The Sodano Coffee House in the D’Angelo Center was filled with laughter Wednesday, Oct. 26 all thanks to St. John’s improv group “Bad Astronauts.” The group hosted their first show of the year called the Halloween Improv Show with a full house.
As the show was Halloween themed, all of the actors were in costumes ranging from Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy to the Snapchat puppy filter. Speaking of Snapchat, the night had its own geo-filter for the audience to showcase on their Snapchat stories that they were at the Bad Astronauts’ performance.
The performance began with all of the club’s actors coming up with about five second skits that had to do with the opposition of dogs and cats, as suggested by an audience member. Their next improvisation was to come from the word “dance” which included a slow dance from prom and some funky moves.
The second section of improv came from three games called “Murder,” “Party Quirks” and “Late Excuse.” “Murder” welcomed the new actors of the group to act out a stripper trapped in a bathroom killed by self esteem, again all audience suggested. The first actor had to act out this scenario without speaking, the second actor then acted out what they thought the first actor was acting out to the third actor. By the end of the game, the third and second actors weren’t able to put together that the first actor was being a stripper trapped in a bathroom killed by self esteem, but the journey to that wrong conclusion was utterly hilarious, even moving some audience members to such laughter that tears were rolling down their cheeks.
“Party Quirks” involved a similar approach, but this time three actors were assigned character and the fourth actor had to try and figure out who exactly they were. Their characters were Billy Mays, Harry Potter and a broken monocle. The scene began as the fourth actor at a party meeting her fellow ragers, and led to her quickly identifying the broken monocle and Harry Potter, but a little bit of difficulty finding Billy’s last name.
“Late Excuse” is self explanatory, a late employee coming up with an excuse for why they were late to work. Two actors acted out, behind “the boss,” someone being kidnapped by avocados and pineapples while the late employee tried to come up with his excuse to tell his boss that was his reason for his tardiness. Possibly the most out there acting, but definitely the most engaging for the audience. Since this excuse suggestion was fairly unrealistic, the late employee didn’t exactly verbalize his story correctly.
The Bad Astronauts ended their show with a skit called “Du-Rap,” where all of the club members were brought back to the front to participate and come up with rhymes on the spot. “Du-Rap” was an obvious crowd favorite with roars of laughter and shrieks were their loudest and most frequent.
Sophomore Journalism major, Crystal Simmons expressed her love for the “Du-Rap,” “It always seems amazing to me how they come up with such clever phrase on the fly. Now that I have more friends in Bad Astronauts it makes watching the show that much more fun to watch!”
Such an interactive and relaxed show drew in people of all different types of humor. Member of the Bad Astronauts, and clear favorite of the crowd, junior TV and Film major, Keith Buxton, reflected on the performance, “I think it went pretty well. I had a lot of fun and that makes a big difference.”
“I thought the show was amazing. So hilarious, yet so edgy. Every single person had me at the edge of my seat wondering what was next,” raved sophomore and Business Management major Rylee Maxam. “It had me in tears.”
Bad Astronauts member, sophomore and Communications major, Jordan Smith eluded nothing but joy at the end of the performance, “I’m very excited with the turnout. This was our newest members’ first show so we’re so proud of them and super excited for the shows to come.”
With such a laughter driven night, it seems fair to say that the Bad Astronauts will have many more popular shows and fantastic turnouts for their future performances.
