Charred Goosebeak, a student improv group on campus, took center stage Wednesday, February 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Creative Arts House (CAH) basement. Members performing that night included seniors Sarah Haeckel and George Karamanoukian, sophomores Henry Claudy, Griffin Fenady and Nathan Sterne and first-years Alexandra Curtin and Matt Martinez-Sutton.

Kicking off the night with “Innuendo,” the audience was asked to provide a word and a member from Charred Goosebeak would fill in the blanks for the sentence “I like ______ how I like my men: _______.” The skit served to break the ice with the audience and get them invested in the comedy show.

The group then moved on to “Shift Left,” which involved Haeckel, Fenady, Curtin and Martinez-Sutton. In the game, two members would perform a skit until a member offstage said, “shift left,” which caused one of the members to rotate out and a new member join in, changing the group dynamic. The setting of the skit, which was the laundromat, was decided by the audience, as well as the punchline, which was “you done f—– up.”

“I personally loved [the show]. The audience engagement was really cool and I ended up spending most of the time laughing,” first-year Chris Hovard said.

Later in the show, Charred Goosebeak played “Commando.”

In this skit, members of Charred Goosebeak asked for a suggestion from the audience and then created scenes based on that one suggestion. They built scenes off of each other, but they were not directly related. Members of Charred Goosebeak asked the audience for an “uncomfortable situation,” and an audience member responded with “being stuck in an elevator.” Eventually, Charred Goosebeak created a scene involving an elevator which people walked into but never came out of, with one of the punchlines being that “you should take the stairs.”

“My friend [Curtin] is in Charred Goosebeak and she told me about the show. I also found out through their Instagram. My favorite part of the show was probably some of their last skits in ‘Commando,’ but it was all very funny,” first-year Alyson Brusie said.

“Genres” was not only a crowd favorite, but a Charred Goosebeak favorite as well. The skit revolved around the same scene being played differently, as though it were in different movie genres. The skit was about a band with a superfluous member. Some of the genres that were used were horror, telenovela and western.

“I really liked ‘Genres’ with Karamanoukian, Claudy and Sterne. I just love that game. We did it a lot in my high school, and I think it’s so funny. We don’t really do it a lot at our shows [here], and I thought it brought something new and fresh to the table. I think the audience gave some really great suggestions for them,” Curtin said.

When asked what the key to improv is, Curtin was quick to answer.

“Listening to what scenemates are saying and always having their back no matter what happens on stage. One of the main rules of improv is ‘never say no,’ which is always going with what they are saying and supporting them through the entire scene,” Curtin said.

Charred Goosebeak’s next show is on Saturday, March 23 at 2 p.m. You can follow them on Instagram at @goosebeak and for more updates on their upcoming shows.