Archive for January 31st, 2019


Boy Scout skit: Is It Time Yet?

Boy Scout Troop 68 held its 2019 Laughs For Lunch Show on Saturday, January 26, at the Melrose High School auditorium. The hour long campfire-style program began at 1:00 in the afternoon. Over 100 people attended to watch the Scouts perform songs and skits. The Scouts did a great job and the audience had a lot of laughs. Many audience members said they really enjoyed the show and would come back for another one.

This was the current troop’s second annual show, but it was the troop’s fourteenth program. The Boy Scouts of Troop 68 held their first show in January 1996. They held twelve shows over a thirteen year period. The troop needed to put the show on hold when membership dropped too low. With membership increasing once again the boys decided it was time to bring back the program.

As an adult Boy Scout leader I see several benefits for the Scouts who perform for these shows. The first, of course, is that the Scouts learn a lot of different songs and skits that they can then choose from when they are at summer camp or a camporee. For example, this year’s show contained eighteen songs and skits of which fifteen were new to the Scouts.

A second benefit of the show is the teamwork needed to carry out this type of program. Not only does each Scout need to learn his own part of each skit or song in which they participate but they also work together as a troop to do it well as they can so that they can tickle the audience’s funny bone. Scouts also help each other during the more difficult portions.

The third benefit is it sometimes forces the Scouts to learn how to ad lib and think fast on their feet. If your are involved with Scouting you know that many skits only have a basic premise and a good punchline. Much of the skit is made up by the Scouts acting in the short play. Add a few audience members and you can never be sure you know what is going to happen. A Scout has to think quick to use anything that could happen on the stage.

A fourth benefit is a big one. The Scout learns skills in public speaking. Many adults have a fear of public speaking. Imagine being an eleven year old Boy Scout on a stage performing a silly sketch in front of a hundred people. Not only do the new Scouts rise to the challenge during their first show, they begin to look for bigger parts during the future shows. Think about it for a moment. If a boy learns to overcome his stage fright and be silly on a stage when they are young, it will be much easier to speak in front of a group of people as they get older.

The fifth benefit almost does not need to be stated, but I will. The Boy Scouts have FUN while doing the show. The more the audience giggles and laughs, the more fun the Scouts have, and the harder they try to perform well. This is the reason the troop has done fourteen Laughs for Lunch Shows. And it will be the main reason for doing more shows in the future.