At the College of Wooster in the early 1990's, a bunch of friends had a radio comedy troupe. They called themselves 'Wooster Footlights' in honor of the famous Cambridge Footlights troupe.

They broadcast a two-hour show of sketches, parodies, and music on the college's radio station, WCWS, every Friday night at midnight during the school year.

These were simpler times, when a bunch of people could have the run of an entire radio station on Friday nights, and put out over the airwaves whatever made them laugh. Sometimes the humorous ideas worked, sometimes they didn't, but Wooster Footlights was the product of love and hard work. It was also an aural monument to the really, really boring social life at Wooster.

Back then, WCWS was lucky to get a campus audience. Broadcasting at full power was not an option because the radio antenna played havoc with the experiments of the Physics Department. Thus, the Footlights group rarely reached an off-campus audience. Until now. We have begun to digitize our old cassette tape recordings of those broadcasts and share them with you as podcasts.

The early 90's were before the internet. Before email. Before we really had anything to record the shows on except dodgy cassette tapes in boom boxes, so many apologies for the sound quality. Although many of the references are severely dated, and some of the humor is shockingly derivative, this podcast series collects together a significant portion of the group's output at its height. We hope you like it... Or at least don't mind it too much.

So what else is new? Get on with it!

This collection presents several sketches with a religious theme that were broadcast between 1990 and 1992. As you will hear, most of them were just excuses to bring in God as a character, or to use our explosion sound effect.

Please remember that these masters were made from magnetic cassette tapes that recorded live FM broadcasts in the early 90s, so sound quality is variable, not to mention the quality of the writing and acting.

Please enjoy "Footlights Presents Religion", won't you?

Track List:
Classical Studies vs. Religious Studies
Dead Religion Sketch
The Platypus
Amazing Discoveries- The Afterlife
Candidacy for God
Noah's Submarine
The Last Footlights Meeting
Hell Freezes Over
Green Berets for Jesus
Religion Round-Up

Three of the writers for Wooster Footlights were Classical Studies majors at the College of Wooster. This meant that many sketches centered around the ancient Greek and Roman worlds (and contained many an inside joke intelligible to only a Classics dweeb.

This show collects together eight examples (nine if you look carefully).

Track List:
The Bus Stop Sketch
The Burning of Rome
The Greek Week Sketch
Oediputz
Lysistrata
Greece
Plato's Apology
Terror Cotta

Footlights did not often do movie parodies. Instead, they did movie commercial parodies. Their fictitious Hollywood studio was called Sunny Day Pictures, a subtle, ironic reference to the weather in Wooster.

The obsolete technology used was magnetic cassette recordings of live FM broadcasts in the early 90's, so quality is more Roger Corman than Kurosawa.

And if you got that reference, enjoy "Footlights Presents Movies".

Track List:
Cthulhu In Love
Three Detectives and a Baby
Bob Ross- The Motion Picture
The Wizard of Ugh
Body Hair
Ghost II- The Exorcize Video
Pantyhose of Vengeance

Television parodies are a staple of every two bit sketch show, and Footlights was no different.

Back when we still had analog TV, these masters were made from magnetic cassette tapes. They recorded live FM broadcasts in the early 90's, so sometimes their quality is no better than most of the TV in the early 90s.

Coming up next, "Footlights Presents Television".

Track List:
Star Trek: The Last Generation
Remote Control Sketch
Cannibal Julia Child
Helmüt and Günther 'Up! On Film'
Amazing Discoveries
Seseme Street- The Lost Episode
Helmüt and Günther's Generic PBS Show

Ad execs dream of broadcasting nothing but commercials. Footlights often did. They were the easiest kind of sketches to write after all.

Please note that in the Artful Persuasion commercial, we did the subliminal ad bit long before the guy on Saturday Night Live. So not all of our humor was derivative. Sometimes it was predictive.

Please also note the sound quality is not ideal because these masters were made from cassette tapes recording live FM broadcasts in the early 90s. But don't let that bother you. Operators are standing by.

Track List:
Feminine Protection from Smith & Wesson
South Eastern Ohio School of Silly Accents
Rock Bottom Beer
Committee for Artful Persuasion
Fragrance of Deception
Godzilla Does Motown
The Power of Radio
Benny's Bait Shop & Sushi Bar
No Underwear
Shakespeare in Seventy Seconds
Wilford Lot Academy of Speed Bumps
Folgers Crystals
Hair Club for Men
PSA: Ignorance is Death
The National Dairy Board

This episode brings together three random subjects. Monster parodies were always fun to do even when it was not Halloween. Although when it was Halloween it usually made more sense. Because Footlights members were all college students, academic life itself was often a topic. Because they were all college students, so was sex.

