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Out of Bounds is as historic in its origins as it is integral to our everyday life. From the ashes of the energy crisis of the late seventies there arose a need for some more energy. Several Brown students called together what would later come to be known as the Poseidon Conference to address these issues. The Conference culminated in the release of a "Statement of Fact" addressing the energy crisis and its effects on American morale. The Statement was greeted mostly with blank stares and shaking heads. The Providence Journal described it as "incompetent buffoonery of the highest order that employs various rhetorical styles including, but not limited to, yammering, preaching, whining and distorting." But part of the Statement slowly developed a more receptive audience. A small appendix, addressing some of the Conference members' fears of impending Reaganomics, was formatted as a five minute play, or "sketch." Throughout the early 1980's the sketch developed a cult following, especially here on the Brown campus. The liberal make-up of the University was fertile ground for a scathing attack on the conservative economic policies of the time. Not satisfied with simply reading the same five minute skit again and again, students began petitioning the remaining members of the Poseidon Conference to write more sketches. Undeterred by their resounding failure as social commentators, the scrappy group re-formed as the Brown Poseidons and set to work on putting together a live show of their irreverent humor and unflinching wit. On March 14, 1981 that show, aptly named Poseidon's Pratfalls, opened to a packed house in a Keeney Lounge. Success was theirs and the fledgling comedy group never looked back. Since then the group has undergone numerous changes. The name was quickly switched to Neptune and the MerComedians, then The Sea Funnies, and (mercifully) briefly it was called Lois's Laugh Parade. Ultimately the group settled on the name Out of Bounds, which more effectively captured the young performers’ desire to push sketch comedy to new levels. No matter what the name, however, Out of Bounds has been bringing hour-long doses of smart and incisive joy to the Brown campus several times a semester for over twenty years. Many aspire to their vaunted ranks, few succeed, but none can resist their charms and sketch comedy will never be the same.
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