Scatterbomb Gets “Stranded in Pittsburgh” in First-Ever Fordham University Collab

by RIKKILYNN SHIELDS, Social Media Editor

Students and faculty from Manhattan College filled the Hayden 100 auditorium on the night of Friday, Oct. 5– along with a number of students from the other side of the Bronx– otherwise known as Fordham University

Manhattan College’s improv comedy group Scatterbomb put on a not-so average show this past Friday. Along with the usual members who perform with Scatterbomb every other Friday night, Fordham University’s improv comedy group, Stranded in Pittsburgh, joined the stage in Hayden 100 for a stellar performance that left not a moment of silence in the audience.

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Jane Nolan performs stand=up as the opener. TAYLOR BRETHAUER / THE QUADRANGLE

Opening up for Scatterbomb was Jane Nolan of Manhattan College, who got the crowd going, even after she mentioned that the top material she found through her Google search on “Top Stand-up Topics for 2018” was cars, cults and traffic. Nolan touched on all things funny, from her mother manically purchasing her clothes and making her feel like Charlie and the Chocolate Factories Veruca Salt, to the time when she play wrestled with a friend at the age of eight, inspired by her favorite movie at the time– Talladega Nights.

Following Nolan’s act, Scatterbomb started their show off as they would any other– asking for a suggestion from the audience. The suggestion “peanut butter” seemed to catch the attention of the Scatterbomb members almost immediately. This suggestion launched into an entire, thirty-minute scene going back and forth between a competitive peanut butter sandwich eating competition and all of the memories in between.

From the peanut butter eating competition came a variety of different skits, all of which resorted back to the group preparing to begin their eating competition. The mentions of past competitive eating members who were now dead and gone from eating too many cigarettes was played on, along with the idea of a baby play, where the Scatterbomb members competed against each other for whose baby was more fit for a play.

Fordham University’s Stranded in Pittsburgh took the stage after Scatterbomb, starting off their portion of the show with the suggestion of “black mold” from the audience. The show took off with one of Stranded in Pittsburgh’s members, Charlie Murray, trying to convince another member that they were all contaminated.

This idea bounced from contamination, to Murray upstaging another member of the group, Erin Kier, at her wedding by taking her by surprise, as she was not the only one said to be wearing white, as Murray was wearing a white hazmat suit. The group also joked about needing a handshake to stay in school, which resulted in a handshake tournament.

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Two members from Fordham (left and right) perform a scene with Scatterbomb’s Bredan Hanney. TAYLOR BRETHAUER / THE QUADRANGLE

From shooting pheasants to lying about foot size to your wife and having talking feet, making jokes about living in Florida and it being required that you wear a man-bun if you live in the Pacific Northwest, Stranded in Pittsburgh’s Andrew Wilson had the entire audience in hysterics from his outstanding ability to switch between a plethora of different accents.

The group also joked about hitting different bases in a relationship, from licking the inside of someone’s cheek, to sleeping in their pant leg, to the highest level– DEFCON 4.

Following Stranded in Pittsburgh’s act, the two groups got on stage together to finish off the show.

“I was extremely happy with how everything went. For me, this is all about having fun with my friends, and to make new friends doing it only makes it better,” said senior Kevin Donald of Scatterbomb.

Erika Foschi of Fordham University also commented on the show

“The chemistry was MASSIVE! We love a cross-Bronx romance. I can’t wait to see them collaborating again in the future,” Foschi said.

Scatterbomb’s next performance will be Halloween-themed, on Oct. 26 at 8:00 p.m. in Hayden 100. Make sure to come dressed up– there will be a costume contest!

Meet (Some of) the New Scatterbombers

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Brendan Hanney

Junior, communication major

Why did you decide to join?

I’d seen a show and I’d done a little bit of improv before and I’ve always loved watching improv so I decided to audition and see how it went.

Have you ever done something like this before?

No I have not, I’ve never been on an improv team before.

How has the team welcomed you?

They’re super supportive. Even in auditions, they were so welcoming made you feel like you deserved to be there and ever since then it’s been the same feeling.

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Sydney Waitt

Freshman, peace and justice studies major

Why did you decide to join?

I took an improv class my freshman year of high school and I really loved. Now [I’m in] college and I thought why not and I tried out.

How have you enjoyed the team so far?

Everyone is so funny. I mean I know they should be because it’s an improv group but they’re genuinely funny and comical people.

What are you looking forward to this year?

I’m looking forward to our next show, Oct. 26. I know that’s a free promotion. I’m also looking forward to a [Scatterbomb] letterman jacket.

Interviews conducted and compiled by Taylor Brethauer, Editor- in-Chief