2015 HOMECOMING KING: Bradley Naumann (’16)

Name: Bradley Naumann

Year: Senior

Major: Computer Science

Minor(s): Entrepreneurship and Spanish

Involvement: Philanthropy Chair of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, Assistant Director of Lilting Banshees, Club Basketball

Relationship Status: Single

Her Campus (HC): Congratulations on becoming Homecoming King!

Bradley Naumann (BN): Thank you.

HC: Were you surprised by the nomination?

BN: Yeah, I was surprised (laughs). I definitely didn’t see it coming, but I was pleasantly surprised.

HC: Did you campaign for Homecoming King or just sit back and watched it all happen?

BN: I didn’t really campaign. A bunch of my friends kind of … campaigned for me. I wasn’t blatantly saying, “Hey, you guys should campaign for me,” but they did what they could for me.

HC: No posters with your face on them?

BN: No posters, just people changing Facebook profile pictures and stuff like that.

HC: Where’s the crown now?

BN: It’s chilling in my room for safekeeping. Chilling on my desk with the sash.

HC: If you could pick any celebrity to become your reigning queen by your side, who would you pick? Anyone. Living or dead.

BN: That’s a good question … This is kind of weird, but I think Ellen DeGeneres is pretty funny (laughs). I would probably pick Ellen, honestly.

HC: So you’re in the Lilting Banshees – have you always been a performer?

BN: In high school I did a few musicals; never any comedy though, so coming to Wake Forest was my first time ever experiencing a comedy troupe and the comedic side of acting and writing.

HC: We don’t really hear about what goes on with Lilting Banshees besides the shows you guys do twice a semester! What do you wish everyone on campus knew about you guys?

BN: I don’t know if a lot of people know this, but I really do think of Banshees as a family more than I do a comedy troupe, which sounds super cliché, but I’m so, so close with them – and not just in writing sketches and the show and performing with them. That’s all really fun, but even just hanging out with them is really cool and really fun. I really see them as just my brothers and sisters all just hanging out. A couple weekends ago we went on a retreat together, which was really fun – just to kickback and not really focus on writing but hanging out. So, I guess I wish people knew that we’re more than a comedy troupe; we’re literally like a family that just goes to school together and does goofy things (laughs).

HC: And you guys write for hours!

BN: We have three writing sessions per week, but it’s cool, because it sounds like a lot of work, and it is.  But it’s fun work, if that makes sense. I look forward to going to writing sessions and writing stupid stuff that we think people are going to laugh at (laughs).

HC: Nothing is ever off limits for the Banshees!

BN: Well, we to tend to come close to crossing the line sometimes, but for the most part, I like to think that we can make fun of who we want and what we want in a fun way that hopefully won’t offend people.

HC: Hopefully! You guys try to make fun of everyone so it’s all equal.

BN: Yeah, we definitely try to spread the love (laughs).

HC: So is there anything that you guys wrote that you wish had made it out on stage but didn’t?

BN: For me … there is this one sketch, I guess. It was about firemen going to hibachi for the first time ever, but they don’t know what hibachi is. So, they’re super afraid and freak out when they see the cooking in front of them and whatnot. It didn’t make it out, but I definitely thought that was one of the better sketches we wrote.

HC: Have you ever had an embarrassing moment while you were on stage? Or is every moment embarrassing when you’re on stage?

BN: (Laughing) There have definitely been a couple of times – hopefully I covered it up – where I just totally butchered a line or skipped over someone’s line. In my head, I’m like, “Oh shoot, what the hell am I going to do?” (laughs). But, I guess from doing theater in high school you kind of are used to it – if you screw something up, you just keep going. Definitely inside I’m so embarrassed, but outside, hopefully, I’m trying to hide it!

HC: Do you plan to continue comedy after graduation? Or just planning on being funny in general in your personal life?

BN:That’s a good question. I feel like if my parents were listening they’d be like, “No.” That’s every parent’s dream – for their kid to join a comedy troupe (laughing). But I don’t know! I was thinking of it as something I could do on the side – maybe not my main occupation, but something as a fun recreational thing that I could pick up. So we’ll see.

HC: Any advice for the budding comedians out there?

BN: I’m no professional. But I would say, if I was: Just don’t treat it as a job or a task or something that’s super serious that you have to work super hard at. Personally, I think the best comedians are the ones that just let things come to them. So it’s effortless, almost. You enjoy what you do. You’re passionate about making people laugh or just goofin’ off, and you just let it come to you rather than just treating it like, “I got to write this and this for these people, and it’s got to be hilarious” I think it’s just a free-flowing thing.

HC: Are you more of a cat person or a dog person?

BN: This is weird because I have a cat at home, but I’ve always wanted a dog. I am a traitor. I love my cat, but I freakin’ love playing with dogs, so I guess a little bit of both.

HC: You’re a cat-dog person!

BN: I’m actually … this is really random, but I’m actually getting two pets this week, and they’re ducks (laughs).

HC: How do you get a duck? And where?

BN: My housemates and I ordered them online from a farm. So yeah, it was a very spontaneous decision, but we will be getting two ducks.

HC: Have you decided on a name?

BN: I’m thinking Quack Bauer and Quack Daniels. But we’ll see. It’s a discussion for another time with my housemates.

HC: If you were a board game, which one would you be and why?

BN: Ooh. Okay. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of this game called Quelf?

HC: Nope. Tell me about it!

BN: Okay, well that’s totally the board game I would be. It’s really simple. It’s basically a board game where the spaces are colored like Candy Land, and you roll numbers and land on whatever space the number says. Each space’s color is represented by a colored deck of cards. So, let’s say I land on blue – I’m going to draw a blue card and it’s going to tell me to do something absolutely ridiculous. You’ll have to stick an icepack down your pants for 20 minutes or something like that. And it’s just random, random things that you have to do. And if you don’t do them, you get penalized and you have to move back. We play with the Banshees sometimes; that’s definitely my favorite game because it’s just outrageously weird, and there’s nothing like it. 

HC: How much candy do you think you could eat in one sitting?

BN: In one sitting? I guess it depends on the candy. I could eat more Reese’s cups than anyone could imagine, honestly. I love Reese’s. Reese’s sticks actually – that’s got to be my favorite candy. But if you asked me to eat a bowl of black licorice Jelly Bellies, I’d tell you to go away.

HC: So a pillowcase full of Reese’s cups? A bathtub full? A blue whale full?

BN: In one sitting? I’m going to go with a bathtub. If it was life or death, I’m going for the bathtub (laughs).

HC: I know it’s early, but do you know what you’re going to be for Halloween this year?

BN: Usually, for my fraternity, we try to do a group costume. I will say, though … for my junior year of high school I dressed as a big birthday present, but the tag said, “To: Women, From: God.”

• Homecoming King
• WFU Campus Cutie