For having only a semester of Grandma Mojo’s Moonshine Revival etched on his resume, David Byrd brandishes a lot of confidence.

He busts the balls of frat boys and homosexuals — his most noted character for the sketch comedy troupe is Freddy of the flamboyantly gay couple Freddy and Lance — on stage, and laughs hysterically off stage when his elders are literally ball busted.

Byrd answers questions assuredly, reciting stories like they happened an hour ago. He hesitates at nothing as only a true wild and crazy guy would do.

So, tell me, does it take a certain kind of mojo to be in Grandma Mojo’s?

Yes it does. Mojo comes far and few between many people in our group. Some have the freaky mojo that you would never want to meet in a dark alley. Some have the quiet mojo of reflection and intellectuality. Some have the closest homo mojo. Some have the really bad prom date mojo (coughs) Carrie Seim.

It’s an odd mixture of mojo that makes Grandma Mojo’s.

What is the group like to work with? I imagine the rehearsals get a little crazy.

Essentially, we meet every Monday and pitch ideas. Then we meet the Wednesday of the show and from about 7 until 9:30 [p.m.] we run through the skit.

It’s quite odd because we’re actually a very laid-back kind of group until 7 hits, and then it’s like being at a party that is slightly out of control all the time. There is a lot of drinking, a lot of smoking, a lot of swearing, a lot of screaming, a lot of words like “moron,” “asshole,” “I need a beer,” “we’re not gonna get paid,” you know, things like that. Somehow, within that process, we get it done.

Is it an advantage or disadvantage being in a comedy troupe in a town that offers very little comedic entertainment options?

Both. It’s an advantage because there isn’t a lot of forms of comedy for people to go see, which I think is the reason why we have such a big following.

It is a disadvantage because we know that our audience generally will accept one kind of comedy. So, if we can’t come up with something funny or somebody blanks on stage, they know they can pull out the old sayings or phrases that will get a laugh from the audience. It’s not very good as performers to rely on the same thing over and over and over.

Have you ever done a skit that totally bombed?

I have many skits that have totally bombed, skits that you think are the funniest thing in the world and the entire group likes. So if 15 people think it’s funny, obviously the audience will. Then you get up there and do it, and nobody’s laughing. I have the sense and the gall to announce to the audience that they are not laughing, and if they don’t start, I’m going to leave. And they usually don’t, and I leave.

There was skit with a certain former Mojo member getting kicked in the balls. We worked the stage kick in rehearsal. Well, the stage kick didn’t work. The lights went out, and he didn’t move. He had to pull his nuts out on stage. We thought it would be funny because everybody likes to see people get kicked in the balls, and nobody thought it was funny. And Herb had to put ice on his … you know.

Do you take it personally when people like or dislike a certain skit?

I get upset when people say, “You made fun of gays” or “You made fun of Jews,” and how bad and horrible you are. If you can’t take a moment to laugh, then why did you come to the show in the first place? But the rest of the time, I could care less what the hell they laugh at.

Is there anything you wouldn’t do in a skit?

I will not take off my clothes. I refuse to allow Dave Roepke to touch me in any skit, shape or form. I refuse to say the words “put it in me.” And I refuse to do above the collar stuff I don’t think is appropriate.

How about recognition? Do people come up to you on campus and say, “Hey, you’re the Mojo’s guy”?

Actually, yes, and this is a funny story. I am heterosexual, but Matt Geiger, Josh Bryner and I did a skit about a gay airline attendant. And the next day when I was walking to class on a bright sunny morning, I got accosted by about five homosexuals.

Sixty percent said it was a funny skit and wanted to know if I wanted to get coffee with them. I just said, “I don’t swing that way, but whatever, thanks for coming to the show.” The rest of the 40 percent found it hideously offensive and wanted to lynch me with a pink nylon rope.

What do you think about sketch comedy on a national level? “Saturday Night Live” seems to be in a slump it can’t quite climb out of, and other shows like “The State” only last a season or two.

Entertainment in America has changed drastically. I think it’s focusing more on sitcom humor, rather than seeing an ensemble group of actors working on stage. I am the biggest fan of the original “Saturday Night Live” and I think it’s went further and further down hill. They can come up with excuses, but I think it’s the performers. They fall into one set standard of why they are funny, and they can’t break out of that. It’s the Bill Shatner complex. You always see him as Captain Kirk.

Sketch comedy is a wonderful way to deal with issues that people don’t want to deal with. Y2K? I’m surprised there aren’t more skits about Y2K. I saw in a gas station a little bug in a computer candy, and I thought it was hysterical.

If you could have anyone in the world, dead or alive, join Grandma Mojo’s for one week, who you pick?

I’d pick two. Steve Martin, because he’s funny, and the Menards guy. He’s so crazy; he’s got to be funny. And if not, we could write material making fun of him.

You have seven new members this semeste. What does that do for the troupe?

It gives us solely new writers, and with new writers, there’s new aspects and personalities. It’s funny because at our first pitching session, maybe 40 or 50 percent of the skits they suggested, we went, “We’ve already done those in a different light or avenue.” So it’s nice to know they think on the perspective of what we do in our shows.

We have some of the most outrageous, odd, talented things I’ve ever seen done on a stage, and it’s absolutely hysterical. So it makes you excited to do what you do.

Do you haze?

About the only hazing we do is make them sit on the floor in the Green Room so we can sit in chairs. We’ve had discussions without the new members being there, and we have some funny ideas. We just have to have those meetings without Dave Roepke being there.

Have you ever made fun of someone and then found out they were in the audience?

Yes. And I would like to take this moment to apologize to the entire greek system for it. We had a show with an exorbitant amount of “making fun of frat guy” skits. And low and behold, 40 percent of our audience was from the greek system.

I came up with a Star Trek skit where the greek system was analogous to the Borg, and they were assembling all of the people, and I was to join the frat system by putting on khaki pants.

I was on-stage and we were waiting for the lights to come up and Roepke leaned over and said, “That entire section of people are wearing khaki pants.” And I went, “That’s kind of funny because we …” And I went, “Oh, no.” All I could see were greek symbols everywhere.

Some of them found it funny. Some were too drunk to care. And some of them wrote down our names and are looking for us still today.

So are there plans to do any Moss Pit jokes this year?

It depends on how good your article is. That’s all I have to say about that.