Warner Brothers Entertainment The new satirical sketch
comedy, "Hype," will be airing on Sundays at 8:30 p.m. on the
WB.
By Emilia Hwang
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Once the weekend is over and Monday rolls around, there
sometimes isn’t much for students to laugh at, especially
during midterms.
Tonight, however, the cast and producers of “Hype”
will be stopping by the Ackerman Grand Ballroom for a special
screening of the new sketch comedy show. Presented by Campus
Events, the Monday night comedy remedy will also feature stand-up
performances by the cast members followed by a catered reception in
which the audience will be able to meet and speak with the
show’s cast and producers.
“Hype,” which airs Sundays at 8:30 p.m. on the WB,
offers a half-hour of fearless satire, featuring skits that comment
on everything from television and sports, to fads and politics.
“If there’s an event that happens we try to find a
funny way of putting it on our show,” said comedian Frank
Caliendo.
“Hype” is often more fast-paced than other comedy
shows like “Mad TV” and “Saturday Night
Live,” according to actor Jennifer Elise Cox.
“We get the jokes in faster,” said Cox, who is best
known for her role as Jan in “The Brady Bunch” movies.
“It’s “˜Saturday Night Live’ for people with
attention deficit disorder.”
Unlike its sketch show predecessors, however, “Hype”
focuses mainly on people and events that are “hyped” in
the media, Caliendo explained.
“It’s pokes fun at the media-obsessed culture of Los
Angeles and the nation in general,” said UCLA Campus Events
speakers director and coordinator of the “Hype” event,
Eric Cook. “There’s really no one that’s safe
from their humor and parody.”
From the writers of “Mad TV,” “Hype”
examines popular culture and mocks the media frenzy that feeds it,
satirizing everything from the WB itself to pop icons like Britney
Spears.
“I thought the show was irreverent and that it would
appeal to the UCLA audience,” Cook said. “It’s
fun, it’s smart and it’s got a lot of talented
people.”
 Warner Brothers Entertainment The cast and producers of
"Hype" will be presenting a special screening of the new comedy
show Monday in the Ackerman Grand Ballroom. The show’s
ensemble features 10 stand up comedians/sketch comedy performers
who collectively contribute to the show’s humor, which
according to Caliendo, is based more on celebrity impressions than
most comedy programs.
“I love doing impressions,” Cox said.
“It’s the chance to play different characters week
after week.”
Cox, whose background is in acting and sketch comedy, enjoys
impersonating Kim Cattrall from “Sex and the City.”
“I love to do impressions of people that I’m
obsessed with,” she said.
Cox also called her co-star Caliendo a master impressionist. His
impressions include famous personalities like Michael Richards,
Chris Farley and John Madden.
Caliendo has taken his repertoire of over 100 rapid-fire
impressions through the college circuit, having performed at over
300 universities.
“I love performing live at the schools,” Caliendo
said. “It’s always great to get immediate feedback on
stuff you’re doing instead of taping in front of a
camera.”
While Caliendo majored in broadcast journalism at the University
of Wisconsin, it wasn’t until after college that he got into
stand-up comedy.
“My whole thing was I just didn’t want to work for
real after college,” he said.
After graduation, Caliendo took a job as an MC at a local comedy
club and within a year he was headlining.
Now he is making his network series debut in “Hype.”
Caliendo said that tonight’s free show is the perfect
opportunity to get familiar with the program, whether you’ve
seen it before or not.
The entire live evening is free and an extra bonus is that the
first 250 people in line will receive free t-shirts. Though Cook is
expecting a turnout of 400-500 people, he said he still hopes that
the performance will feel like an intimate evening of comedy.
“One of the ideas of the event was not to make it like a
thousand person event because we wanted to give people an
opportunity to interact with the cast and producers,” Cook
said. “We wanted to keep it a little bit more informal and
just give them a little bit more access to the guests we have on
campus.”
“It’s just a really great opportunity to meet cast
and producers of a show, to see some stand up comedy ““ that
usually doesn’t happen too often at UCLA,” he
continued.
With free food, drinks and comedy, “Hype’s”
UCLA appearance is bound to help students laugh their Monday blues
away.
“I just hope that I get some free food and drinks,
too,” Caliendo said.
COMEDY: Meet the cast and producers of “Hype”
tonight at 8 p.m. in the Ackerman Grand Ballroom. Entry to the
performance and reception is free. For more information call (310)
825-1958.