Comedy group keeps mojo level high

Randy Webb

The last chance of the semester is rapidly approaching for those who wish to catch some mojo.

Grandma Mojo’s Moonshine Revival, that is.

Iowa State’s homegrown sketch comedy troupe takes the stage Friday at the Maintenance Shop for its final show of the school year.

The group holds auditions every fall to keep its talent fresh and replace lost or graduated members.

“We brought in a lot of new guys,” says David Roepke, senior in journalism and mass communication, who will be saying goodbye to Grandma Mojo’s after being a member for five years. “We put together a pretty strong, young base of performers this year.”

“Usually every class has a stinker,” Roepke says, “but this year there were none. There was one guy who quit right away, but no stinker.”

“Sometimes somebody doesn’t fit in well with the group,” explains Jen Potsch, three-year member of Mojo’s and senior in English. “In Mojo’s you write sketches, and if you write a funny one, then you’re in it. Then usually the other writers will want you in theirs too. Otherwise, you’ll end up as `Guy #1′ or `Girl #2′ or whatever.”

Roepke and Potsch agree that this year’s new members are no “stinkers.”

“They fit in really well,” says Potsch. “They really molded well to our form of funny, whatever that is.”

One of the new members is Andy Wunschel, junior in management information systems.

“I expected more of an improv thing when I auditioned,” Wunschel says, “so I was excited to write the sketches.”

The new members came up with a lot of the best sketches this year, says Roepke.

“Probably far more than 50 percent.”

“I never really thought of it that way,” Wunschel says, “but I’d say that between Cole [England], Gus [Aramoyo] and I, out of 20 sketches we’d probably write half of them.”

But even with a team of star rookies and time-tested veterans, setbacks can occur and improvements can be made.

“On the downside, we had a few really bad shows,” Roepke says, “but that will happen.”

“Yeah, we had one show just bomb,” Wunschel says. “But we had really great shows just before and after that,” he adds.

When the moonshine is revived next fall, the Mojo crew has plans to add some improv to the comedic lineup and get more people to come see them, Potsch says.

“We’re always trying to fit in more improv,” Potsch says, “so we need to work on that for next year. And we get a new audience every fall, so we also need to work on our advertising to get our crowd back up to standing room only.”