either 7 or 8 p.m. on Channel 18. Lab Rats’ next live show will be held March 1 and 2 in McComas Hall. For more information on “Stuck in the Maze” and live shows, visit Lab Rats’ Web site at www.labratscomedy.com.