TOWAMENCIN- From humble beginnings as a true report-style live show to its new rebranding as a scripted sketch comedy segment, The Dude Report has been a staple of North Penn Television’s Mornings for years. The shows have always been vastly different from year to year but, without fail, every September a new cast of dudes tries their hand at taking a few minutes out of the stressful school day to make their peers laugh – with varying degrees of success.

But this year, Jake Bell, Soko (Stephen Sokolowski), and Tom Schmids are hoping to create the best Dude Report yet – starting with themselves. They’re breaking the mold of what the student body has come to expect from the dudes. For example, the segment has never featured a junior – until now – but Tom is willing to put in the work and ready to bring his own style of comedy to The Dude Report. And, while most students are featured exclusively in sketches or as anchors, Soko will be doing both. This is a group of individualistic thinkers with new ideas who excel at playing off each other and bringing fresh perspectives to the morning show.

Starting on Friday, September 18th, the trio plans to take the show in a whole new direction. Soko feels confident about taking over, though, as he told me, “I think this Dude Report is going to change a lot of things. We really want to get out of our comfort zone this year.”

“But we want it to appeal to a general audience.” Bell added with a laugh, “So, obviously, it’ll be French and in black and white.”

It’s clear from the way they constantly and casually banter with each other that this year’s Dude Report will have the familiar rapport and high-energy humor (as Tom described their style) that the school’s been looking for. Since all three of the dudes have been involved in theater and chorus, they’re used to performing under pressure, putting on a good show, and taking criticism. In Schmids’ words: they’re “completely unafraid” of making fun of themselves.

When I asked what sort of changes they planned to implement to make The Dude Report better, Bell explained, “I just want to like it and have other people like it. I want to be proud of it. So we’re going to do whatever we feel is going to work, whether it’s a humorous news report, sketches, or something live – or, you know, just twenty minutes of me, sobbing in my room, eating marshmallow fluff from a can in black and white. One of them’s actually going to be in Italian.”

To say that they’re thrilled about the directions (both serious and lighthearted) they want to take The Dude Report would be an understatement. Though they couldn’t give us a clear picture of what exactly we can expect to see, they did promise “an epic intro…something surprising, something that’s different and hasn’t been done before.”

So wipe all previous misconceptions from your mind and prepare for this year’s Dude Report and its new headliners to be innovative, hilarious, and, most importantly, memorable.