Sketch comedy group Major: Undecided last Friday won first place for the third consecutive year at the annual Boston Funderdome competition hosted by Boston University.
The group secured its victory over four other sketch comedy groups from schools including Boston University, Brandeis University and Emerson College.
Senior Chloe Rotman, the president of Major: Undecided, expressed satisfaction with the teams performance at the competition.
We are very proud of ourselves, she said. I think that three wins in a row lends us credibility within the greater Boston community.
Thirteen members of Major: Undecided performed at this years Funderdome, Rotman said, adding that each actor was chosen for his or her role based on auditions conducted weeks before the event.
The sketches chosen for the competition also went through an audition process, she said. Out of over 35 possible sketches, each written by Major: Undecided members, the group selected four by a voting process.
This is really the only competition we do ... The pressure is definitely different for this, Rotman said. I feel like when we compose our setlist, it is much more focused and aggressive.
The comedy faceoff consisted of three rounds in which teams were eliminated until only one team was left standing, according to Rotman.
We gave ourselves the biggest pep talk backstage, she said. We huddled and peptalked and went out there with our game faces with the intention to destroy.
The 10minute first round allowed groups to perform two sketches, she said. The three groups that garnered the most applause from the audience then moved on to the second round.
Our first sketch went well, but our second sketch went not as well as we intended, so we were a little bit worried, Public Relations Director of Major: Undecided Lia Kastrinakis, a junior, said. Right when we made it into the second round, we knew we needed to try our absolute hardest.
Rotman said that the team made up for the lackluster response to its second sketch by putting forward its best material, a musical sketch called Polygamy, for the second round.
Id say that we performed Polygamy better than we ever have, she said. Once we got that first laugh, from beginning to end it killed.
Kastrinakis explained that the team picked up the energy as the skit went along and received encouragement when the audience responded positively to its jokes.
Its really nervewracking, but when you get that first initial laugh you just know that the sketch is going to go well, Kastrinakis said. That changes the whole energy too. Once it starts going well, everyone gets super into it.
Major: Undecided came out on top as the audience favorite with the third sketch, Rotman said, sealing its first place win. The third and final round, known as the victory lap, then gave the group members a chance to perform one last sketch as the winning team.
The victory was the culmination of weeks of preparation, she said.
The truth is, we work really hard on this, and those of us who are in the core of the group care a lot about how we perform, how we are perceived and just about the quality of the comedy we put out, Rotman said.
Kastrinakis mirrored Rotmans sentiments, noting that the win was worth the time spent rehearsing.
Its nice to have a little bit of validation that our hard work has paid off, she said.
