They’re like “Saturday Night Live,” only smarter.

That’s how the Late Night Players describe their act – and they’re bringing it to NIU at 7 p.m. today in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium.

“It’s a sketch comedy group,” said Tiffany Gonzales, speakers coordinator for the Campus Activities Board. “Part of it is going to be customized for NIU. They asked questions about NIU, so they’re going to customize their show for our school.”

CAB first heard about the Late Night Players at the National Association for Campus Activities, a convention CAB goes to.

“They brought back some fliers from them and that they saw them there,” Gonzales said. “They’re really funny and really nice and they thought it’d be fun to bring a comedy show to NIU.”

Tuesday’s event is free to NIU students and CAB is expecting at least 500 to 700 people to show up.

“Normally, that’s what our goal is,” Gonzales said. “But a lot of times, there’s more.”

The Late Night Players, which is made up of five guys, has been doing sketch comedy together since the spring of 2000, when they formed the group at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. The group, which is based in Somerville, Mass., also does slide shows, anagrams, musical numbers, Chaplin-esque silent comedy and interactive pieces.

Besides performing at universities, the Late Night Players perform anywhere from art galleries, benefits and bar mitzvahs to theatres and comedy festivals.