Too much to sift through on YouTube?  Life’s hard.  Bwog’s here to help.

There’s nothing as bad as being in Butler on a Saturday night.  But, instead of wasting your study break tonight on another disappointing episode of SNL, Bwog suggests checking out Sarah Dooley’s (BC ’11) delightful YouTube series, AndSarah. 

Sarah’s face may be familiar to you, but her acting and writing will surprise you.  In each of the series’ three episodes, Sarah offers clever and carefully crafted portraits of the life and times of college freshman.  Her character is a caricature of herself, awkwardly idiosyncratic and simultaneously accessible to all undergraduates.   

Her self-conscious fidgets and sputters are well-timed and reinforce her ridiculous, and often poignant, blunders. Although it takes a couple of minutes to get used to Sarah’s mannerisms in the first episode,  it’s impossible to resist her lessons in people watching on College Walk and lunching alone in Hewitt.


What is so impressive about AndSarah is the seamless coordination of Rachel Mersky’s cinematography and Sarah’s acting and script.  Rachel’s steady hand and sharp editing capitalize on Sarah’s hesitant glances at the camera and draw out her self-reflective pauses.  The unadorned camera work adds a confessional tone and almost documentary-like effect to Sarah’s scenes.  The plot of the third episode, however, relies on a familiar subject matter: social outcast attempts to make big impression at campus dance.  But despite the stock premise, Sarah’s halting intonation and adorably crumpled smile offer an endearing and refreshing take on this theme.  

By far the best in the series, the second episode is equally brilliant in its plot line as it is in its performances.  Here, Sarah explores the hilarious consequences of a google search gone terribly wrong.  Her faux-pas may be inexcusably naive, but Sarah adds an integrity and honesty to her lines that is remarkably rare.

So if you are uninspired and at a dead end with your research paper, take a look at the some of the creativity and talent of your peers.  And if AndSarah doesn’t inspire or at least impress, you’re probably just jealous.