UPDATED 10/19 at 5:33 p.m.
For days leading up to Oct. 13, 2018, organizers Perry Letourneau ’20 and Dane Leoniak ’20 had posted on a Facebook page event counting down to “It’s Time.” The event was scheduled to take place on Chapel’s Field at 11:48 p.m. on Oct. 6 before being rescheduled to Oct. 13, from 11:48 p.m. to 2:48 a.m., due to a live action roleplay humans versus zombies game taking place in the planned location on the original date.
The Facebook event “It’s Time” first started on Sept. 26. On the second post on the event page, Letourneau wrote, “There actually is an event actually show up this is not a prank,” though limited details of the actual event were available. A number of students enthusiastically commented on the page, saying “thank you!!! it’s about damn time!!!” and “it’s here. spread it like wildfire.” As the day approached, the organizers posted countdowns to the event.
The Brandeis Hoot arrived on Chapel’s Field minutes before the event, and Aaron Stone ’20, who was sitting on the wet grass spinning an umbrella, got up and told the crowd to follow him. Stone walked towards the far end of Chapel’s Field and stopped at a light closest to Bethlehem Chapel.
The crowd stood at a distance on the wet grass and anxiously awaited to see the event unfold. “I’m glad that other people are around…this is such a strange time and location for an event,” said Chris Calimlim ’19. Others in the crowd agreed, saying that they were there just to see if anything would happen.
At exactly 11:48 p.m., the approximately 40-person crowd screamed “it’s time!” followed by moments of silence interspersed with giggles. Two individuals in neon green and orange ski masks emerged from behind Bethlehem Chapel with a megaphone in hand. The pair introduced themselves as “Lil Oscar” and “Grouchy Mane.”
After a moment of silence, the two started singing the “Baby Shark” song in its entirety. “Lil Oscar” performed the actions to the song while “Grouchy Mane” sang “Baby shark, doo doo doo-doo doo-doo” into the megaphone. “Grouchy Mane” continued until the “Grandpa Shark” stanza. Rita Scheer ’20, a member of the audience, commented, “That opening was flawless.”
Following “Baby Shark,” “Grouchy Mane” dropped beats as “Lil Oscar” rapped OutKast’s “B.O.B.”
Suddenly, an entirely new event began. “This will be a dramatic reading of ‘My Immortal,’” one of the men yelled to the crowd. The crowd gasped at the words. An audience member even fell into the arms of another.
Both performers whipped out single pages of paper and began with the infamous first line, “Author’s note: Special fangz (get it, cuz Im goffik) 2 my gf (ew not in that way) raven, bloodytearz666 4 helping me wif da story and spelling. U rok! Justin ur da luv of my deprzzing life u rock 2! MCR ROX!”
During the reading of “My Immortal,” a group of students walking down Chapel’s Field towards Rosenthal Quad screamed, “What are you doing?” to which someone in the crowd responded, “Go to sleep!”
“Grouchy Mane” and “Lil Oscar” ran away at 11:58 p.m., much to the audience’s bewilderment. “Is it no longer time anymore?” asked an audience member. The crowd began to compile theories on what the duo might do next; many thought that it was a costume change. They were incorrect.
The event officially concluded at 12:02 a.m. “It is no longer time,” said multiple people in the crowd as they walked away from Chapel’s Field. One member of the audience noticed that the pair left their scripts behind and took it as memorabilia. The Facebook event was also deleted minutes after.
While the performance was met with a lot of confusion, “It’s Time” brought much-needed comic relief after the first full week of classes and and earned the applause of the audience. “I’m shooketh,” said Julian Snyder ’21 to The Hoot. “That was beautiful.”
The Hoot editors in attendance were pleasantly surprised by the quality of art performed and are upset that it’s no longer time. We will be singing “Baby Shark” for the rest of the week or, at least, until it’s time once again.
News editor Celia Young contributed to this article.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly named “Lil Oscar” as “Little Oscar.” The article previously stated that “Grouchy Man” and “Lil Oscar” rapped “Hey Ya!”. “Hey Ya!” was not performed.
