Back to the books and back to the show, Emory Law students came back from spring break and got to work on their annual Emory Follies show, an event that allows law students to perform skits that parody their professors and their law school experiences. Many students throughout the law school send in ideas to be incorporated into the annual Emory Follies show, but few students go as far as to get involved in the planning of the production. For this reason, writing the skits and organizing the show largely falls to a core group of third year students, which, includes Christie Jones and Clay Collett this year. These students collaborated in writing the skits and put together a comedy hour composed of original live and video entertainment as well as recurring skits that appear every year, such as Follies Update and Drunk History.
Third year Law student and Co-Director Clay Collett said, “The whole show is very informal… This is the only event that we have where the students get to say what they really think and that is pretty awesome.”
Though the show caters mainly to law students, everyone is welcome to attend. In fact, alumni and faculty often come to the event and get involved in the skits themselves. It becomes a time in which students, professors, and alumni come together, relax and poke fun at themselves and each other while sharing pizza and a beer. The humorous, artistic roles require students to call on their creative abilities. It provides students with an outlet for their passions and talents, which they may not have a chance to express otherwise.
“For me, acting and a cappella was a big part of college and I wanted something like that in law school and I’m glad this was here for me.” said Christie Jones, a third year Law student and co-director of Emory Follies. “Clay and I look forward to it every year.”
Following her comment, Collett added that the coolest thing is that you find out that you had no idea how talented people are.
[quote_colored name=”” icon_quote=”no”]”People come out of the woodwork and they just have amazing talents and when you can shepherd that into a production, it’s phenomenal,” Collett said.[/quote_colored]
As Emory Follies continues to evolve each year, it is met with a growing amount of participation from the students. While the show shares similarities with NBC’s Saturday Night Live, Emory Law School’s annual tradition may predate the weekly television show.
“Our Emory Follies, if I remember correctly, were out on the plaza and it was very impromptu. It wasn’t anything like it is right now,” said Christine Jones’s father, Pat Jones, who graduated from Emory Law School in 1979.
Pat Jones came to the show not only to watch his daughter and support her in her work but to see himself in a video that was presented in one of the show’s skits. As opposed to the informal and unpopular Emory Follies of the 1970’s, Pat Jones said this was loads more fun.
[quote_regular name=”” icon_quote=”no”]“It really pulls the students together when they come to the show,” Pat Jones said.[/quote_regular]
