They are Marquette

By Brynne Ramella

Ever since Marquette’s new sketch comedy troupe, 33rd& State, has been on Twitter, I have noticed their interaction with The Naturals, the campus’s premier male a cappella group. Their banter has spanned from compliments on each other’s videos, requests for The Naturals’ bow ties and tweeting an embarrassing picture of a member of the opposite group.
Kind-hearted harassment has seemed to turn into  friendship.
At first, I thought this was just two performing arts groups supporting each other. However, I guess this type of relationship evolves with familiarity. Joe Scannell, of The Naturals, has known 33rd & State’s Bill Lacy for eight years.
“We went to high school together,” Joe said. “We both did improv there, and he and I are in class together now.”
With his background in comedy and his love for a cappella singing, Joe took interest in 33rd & State’s “The Lion Pees Tonight” video. He tweeted at 33rd& State to see if the group had a place for The Naturals in any upcoming sketches. Joe thought of it as a way for The Naturals’ fans to see another side of the group and to give an old friend some new publicity.
“We (The Naturals) have a pretty big following, and they’re just getting started,” Joe said of 33rd & State, “so we wanted to see if we could help them by promoting them and being in a video and showing that we’re a fun group of guys – versus some stiff guys wearing bow ties.”
The collaboration happened in a 33rd & State video (below) about tours at Marquette. The video was retweeted by Marquette, liked on Facebook by both sets of fans and, of course, virtually every member of each group shared it via Twitter and Facebook, along with kind messages to the other group.
Joe wants the two groups to collaborate again. But for now, 33rd & State will spend time preparing their debut show, coming up in less than a month.
Joe hopes Marquette will embrace 33rd & State’s sometimes pushing-the-envelope comedy. But he said even if 33rd & State becomes an underground comedy group, they can count on Joe and the rest of The Naturals for support.

Brynne Ramella, a journalism student at Marquette University, is a guest blogger for MilwaukeeComedy, documenting the start-up of Marquette’s sketch comedy troupe, 33rd & State. This is the seventh in her series of reports.