Secret Pants won’t stay under wraps for long - Allentown Times
Secret Pants won’t stay under wraps for long
by Josh Berk
Allentown played host to a world premiere on Wednesday, April 27, as the Philadelphia-based
sketch comedy troupe “Secret Pants” performed its first ever live show to a cozy
crowd of about fifty students and community members in Muhlenberg College’s Red
Door Cafe. Secret Pants, a 12-piece co-ed crew comprised largely of recent graduates of
Temple University’s School of Communications and Theater, has been making a name for
themselves through a series of hilarious and ribald sketches available on their website
(www.secretpants.net ).
“We had heard that Allentown was horribly under-represented when it came to comedy,
so they called out to us in Philadelphia, and we answered,” said Secret Pantser Bryce
Remsburg. “Plus, Billy Joel told us they were tearing a bunch of factories down. Can’t
have that.”
The multimedia live show proved to be just as funny as the web material, and even more
enjoyable due to the troupe’s strong stage presence. Approximately ten live sketches
were intermixed with film clips shown on a large screen.
First came a lengthy welcoming number — partially on film, partially live — featuring
Remsburg’s attempts to rally the troops for the trip to Allentown. In the filmed segment
they were all too busy with some strange activity (shooting heroin, having sex with an
oven mitt, Brian Craig appeared to be watching TV and drinking but claimed to be
“looking for Jesus”) to make the trip. Of course they all made it, and all arrived on stage
to Remsburg’s delight.
“I thought you were looking for Jesus,” he asked Craig.
Craig shrugged and responded bluntly, “Found him.” He then added, “And he taught me
to play this righteous axe.” At this point, Craig backed the troupe on an excessively long,
inaccurate, and off-key (to be fair, this was the point) version of Billy Joel’s “Allentown.”
The evening’s performance then bounced from live sketch comedy to more pre-recorded
pieces, all of which were met with raucous laughter.
One of the best-received live bits was when Paul Triggiani donned large glasses and a
corduroy jacket to become “Keith Jeffers,” a PhD student in Film Studies at Rutgers.
Affecting the pompous tone of a haughty academic, Triggiani explained that he was there
to present a slide show discussion on the lost films in the oeuvre of that great cinematic
genius, Jim Varney (AKA Ernest P. Worrell). The description and accompanying movie
posters of films such as “Ernest Saves Yom Kippur,” “Ernest Trips Balls,” “Ernest Goes
to Russia,” and the adult film, “Snowblowers” drew huge laughs from the crowd.
A highlight among the filmed segments was a note-perfect spoof of a movie trailer. The
film, a Jerry Bruckheimer action flick, tells a story where “two to eight complete
strangers compete in a sadistic game of buy and sell … where the losers go bankrupt.”
Shots of Atlantic City landmarks are shown along with players who can only run in one
direction. A wave of recognition and laughter swept over the crowd as it became clear:
this was “Monopoly: The Movie,” the board game brought to the big screen. In precise
Hollywood style, the trailer builds to a climax of violence and explosions after which
Rich Uncle Pennybags drawls, “Son, you’re going to jail.”
“No,” the young action star replies, cocking an automatic weapon. “I’m just visiting.”
This was good clean fun, but other segments were edgier, more potentially offensive.
Gender stereotypes, religion, drugs, death, even abortion and sexual assault were used as
fodder for laughs. However, no one seemed to mind. Perhaps college students have
finally mellowed out and become less politically correct than when I was in school (had
this show taken place on my campus in the mid-90s there would have been about eight
protests underway before the midway point). Or perhaps there is just something special
about the Secret Pants crew. They are charming enough, endearing enough, and most of
all funny enough to get away with saying just about anything. Let’s hope they keep
saying it for a long time to come.
