A sketch comedy group on campus is regenerating its mojo after losing a big piece of the pie last spring.

Grandma Mojo’s Moonshine Revival, a sketch comedy group on campus, performs every other Wednesday at the Maintenance Shop.

The group is starting again after all but five of its members graduated last spring.

Levi Byers, junior in Spanish, has been a member for two years. He says he saw audition fliers the first week he was at Iowa State as a freshman. After being involved with drama and improvisation in high school, Byers says he was excited to still be able to pursue those interests.

“I think that the group is kind of regrowing now,” Byers says.

“Since last semester, a lot of people graduated. When I first got in there, were 10 or so people older than me, and it was kind of intimidating. Now I’m considered one of the older members, a leader in the group.”

Gustavo Aramayo, senior in mechanical engineering, has been a member of Grandma Mojo’s for the past three and a half years. He says he also thinks this is a period of changes and new development for the group.

“The group is in a really interesting state right now,” Aramayo says. “It is half-and-half new and old; a lot of them are actually in the school of drama right now. There are so many new ideas and so little ties to old members.”

Eric Yarwood, coordinator for the M-Shop, says the word is getting out about Grandma Mojo’s.

“The size of the group varies, but I think they are at a time right now where they are growing,” Yarwood says.

“I really think their audience is growing also. What else are you going to do on a Wednesday night for $1?”

Aramayo says in the past, the comedy troupe usually stuck with prepared pieces known as sketch comedy.

Last year, it did a couple of shows at the end that were entirely improvisational.

Aramayo says the shows at the end of the year were a whole new direction for the group, but this fall they are going back toward prepared skits.

Byers says the new people will have little effect on the essence of the group.

“New people defiantly bring new ideas, but I think the style and show pretty much stay consistent,” Byers says.

The majority of new members have never seen a Grandma Mojo show before they join, Byers says.

Freshmen audition more often than upperclassmen, he says, and, having joined as a freshman, Byers says he knows firsthand that it takes a lot of guts to get up there in the beginning.

Aramayo says since he’s been writing skits for a while, and usually they come pretty naturally. Of course, there are the occasional long dry spells which the group gets around by doing “best of” shows.

Aramayo says they don’t use material from anyone outside the group — it’s all homegrown.

“The best way to come up with skits is just to notice things around me. And find weird perspectives that people don’t usually notice,” Aramayo says.

Aramayo says he isn’t sure where Grandma Mojo’s originated. Eight or nine years ago, he says, the group was called Monkey Power Hour, but after three years, most of those students had graduated, and the name was changed to Grandma Mojo’s Moonshine Revival.

This will be Aramayo’s last semester with Grandma Mojo’s, since he’s graduating in December.

He says he’s the only older member leaving this year, so the new members will still have plenty of guidance.

He’s glad for all the new talent and growth in the group since spring and has a good feeling for the future of Grandma Mojo’s.