Into bizarre alternate realities? Enjoy over-the-top caricatures? Then Boris' Kitchen may well be the comedy group for you. Boris' Kitchen premiered "Armed and Legged," its annual spring show of all-original student-written sketch comedy this weekend, as part of the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts. BK, founded in 1987, is the only live-action sketch comedy group on campus. Each semester, the group conducts a series of meetings in which anyone can participate, brainstorm and critique one another's ideas until about a month and a half before the show. At that point everyone submits their sketches and the directors and writing coordinators choose pieces to perform in the spring show.

This year's show was comprised of 25 separate and unrelated sketches and involved more video shorts than in previous years, demonstrating the group's strong cinematographic and film-editing abilities. Some of the highlights of the show were Paul Gale's '12 video sketch "Old Men's Room" and Co-director Amy Thompson's '11 video sketch "Lint."

In "Old Men's Room," Charlie Kivolowitz '11 plays an old man who lives with his wife, played by Briana Bensenouci '12, in a bathroom stall, conveniently filmed in the Mandel Center for the Humanities men's bathroom. When Peter Charland '14 enters the bathroom and tries to use the toilet, Kivolowitz treats him like an intruder and tells him to go away. When Charland persists, Kivolowitz pulls him into the stall, dunking his head in the toilet several times. Much of the humor in the show was derived from repetition: In this scene, Charland emerges from the toilet with a different gross and mysterious-looking material stuck to his face each time. In the final repetition, he has a piece of paper with the word "poop" written on it stuck to his face. The ridiculousness of the situation and the actors' spot-on, committed acting contributed to the success of this sketch, as did Kivolowitz's old man costume.

In "Lint," Tricia Miller '12 and Christopher Knight '14 play an odd couple. Knight's character has an obsessive personality, but Miller's character is completely oblivious to Knight's crazy antics. All this is inferred from Knight's terrific acting and creative cinematography due to very little dialogue in the sketch. Instead, most of the shots are of Knight devising different ways in which to pick up a piece of lint he has dropped upon Miller's posterior by accident. With epic music reminiscent of parts of the classic 2001: A Space Odyssey soundtrack and fast cuts between scenes, this sketch worked extremely well and took full advantage of the film medium.

Despite technical difficulties during Friday night's performance, on Saturday the sound and lighting worked perfectly thanks to the talented crew including lighting designer Robbie Steinberg '13, sound designer Jen Schiller '14 and projectionist Rachel Huvard '14. In addition, the costumes, designed by Jessica Rasp '13; the props, designed by Bryan Prywes '11; as well as the producer, stage manager and their assistants all contributed a great deal to the show's smooth execution, assisting in putting together a captivating performance with few lags or awkward pauses. Another highlight of Boris' Kitchen's shows are the transition music, compiled by cast and crew members, which wowed the audience as always.

Of the sketches enacted onstage, perhaps my favorite was another by Thompson, co-written by Stephanie Cohen. In this sketch, entitled "Pee," Gale and Yoni Bronstein '13 play two friends eating together. The audience is left in the dark for a bit while Gale tells Bronstein about something he needs to do but can't, and Bronstein echoes everything Gale says, in reference to his own struggle. Through a combination of witty dialogue and wonderful comedic physicality, the audience learns that Gale has to use the bathroom and is afraid that Bronstein will eat his sandwich while he is gone. Thompson enters the scene at this point as a waitress, pouring water agonizingly slowly in contrast to Gale's hyperactive squirminess and evident pain, a relatable emotion for anyone who has ever had to hold it. The melodrama of the scene was heightened by the simplistic set and costumes, and the result was very funny.

One common thread throughout the sketches was how they ended. Much like the illustrious and brilliant sketch group The Whitest Kids U Know, Boris' Kitchen's sketches usually extend a bit past the punch line. In "Armed and Legged," many of the sketches ended uncomfortably, either leaving the audience unsure as to what had just happened or beating the joke to death by continuing the scene for a few lines too many. Although punch lines worked well in a few cases, oftentimes the last lines of various sketches were unrelated to the rest of the sketch, thrown in for lack of a better way to end a scene.

Boris' Kitchen has its own unique brand of humor. Although the cast of writers and performers changes year to year, with brand-new material presented each semester, the annual show always feels somewhat familiar, with a mainstay of "bathroom" sketches, scenes about children and a few "meta" pieces about comedy itself.

"Armed and Legged"-which was co-directed by Thompson and Jordan Warsoff '11, and was the seniors' final show-stayed true to this standard, showcasing a variety of sketches that ranged from proper ladies making rap references to angels and demons escorting the deceased to their respective dwellings. While some sketches soared and others fell flat, the acting and video production skills were of an incredibly high caliber and definitely elicited applause, as well as laughter of course. The abundance and variety of material left me impressed, if not inspired to write a few more sketches of my own.