For many Cyclone fans, the greatest victory this Saturday may have occurred at the Maintenance Shop, as The Second City comedy troupe took numerous shots at Oklahoma and let the healing process begin.

The renowned comedy tour was in top form in Ames Saturday evening. While most comedy can be called irreverent, they made it clear from the first scripted sketch that the only holds barred were the full nelson of triteness and the sleeper hold of mediocrity.

Of course, if you told them that, they’d make fun of you.

The six actors entered the stage crouching and acting out a war scene, but the context shifted in a hurry to issues of political correctness, including helpful tips, such as, “You can’t call Lennox Lewis African-American. He’s from England,” before finally concluding, “Never mind, just call me black. It’s faster.”

By the time a salesman described a luxury car as being the culmination of the German technology that nearly annihilated an entire race from the earth, but applied to this car, it drew a few gasps, but no one was terribly shocked — or immune.

The show was a mix of sketch comedy, improvisational comedy, and bizarre musical numbers accompanied by a pianist. The sketches had a blend of political satire — such as a Pakistani cabbie trying to pass himself off as the world’s most patriotic American and a bizarre solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, courtesy of the folks at Disney. Themes of race and political correctness were frequent, including a Middle Eastern dictator who lauded his advances in civil rights and used his wife as a footrest at the same time.

Like all great rapid-fire improv comics, the actors were bouncing on and off the stage in seconds, changing costumes and characters in no time, and sometimes creating sketches that took no more than a line or two to finish. They drew huge applause from the packed M-Shop crowd.

Though the audience had varied knowledge about what to expect from The Second City’s performers, they drew rave reviews.

“I thought they were really entertaining, and I liked how they took off on each other,” says Deb Penney of Ames.

Even some people who’d seen the troupe before came back for its annual arrival in Ames. Brandon Repp, senior in economics, came back for his second show from The Second City. Although he says some material was repeated, the impression was a positive one.

“They were fantastic before, so I thought I’d come see them again,” Repp says.

Laura Riley, freshman in animal science, was seeing them for the first time.

“The only comedy show I’d been to was a stand-up comic, so I didn’t expect it when they came out on stage in their opening sketch,” she says.

The only matter of confusion for the audience seemed to be finding a favorite part of the show. One of the favorites involved an audience member being brought onto the stage for The Second City dating game.

The audience member got to choose from three bachelors played by Second City performers playing roles specified by the audience.

“The dating game segment was great,” Repp says. “I thought it was a good segment.”

The rapid-fire improvisation also drew praise.

“The improv was the best, and the political overtones were nice,” says Martha Pope, senior in political science and international studies.

“You had to pay attention to the news to understand it.”

They group may be called The Second City, but in this town, it was first-rate. Of course, making fun of Oklahoma certainly didn’t hurt.