By Victoria Norman
Arts and Culture Editor
For the last four years, Late Knight has been a large part of Pacific Lutheran University campus culture. It has been a destination for first dates, a place of comradery and an experience Lutes have enjoyed campus-wide.
For Late Knight creator and director Samuel Ellefson, it has been a whirlwind of excitement.
“It is hard to put into words how I feel the show has gone over the late few years. Success and failure can be measured in so many ways. We set out to make a fun show on campus that students wanted to come to watch together. In that sense, I think we accomplished our goal,” he said.
Ellefson has enjoyed watching the show gain traction on campus, growing from a viewing audience of 40 in the beginning to now averaging over 100 people viewing each live show as well as having an online viewing audience.
“We have tried things and failed, but we have always tried to learn from them,” said Ellefson. “What the show is now is a combination of all the things we have learned from failing.”
In the first season of its life, Late Knight was not very well known and was struggling to get off the ground. The Filharmonic episode did encourage some new viewers, however, not all of them stayed. The second season was one of experimentation and learning, resulting in a North West Emmy nomination as well as a Social Program of the Year award for PLU. Late Knight’s third season is where they really began to grow their audience.
“We had a video recieve over 14,000 views, we had a NW Emmy nomination, and we were runner-up for a National CMA Pinnacle Award. After just about every episode in the past two years, we have all felt like it was our new best episode,” said Ellefson.
Late Knight has gone from being a side project for a few college undergraduates to a campus-wide name. Ellefson has watched its progression and has appreciated all of the positive feedback the campus has given. He is interested to see where the show will go from here and hopes that it will maintain the same level of interest if not more in the years to come. Ellefson signed off for the last time on May 3, 2019, passing the torch to the underclassmen.
