Nolan's was packed with Scrubs fans when The Blanks, the a cappella group from the hit TV show, performed for Hopkins students last Thursday.
The group — comprised of baritone Sam Lloyd, who played Ted Buckland on Scrubs, tenor Philip McNiven, baritone George Miserlis and bass Paul F. Perry — is most known for its performances on Scrubs as Ted's Band, or The Worthless Peons. The event was hosted by the Nolan's Student Lounge.
They started off the show with one of their classics, "Underdog," which most Scrubs fans should have recognized as one of the catchy TV theme songs performed in early seasons of the show.
While these men all have fantastic voices, their creative choreography and dynamic facial expressions made it apparent from the start that this was going to be an entertaining performance.
Their dance moves were very simple, yet hilarious, which is one of the best ways for a cappella singers to retain their pitch and still catch the attention of the audience through their motions.
After The Blanks performed their first song, they did their first comedy sketch, which provided the theme for the entire show.
They informed the audience that an agent was sitting in the front row, and they needed to impress her in order to get her to sign the contract that she had written up on toilet paper. Yes, toilet paper.
To get their contract signed, their show had to have certain components. These included having a guest performer; a celebrity somewhere in the audience, drama that led to a high stakes situation and good transitions.
Their geeky charm shone during this sketch, as they lamented that they had never performed a live show before (a lie) and that they didn't know if they could handle all of the conditions. They regained their "confidence" in themselves, however, once they agreed that a cappella is cool because "chicks dig a cappella."
Yes, a cappella is super cool, which is a good concept for everyone to understand. But even more importantly, it was hilarious hearing these middle-aged men talk about their insecurities.
The Blanks continued with their line-up of TV theme songs, including "Speedracer," "Charles in Charge," "Six Million Dollar Man" and "Facts of Life."
Their boy-band-esque harmonies really fit the cheesy tone of the songs.
While Lloyd, who is the most famous member of the group, has a great solo voice, he did not stand out as much as the others. McNiven easily has the best range, as he harmonized every song at a beautifully high pitch. These high notes defined each song, augmenting The Blanks's goofiness.
The other two members had their own shining musical moments, but their attitudes were far more important.
Miserlis, the only member with a proud head of hair, was by far the most attractive, and he owned it.
At one point, he even included pelvic thrusts as a part of his choreography.
Perry stood out because of his adorable awkwardness and his ability to sing resounding bass notes to a nonsensical song while looking dead serious. He contributed most to the comedy of the show, which ranged from telling the audience how nervous he was because he didn't know how to implement good transitions to being the scapegoat for the group's problems.
The show then took a slightly ridiculous turn, as Lloyd spent a few minutes talking to a mechanical pumpkin and trying to get it to suggest a Halloween song.
While audience members who had not heard their songs before might have been momentarily confused at this sketch, it soon became very clear exactly how talented these men were.
They incorporated the mechanical pumpkin's sadistic chant into their "Happy Halloween," playing it at exactly the right times and on exactly the correct pitch.
This took a lot of thought and coordination, as the men had to figure out what key a talking pumpkin spoke "Happy, happy, happy Halloween!" in. This is one of the props that The Blanks are the most famous for, as they also used a talking toy while performing "Commandos (Attack)." They decided to sing "Superman," the theme song from Scrubs next. Lloyd decided that he was sick of the song, yelled at Perry and left the stage, reappearing in the audience as an Italian ice cream man who looks a lot like Lloyd and can sing like Lloyd too.
The band decided this was a dramatic moment where the stakes couldn't be higher (two items on their checklist). They sang with the "ice cream man" acting as Lloyd. This sketch was repeated again later in the show, when someone else yelled at Perry, left the stage and reappeared as an Italian ice cream man, giving The Blanks plenty of high stakes drama. It was funny the first two times, but the third time they did it, it seemed like a waste of time.
They then told the crowd that their friend Zach Braff from Scrubs was in the audience, pretending that he was in the back for two seconds. Most of the audience members actually turned around to look for him. The Blanks counted this as their celebrity in the audience.
After singing "The Riff Song" and shamelessly promoting their Riding the Wave album, the group performed "Somewhere Over The Rainbow." This was one of their best performances, along with their rendition of "Hey Ya." While these songs were melodically stripped down, which showcased their voices, it was not true a cappella, as Lloyd played the ukulele and Miserlis brought out a zylophone.
A cappella music is unique because singers do not only sing words, but aim to accurately imitate instruments. That aspect of a cappella singing is somewhat taken away when real instruments are involved as well. However, their cover of "Hey Ya" sounded great with only their four voices and few instruments. By this point, after singing unique Christmas carols and their rendition of oldies, the men were pretty sweaty. They still got the "agent" to sign their toilet paper contract though. The show came to a conclusion with several pop songs, where Miserlis was a scarily accurate version of Katy Perry.
Overall, The Blanks' live performance was a highly entertaining and musically impressive show. While the comedy and talking toys may have gotten repetitive at a point, they made the show unique and showcased both great singing and funny choreography.
