Profitable Laughs

More than 600 people were kept in stitches Saturday night during the Harvard Lampoon's Comedy Night, a three-hour charity event to benefit Phillips Brooks House.

The event, held in Sanders Theater, pulled in over over $2500 in proceeds, according to Jonathan H. Lawrence '90, one of the organizers of Comedy Night.

The evening featured John Katz, frequent guest on The David Letterman Show, Jimmy Tingle of Star Search fame, and Harvard's own improvisation group On Thin Ice.

A few members of the audience also had the chance to test some of their party jokes in front of the better-than-expected crowd for a $5 gift certificate.

"I'm just glad everybody had a good time," said Lawrence, adding, "The event was such a success that I hope it will become a yearly occurence."

Tingle, who described himself as a "thinking man's comic," expressed relief throughout his performance that the night's audience was so smart. In Georgia, he would have had to explain most of his jokes, he said.

Hard Rock Waltzers

Adams House dining hall served as a multipurpose indoor arena last week, becoming a ballroom and night club in a matter of eight days. Last Saturday, groups of sophisticated students danced away the night in the house's annual waltz. Then, this Saturday, a less elevated audience, including a group of slam dancers, rocked to the beat of three hard core bands.

The three rock bands, two of which include Harvard students, played their own music for about 400 people Saturday night in "The Hate Your Friends Show," named for the Lemonheads' soon-to-be-released album on Taang Records, organizers said.

From the Blake Babies' "quirky pop" music to the Bullet LaVolta's "melodic punk metal" and the Lemonheads' "melodic punk," the night was "a rousing success," said Clay B. Tarver '88, who plays guitar for Bullet LaVolta.

"I don't think anything quite like it has been seen or will be seen for a long time in the Adams House dining hall," said Tarver.

The ideas for the night of music began when Bullet LaVolta band member T. Corey Brennan, an Adams House resident Classics tutor, heard a tape of the Blake Babies at WHRB, where he is a disc jockey.

Jesse W. Peretz '90 started the one-year-old Lemonheads with friends he met in high school in Boston. The bass-playing Peretz said that, while 1977-78 British punk music has influenced his style, the band is turning more pop.

The Harvard show was a welcome change from the Boston club scene, he said.