Enjoy these random memes and please remember: all masters were made from magnetic cassette tapes that recorded live FM broadcasts in the early 90s, so sound quality is not ideal. Apologies in advance, for everything.

Track List:
Halloween News
The Love Doctor
The Big, Powerful, Penetrating Sigmund Freud Sketch
Habitat for Inhumanity
Biffy & Buffy's Cheerleading Camp
Councilor Sketch
The Overdoufus
The Cupid Sketch
Supervillain Support Group
Parapsychology 204
Sitcom Sketch
Footlights Explains Complicated Concepts: Le Mis
Dial-A-Monster
Safe Sex Sketch

Footlights had several recurring segments such as Footlights Presents the Classics, Art Forum, Candidate Watch, and Great Moments in History.

This episode brings several examples together from recordings of live FM broadcasts in the early 90s on magnetic cassette tapes.

Lucky you!

Track List:
Thrust!
Witchcraft Special
Candidate Watch: Roy the Wonder Rock
Art Forum: Improv Theater Troupe
Art Forum: Granny Rock
Barbie Michelle Fillipolippi
Believe It Or Else
Art Forum: Robert Burns
Footlights Explains Complicated Concepts: Wemmick
Psychic Special
Candidate Watch: Cthulhu
Art Forum: Van Gogh & T. S. Eliot
Footlights Explains Complicated Concepts: War

Footlights had several recurring segments such as Footlights Presents the Classics, Art Forum, Candidate Watch, and Great Moments in History.

These recordings were lovingly hand crafted from live FM broadcasts delicately placed on magnetic cassette tapes in the early 90s.

No refunds.

Track List:
Footlights Presents the Classics: MacGard
Art Forum: Nuns of the Above
Great Moments in History: Salem Witch Trials
Art Forum: Martin Fullofyourself
Art Forum: Thespis Flungerhummer
Great Moments in History: Atilla the Hun
Art Forum: William P. Radcliffe
Candidate Watch: Me & U2
Great Moments in History: The Silly Accent French
     Revolution Sketch

Footlights attempted many kinds of parodies, so it was inevitable that soap operas would make the list. Our in-house soap opera was called "As the Minutes Tick By" which began as an extended one-joke sketch about a drama where everyone was named Bob. This grew into a regular series that made fun of the genre's conventions, eventually becoming so convoluted that the only way to end it was with a huge atomic explosion.

The episodes are presented here in order as they were broadcast in the early nineties, which means a lot of static, bad sound quality, and mistakes galore! We hope that you'll listen past the limitations and enjoy this artifact of the days when serial shows were actually called Soap Operas, and where you could extend a joke well past its freshness date. Something Saturday Night Live has now perfected.

The final episode reuintes several of our regular characters such as Eric the Undead, Helmüt and Günter, Captian Capybara, Sound Effects Man, and the Legion of Feminine Doom. It was part of our last show.

Track List:
As the Minutes Tick By (Episode the First)
As the Minutes Tick By (Episode Two)
As the Minutes Tick By (Episode Three)
As the Minutes Tick By (Episode Four)
As the Minutes Tick By (Episode Five)
As the Minutes Tick By (Episode Six- the Earth Day
     Episode)
[Episode Seven Missing]
As the Minutes Tick By (Episode Eight)
As the Minutes Tick By (Episode Nine)
[Episode Ten Missing]
A.T.M.T.B. Commercial
As the Minutes Tick By (The Last Episode)

The members of Footlights loved Wooster. They also loved making fun of both it and themselves.

Only a few words of explanation are needed to make some of the sketches make sense today. The first is who this Henry P Copeland guy is who shows up in one sketch. He was the long-serving president of Wooster from 1977-1995, and was often the target of the troupe's good natured ribbing. However, to our knowledge, he never owned a pet goat named Olivia.

The second is the story behind the Tim Russell fan club sketch. It was a secret birthday present from the group to one of its members. He had no idea it was coming until he heard it broadcast live in studio.

And finally, yes, as one of the sketches explains, Footlights was actually briefly syndicated in a town 173 miles to the southwest. We never quite understood why either.

Track List:
Evil Nazi Seminar
First Annual Fund Raiser
Footlights: The Motion Picture
Evil Nazi Station ID
Poster Giveaway
Yuppie Death
The Quadmire
Yet Another Oz Parody
The GRE Sketch
The Laugh Track That Wouldn't Die
Pagan Sacrifice Sketch
The Laugh Track That Wouldn't Die II
'Allo Centerville
Rice Pilaf
Hell's Comics (with special guest star Ruth Berry)
Footlights 101
Footlights Can
Nazi Grocery Clerk
The Tim Russell Fan Club