Santa gets dirty at DSI comedy theater

Laughter erupted throughout Carrboro’s local comedy club as a parody commercial — advocating for Christmas tree rights to the tune of Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel” — appeared on the stage screen.

Dirty South Comedy Theater is known to pioneer alternative forms of comedy, and “Love in the Time of Santa Claus” innovatively follows suit.

The show, which runs every Saturday night until Christmas, is a collection of short comedy sketches that alternate in form between live acting and multimedia production.

The sketches, which are intended for mature audiences, explore oddities of the holiday season, ranging from white elephant gift exchanges to mall Santas and church nativity plays.

Multiple episodes of “Santa’s Yule Vlog,” along with other short video clips, are interspersed between sketches, keeping the audience engaged for the entirety of the show.

“The recurring theme is different kinds of relationships during the holiday season, and of course Santa Claus,” said Rick Skarbez, director and co-writer of the show.

Skarbez, a UNC graduate student, said he has done improv at DSI for four years and jumped at the opportunity to take charge of a sketch comedy show.

“When I get interested in something, I tend to overdo it, so this was appealing in that respect,” Skarbez said.

Skarbez said the show originated as a five-person writer’s group and developed through a process of auditions and rehearsals throughout November.

“Once we started getting some things on stage, it was really validation,” Skarbez said.

The show’s sketches, reminiscent of “Saturday Night Live,” are broken up by the multimedia vlogs and commercials, creating a variety of media.

Skarbez said he has never worked on a show that incorporates multimedia like “Love in the Time of Santa Claus” does.

“To get really into that part of the process was both intimidating and really exciting,” Skarbez said.

“It’s an entirely different level of involvement and creativity.”

Andy Lavender, a co-writer and UNC graduate student, said the inspiration for the sketches stemmed from odd traditions and the writers’ personal questions about why society observes certain things during the holiday season.

“People bring in their own ideas and it’s very open — there’s a lot of give and take,” Lavender said.

Aubrey Delaney, an actress and UNC graduate student, said she didn’t know her fellow actors beforehand but has grown closer with the cast during the process of putting on this show.

“It’s a comedy theater, so there’s laughter all the time,” Delaney said.

Lavender said the show was a collaborative work over the span of a few months.

“Comedy theater in a relatively small town is kind of an unusual thing,” Lavender said.

“It’s really community driven.”

Contact the desk editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.