Topic: College of Communication Information and Media

October 4, 2007

A comedy sketch produced by Something Else, a student-run sketch comedy group sponsored by Ball State's Department of Telecommunications, will air nationwide on the CW's "Online Nation."

"Man Dance" is scheduled to air in Indianapolis markets at 10:30 p.m. Oct. 7 after the Colts game and at 7:30 p.m. in all other markets.

"Our content is getting nationwide exposure. What we're doing matters, and people like what we're doing," said Al LeVine, executive producer and a senior telecommunications major. "Something Else in the past has been called 'sophomoric,' but I think that title is going away this year and being replaced by 'edgy' and 'savvy.'"

"Man Dance," like many of the sketches produced by Something Else, was inspired by real events.

"One of our show's producers, Michael Straub, was at a party - but there were only guys around. He still wanted to dance," LeVine said. "He thought it would look silly if he started traditionally dancing with another guy, so he got onto the dance floor and developed a new type of manly dance - man dancing. He later wrote the script and developed the sketch."

The sketch was chosen for "Online Nation" by a producer who contacted LeVine after finding the group's Web site.

Something Else is modeled after sketch shows such as "Saturday Night Live," "Mr. Show" and "Tim and Eric Awesome Show." Something Else produces weekly "viral" comedy sketches for the Web, a weekly radio show, podcasts and a daily blog.

"What we do is called a 'single cam' production, where we don't have a defined set. We set up a new location every week, film a sketch anywhere and bring it back and edit it," LeVine said. "We are, at times, controversial, and 'Man Dance' is controversial, which isn't bad.

"I don't think everything the university produces has be to happy, fuzzy, warm and good feeling," he said. "I think we bring some flavor into the mix, and in the process, make people laugh."

To view "Man Dance" and other sketches by Something Else, visit www.somethingelsetv.com.

By Jennifer Strempka