It takes a lot of work to bring a dose of mojo to Ames, but an ever-changing group of ISU students makes it happen.

Grandma Mojo’s Moonshine Revival, Iowa State’s own sketch comedy group, performs every other Wednesday in the Maintenance Shop.

The thought process and brainstorming that goes into each show runs on a short time schedule.

“We talk about stuff that has happened to us and sometimes tangents get turned into skits,” says Scott Connerly, senior in management information systems.

“After we pitch our ideas on Monday night, we go home, write our skits, then we get back together [three hours before the show] and rehearse at least once, to make sure the skits are funny.”

Developing and writing skits is not always quick and easy for the group.

“A lot of times, we call each other to get ideas on how to end a skit or make it funnier,” says Andrew Wunschel, junior in English. “Our brainstorming process is both formal and informal.”

The show also consists of musical entertainment between the performances. This week’s performance will feature Bi-Fi Records act Frankenixon.

“We hold a show every other Wednesday and we always have a band that opens,” says Jeff Policky, junior in architecture. “The band plays during intermission and then at the end of the show as well.”

The performance aspects of the show might remind people of the methods used by the cast of Saturday Night Live.

Since they don’t always have a lot of time to rehearse, they do a little ad-libbing during the show, Policky says.

“Usually, we come prepared with skit ideas or full-written sketches [on Monday] and we just meet to suggest things or get suggestions to thicken out skit ideas presented,” Policky says.

With the expected passing through of students, the cast is interchangeable.

Since the group loses students, most often graduating members, they hold auditions for replacements each semester. Freshmen are encouraged to join.

Auditions are over for this semester, but next semester is just around the corner. Future hopefuls should attend a show to get a feel for what it takes to make the group, Wunschel says.

“Just come and see what we’re about and try out,” Wunschel says. “And if you don’t make it the first time, keep trying.”

Everyone gets the opportunity to perform, so long as they write a good number of skits themselves, Connerly says.

“One of the nice things about writing a sketch is that you can star in it,” Connerly says. The perks of writing a sketch also include selecting cast members for and directing that skit.

“We’d like to say we’re creative geniuses, but we’re just a group of people who happen to be funny and we come together to bounce ideas off of each other to create a funny show,” Connerly says.