Yale's first ever talk show, maybe

JULIA TIERNAN/YH DJ Thunderballz (right) and Bill do wtheir TV schtick.

Television by the students and for the students is finally a reality at Yale. Or at least it will be. Soon. We hope.

Dan Levy, CC '00, and Bill "Skull" Marino, TC '01, held the first taping of their talk show, DJ Thunderballz & Bill, Sat., Sept. 26 in the Trumbull College Common Room. Levy, DJ Thunderballz himself ("Skull" is, of course, Bill), was ecstatic over the results.

"It went about twice as smooth as we imagined it would," he said.

The show follows the format of a typical late night program--it's like Late Night with Conan O'Brien minus the masturbating bear and gaseous weiner. It has taped comedy segments as well as live interaction between the hosts and their guests (musicians, playwrights, poets, personalities, and artists of other genres). DJ Thunderballz even has its own in-house band, The Sextones, Yale's latest lords of funk.

About 35 people attended the first taping, and the historic first guests on the first ever episode of DJ Thunderballz & Bill were Itamar Moses, CC '99, and Andrew Eggert, MC '00. Eggert, who is directing Moses's play, Elegy For Lonely Guys, said the two received a list of possible questions prior to the taping.

"They really had their stuff together," Eggert said. "It could be successful if they air it right after they tape it."

Eggert may be on to something. The episode includes a taped segment about the frosh bazaar and plugs for a band's appearance at a concert this weekend and Fall Fest next month.

So when will DJ Thunderballz and his sidekick be coming to a television near you?

"It's still ambiguous when we'll be able to show it," Marino said, "or, I guess, if we'll be able to show it."

Hmmm. Well, whom do you need to contact, at Yale, Comcast, or wherever, before you have permission to air it?

"We don't even know," Marino said.

Oh. Well, who does know? Maybe John Schilke, manager of television services at the Yale audio/visual center as well as member of a committee that will make recommendations to Provost Alison Richard about the Yale cable stations? Does he, perchance, happen to know what kind of shows Yale will air?

"We...don't have in place a criteria for student productions," Schilke said. He would not comment on when DJ Thunderballz could get on the air. He did, however, leave a small opening, saying it was conceivable Yale might try an "experimental" program before its regular slate of shows begins.

If the show ever does get aired, the Yale community will see that DJ Thunderballz & Bill is quality programming. The first episode alone proves it: poet and freestyler DeAnthus Cowell, TC '01, shows off his booming baritone in lines like, "my rib, my rib, my rib, yes 'tis missing." DJ Thunderballz asks Moses if there's nudity in his play. Musical guest Six Pack Annie sounds as if they've come a long way since the Saybrook courtyard party, and Robert "Dokta" Kokta, BK '00, and David Caputo, DC '99, get funky as The Sextones' horn section (the band members, by the way, chime in with commentary during the interviews, à la Paul Shaffer's band on the Late Show with David Letterman).

Levy and Marino, who are providing the funds for DJ Thunderballz and Bill out of their own pockets, are looking for help. They also hope that they're starting a trend and that soon multiple Yale TV programs will flourish. "It's the next new wave at Yale," Marino said.

Administration permitting, of course.

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