For three seasons, ETV’s “The Dooley Show” has been looking at the lighter side of Emory-related news. Taking cues from popular satires like “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” “The Colbert Report” and the “Weekend Update” segment from “Saturday Night Live,” “The Dooley Show” riffs on everything Emory, from Greek Row to the DUC to University President James W. Wagner himself.

Now in its third season, “The Dooley Show” is officially the longest-running show in ETV history. Not bad for something that was the product of a lazy summer in front of the TV.

“I came up with the concept the summer before my sophomore year, partially out of boredom,” College senior Kori Anderson, creator and producer for “The Dooley Show” said.

In an email to the Wheel, Anderson said she thought the “satirical news format” in “The Daily Show” would be a good way to present Emory news to the student body.

College senior Arielle Walzer, a writer and anchor for the show, believes that news is meant to be made light of because of its often ridiculous nature.

“I think that news is inherently funny — our world is a little ridiculous, and there’s always something about even the most seemingly boring piece of news that can make us laugh,” Walzer said in an interview with the Wheel.

Anderson shares this point of view, explaining that the show is meant to poke fun at day-to-day college happenings.

“I think that Emory students can sometimes take themselves too seriously,” she said in an email to the Wheel.

And poke fun it does. In the most recent episode of the season, a segment performed by College freshman John Roofeh translates what Emory students say into what they really mean.
For instance, “How was the party?” means “I don’t have a social life,” and “It was awesome” means “The party sucked, and I paid $20 and didn’t get in.”

“I’ve always been into comedy and satire,” Roofeh said. “When I went to the activities fair at the beginning of the first semester, the ETV booth had a flyer that said, ‘Think you’re the next Jon Stewart? Prove it.’ ‘Challenge accepted,’ I thought.”

Inspiration for “The Dooley Show” comes from several sources including The Emory Wheel, according to Walzer.

“We usually start with the most recent issue of the Wheel,” she said. “We look for articles that jump out at us as funny or important.”

Roofeh explained that “The Dooley Show” targets what is most relevant to Emory students.

“Any campus news, event or debauchery is fair game to be made fun,” he said.

“The Dooley Show” promotes itself through “spamming Facebook,” according to Anderson, and posting flyers around campus depicting memes like the ‘Feminist Ryan Gosling meme with the caption “Hey girl, I’d love to curl up and watch ‘The Dooley Show’ with you.”

In its commercial, available on ETV Channel 53’s Vimeo site, “The Dooley Show” calls itself “uncensored, comedic and wildly inaccurate.”

For the naysayers who don’t believe the show’s “Misinforming Since 1836” tagline, Anderson has one retort.

“‘The Dooley Show’ actually created the world’s very first video camera and decided to use it solely for the noble cause of college comedy,” she joked.

Though much effort is put into every episode, working for “The Dooley Show” is far from all work and no play, Walzer explained.

“I have a lot of fun working for the show. Our meetings are kind of ridiculous — we spend a lot of the time messing around and trying to make each other laugh,” she said. “Since we have a lot of fun writing and shooting the show, I hope that comes through and students watching
enjoy themselves, too.”

— Contact Grace Cummings.