‘Nightcap’ makes a comeback: Students revive sketch comedy show
Photo Courtesy of Joe Wall
More than a decade after its cancellation, two Chapman students lead the charge to bring back a student-run television show.
“Nightcap,” the college sketch comedy late-night show, is returning here on campus. First started in the late ‘90s by students and then eventually made into a full-fledged class, “Nightcap” allowed students to gain experience in the fields of television and talk shows.
Filmed in Marion Knott Studios, the show garnered celebrity guests like Ted Danson and Dave Chappelle. The program ended in the late 2000s to make room for other organizations like Chapman News.
Sophomore Riley Wood and senior Joe Wall, both broadcast journalism and documentary majors, are leading the effort to revive the show, this time as a club. Acting as co-presidents of the club, the two met in the broadcast class Journalism in the 21st Century. Miles Leicher, a Chapman television production and broadcast journalism ‘07 alumnus and former member of “Nightcap,” came as a guest speaker.
“He spoke about (“Nightcap”) during our class, and Joe and I both happened to stay after to ask him about it. Miles explained the show to us and asked if it was something Joe and I would want to try and bring back,” Wood said.
After graduating from Chapman, Leicher worked as an executive assistant at “Real Time with Bill Maher.” He was able to secure tickets for Wood to attend a live taping, giving her a first-hand look at the inner workings of a studio show.
“Since meeting Miles, he gave me the opportunity to go out and see the Feb. 14 show for ‘Real Time with Bill Maher.’ This was an amazing experience and I was able to bring along a few guests with me,” Wood told The Panther. “Watching ‘Bill Maher’ was incredible to see real time production and how the show runs. I have never seen a studio show in person, so it was cool to get more of a behind-the-scenes look.”
Wood and Wall are very interested in creating a space for students interested in exploring different facets of television — like talk and variety shows — because there are few classes in Dodge College of Film and Media Arts that are tailored to those interests.
“Leicher was talking about how he got experience at Chapman doing ‘Nightcap,’ and how it inspired him to go into (television) for his career. And we both agreed we want more opportunities for students who are interested in this,” Wall told The Panther.
The two are working on the logistics of starting the club, but they hope to hit the ground running by having meetings and writers’ rooms as soon as everything is approved.
“Riley and I both, I would say, are the executive producers or the founding members of the club,” Wall said. “So I just submitted the club application form. In addition, I've had meetings with staff members at Dodge to figure out how to rent the live studio space in the building, and we've been contacting writers to start writing comedy skits.”
The club hopes to live-stream episodes on YouTube and incorporate a live studio audience. One of the writers that has already been brought on is Fred Bancroft, a junior writing for film and television major who has a background in improv and sketch comedy.
“I do improv, Groundlings stuff, up in LA and they're big on sketch comedy, so I get a lot of work practicing there, and I also do a lot of stand-up and stuff,” said Bancroft. “So I just always, always loved sketch comedy.”
His passion and experience in sketch comedy allowed him to start working with the co-presidents almost immediately, and they are aiming to grow their team soon.
“I joined essentially right when Joe found out about the project and said he wanted to bring it back,” Bancroft told The Panther. “Now we've sort of started expanding. We're trying to look for people to work (cinematography), grip, writers and such (and) really build out our larger club base.”
As for the goals of the club, Wood plans to contribute to the club for the rest of her college career and wants to create an environment that people want to keep coming back to.
“For the audience, I just want to make them laugh, obviously, but create a show that makes people laugh and creates a lasting impression on them so they want to continue tuning in,” Wood told The Panther. “End goal, I would love to have a dedicated cast that the audience can expect to see content from.”
Being in his final semester of senior year, Wall won't have much time to work on this project before graduating, but he hopes that in the future it impacts the film school by giving more opportunities to those interested in this type of television.
“It'd be really cool if it got turned into a class as another section,” Wall told The Panther. “And we could have more of a space at Chapman for unscripted TV, and this would be the kind of thesis for people who wanted to go into it.”