Westwood Night Live debuted to a sold-out crowd and featured daring debaters, a dancing dean and a devoted De Neve Residential Restaurant diner.
The inaugural production, presented through UCLA Radio’s comedy department, took place at 7 p.m. Friday in the Ackerman Grand Ballroom. Hosted by Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, the event sold out all 500 tickets in just three days, said Jiya Singh, the show’s creator and executive producer. A third-year cognitive science and communication student, Singh added that her childhood memories of secretly watching “Saturday Night Live” under her covers reflect her ongoing love for comedy.
“I really wanted to create an environment where people from all different disciplines – whether it’s arts, whether it’s comedy, film, politics, radio, television, anything – can come together and create something really special,” Singh said. “I love late-night comedy, and I wanted to give a voice to the students but also to the faculty.”
The Westwood Night Live creator said she prioritized finding a faculty member to host the comedy show. While speaking with Rob Carpenter, one of her former instructors, Singh said she was initially captivated by his description of Shimizu’s cupcake dress.
“As a person of color and a woman in the arts, I literally have no one to look up to ever,” Singh said. “When he (Carpenter) told me about Dean Celine wearing this cupcake dress and delivering her monologue to TFT with this giant hat – I was thinking how incredible of a person she is and how confident and unashamed she is to just be herself.”
The pair met over Zoom during finals week of winter quarter, Singh added. Shimizu said she accepted the role of host with one central condition – the show had to be well executed. Working with her team to maximize her availability, the TFT dean added that she wished to engage in multi-generational conversations by scheduling with the show’s cast.
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Shimizu said when she was a student, she struggled with acting and frequently feared those roles. The Westwood Night Live team, she added, encouraged her as they challenged themselves beyond their major – an engineering student was dancing or a biology student was writing a sketch. Exploration is essential, Shimizu said, with cross-disciplinary ventures spurring self-experimentation.
“Comedy is able to express ideas and thoughts at a time when students, may be feeling silence, … a fear of speaking,” Shimizu said. “I felt really happy to be immersed in the worlds that they envision.”
Over 80 students were involved in executing Westwood Night Live, Singh said in the opening producer monologue. The performance featured 28 actors on the cast list and additional names were identified as contributing in the production, writing, directing and film teams. Singh added that she wanted involvement in the show to be accessible. People with little-to-no acting or writing experience were directing Shimizu, Singh said. The third-year student added that she was provided the chance to take on a teaching role.
Singh said throughout her experience working in the entertainment industry, she did not have many people with similar backgrounds as hers to look up to. Working with Shimizu helped her recognize she can be authentic while still commanding respect, she added.
The show consisted of 13 sketches, including “Debate Me,” inspired by Bruin Walk, and “Midnight Yell,” based on the UCLA finals week tradition of the same name. With references to UCLA and nods to SNL, Singh said the writers sought to adapt their ideas to their audience of students and industry professionals.
Jack Bergman, a fourth-year communication student and writer and actor in Westwood Night Live, said writers often lack the chance to bring their sketches into reality. He added that venues such as Westwood Night Live are imperative.
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“We’re all setting aside our own personal schedules to meet up and rehearse these scenes,” Bergman said. “I really hope they (the audience) feel the work – but also the fun – that was put into it.”
The night’s musical guest, The Situations, closed the first act, inviting the audience up to the front of the stage for their second song, a cover of “Johnny B. Goode.” After a brief intermission, the show’s latter half began with an SNL-inspired Weekend Update, featuring a guest appearance from an actor disguised as a salmon from the The Study at Hedrick.
Parker Thompson, a third-year mathematics student and a special guest of Shimizu, said the sketches were highly relatable. Westwood Night Live united students and offered creatives the chance to share their work, he added.
“I come out here for two hours on my Friday night,” Thompson said. “I get to see what these students have been putting months and months of time into. … It gives us (the audience) a sense of what they do every day.”
Laughter reverberated across the Ackerman Grand Ballroom as pining frat boys sought the attention of a college student’s mother, played by Shimizu, in the sketch entitled “Mrs. Pamela.” The TFT dean also debuted multiple hypnotic hats throughout the evening.
The show inspired a reflection on her own life, Shimizu said. She added that the event underscored a sense of hope, as UCLA students initiate opportunities for creative expression.
“A rebellion is happening in Westwood through the use of comedy, especially in a moment where people are feeling silence, and people are feeling distance from each other,” Shimizu said. “To see the students stand up and not shrink and not sit down and instead assert themselves in this way, where they’re going to create a community in the theater today. How exciting. And I want people to want to be a part of it.”
Contributing reports from Leydi Cris Cobo Cordon and Karla Cardenas-Felipe, Daily Bruin staff.
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