BYU Divine Comedy
is a sketch comedy troupe at Brigham Young University. Every semester they perform two original shows with a "Best of" at the end of the term. They take a good portion of their material from Latter-Day Saint beliefs and culture, though they often use scenarios from everyday college life or completely different scenarios entirely. Some of their best known work includes song parodies (such as "Provo, Utah Girls" and "Firebolt") and Divine Comedy alumnus Matt Meese's "Shoulder Angel" sketches.
Beyond the shorter sketches, they also end each show with a longer parody of a popular movie, such as:
- "Lord of the Engagement Rings" (plus "Deseret Towers" and "Return of the Missionary")
- "Pirates of the Cougareat"
- "The Freshmen Bride"
- "Zoobies"
- "Zoobie and the Beast"
- "DTR Wars"
- "Phantom of the HFAC"
- "Back From the Future"
- "I. J. and the Helmet of Kishkumen"
- "Wizard of the Wilk"
- "The Bubble"
- "Latter-Day Miserables"
- "The Cougar King"
- "Hercules
- "AvYtar"
- "Harry Potter and the One Where Dumbledore Dies"
- "Potter Wars"
- "Reception"
- "Pioneer Trek"
- "The Little Mia Maid"
- "X-Men: Religion Class"
- "The Sound of Music and the Spoken Word"
- "AladdYn"
- "Phantom of the Awkward"
In 2012, ten past and present members of the troupe formed the repertory and featured cast for Studio C, a sketch comedy series on BYUtv. In the first season approximately 75% of the sketches on that show were adaptations of Divine Comedy sketches written by the cast members, but the two entities are otherwise not formally affiliated with each other. However, traditionally, when extras or bit players were needed for a Studio C sketch the Divine Comedy troupe was usually the first port of call. In 2017, three new featured players were added to the Studio C troupe and, once again, all were members of Divine Comedy. However, with the original cast exodus in 2019 only one of the nine new players cast to replace them is a Divine Comedy alum.
BYU Divine Comedy sketch provides examples of the following tropes:
- The B Grade: James in "Class Can't Handle Me" is stressed out that he can't remember the answer for one question on a test. He decides that nobody's perfect and it's okay to not get a perfect score...and then he remembers the answer and declares, "never mind, I'm the best!"
- Cannot Spit It Out: In one sketch, Jeremy plays an awkward bishop trying to give the class the chastity lesson. The class has absolutely no idea what he's talking about.
- The Cast Show Off:
- Jason Gray has the following impersonations that he has used on numerous occasions: Severus Snape, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Kohor, Bill Cosby, Gandalf—and in his audition, he even impersonated Matt Meese.
- Matt Meese himself shows off his athletic ability as shoulder angel climbing over various people without ever touching the ground and as P 90X guy in another sketch.
- Cosplay: Lots of people showed up in Harry Potter gear to film the sparklers party in "Firebolt."
- Dance of Romance: Mallory and Adam do one dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Which instantly becomes
Squick when they realize their sibling is behind the mask. - Dance Party Ending: The actors often dance onstage between sketches. Also invoked in "The Sound of Music and the Spoken Word" when they realize "Climb Every Mountain" is a boring ending.
- Downer Ending: Sometimes they'll twist the end of the movie parodies and make it sad. Like in "Aladdyn", Jason's character is stuck talking like Bill Cosby forever.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: "Harry Potter and the One Where Dumbledore Dies" although, in a Shout-Out to Potter Puppet Pals, a Mysterious Ticking Noise leads to everyone dying and the title has to be changed.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Try barely talking to becoming engaged. With a ring-pop, no less.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: In the "Shoulder Angel" sketches, Matt *poofs* in and climbs onto the shoulder of the person he needs to help. Hilarity Ensues.
- Inner Monologue: In "Latter-Day Miserables," ValJean is caught because Javert overhears his internal monologue.
- Loophole Abuse: In "Lord of the Engagement Rings: Return of the Missionary," Aragorn was never released, so he's still a missionary.
- Manly Men Can Hunt: In the Zumba sketch, the elder's quorum takes a while to get into the dancing, but when they do a girl walks in and Jordan declares, "And that is how you fire a shotgun!"
- The Quiet One: Jeremy sometimes goes through entire sketches without saying a word.
