Mudd 26 transformed from a staid and stuffy lecture hall into an emporium of song, laughter and edgy comedy that bordered on darkness and insanity.
The Mental Notes, Hopkins's premiere comedy a cappella group, performed to a full house last Saturday night, and were received with alcohol-stained laughter and tears of pure joy.
The Mental Notes concert functioned as a sort of group therapy in which the audience collectively probed the darkest recesses of their minds, briefly considered what is wrong with them, and then threw up their hands in despair and doubled down in laughter. Sophomore Lucie Fink, performance director, says the concert was a "moment to laugh at life and everything about it." Nothing was off-limits.
The Mental Notes treated their audience to a bizarre and hilarious performance through a set of skits, songs, and a hilarious video. The concert was centered around the theme, "The Mental Notes Get Stuck on a Deserted Island," in which the group realized it was on an island and tried to construct a society.
Society ended up being a mere mailbox, painstakingly created by hammers wielded at the male crotch and dancing, bikini-clad women.
The group followed a treasure map they hoped would be a way out of the mailbox, but the curtains fell when the treasure map instead lead them to the ultimate treasure: friendship.
Songs included such covers of hits such as "Fidelity," by Regina Spektor, "Mean," by Taylor Swift, "Just Can't Wait to be King," from "The Lion King", as well as the group's signature original parodies such as "My Enormous Penis" and "Roommate Rendezvous". Best of all was "This Is The Shortest Song I've Ever Sung," which consisted of only those eight words, much to the audience's delight.
If The Mental Notes' goal was to make us uncomfortable and laugh, they achieved it time and again, as the audience split apart and guffawed.
Some jokes were completely random and nonsensical, such as when they asked an audience member to read lines out of a hat like, "I'm dripping in pussy mud."
Others, meanwhile, twisted societal assumptions inside out, such as when Fink and junior Andy Weld pretended to switch brains and experience what it would be like as a member of the opposite sex. Weld repeatedly gasped in amazement at his testicles while Fink lovingly massaged her newfound breasts. Any guy or gal can relate to imagining spending a moment in the other gender's body.
Not everyone, however, is prepared for members to shout obscenities such as,"You can't f*** a cripple," which senior Andre Rouhani did with cool composure. Polite society would not tolerate such a statement.
Fortunately for The Mental Notes, their audience was not a polite society, rather, it was a group of overworked Hopkins students looking for a good time, various Mental Notes alumni and a few parents brave enough to endure the onslaught of edgy jokes.
The performance allowed over 100 people to forget their troubles, if but for a moment, and come together to laugh and enjoy themselves.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The News-Letter.