by Lauren Schuster, Social Media Editor

On Friday Sept. 20 in Hayden 100, Scatterbomb began their improv show like any other, with a suggestion from the audience. This time, however, it was all part of an opening bit. They called on a seemingly random student from the crowd for a suggestion. He yelled out “literally anything other than Scatterbomb!” and the existing members looked confused.

“Can you stand up please? Come down here,” said senior member Brendan Hanney, motioning for the student to approach the stage.

“Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute,” Hanney said, “that’s not a suggestion, you’re the new member of Scatterbomb!”

The audience broke into applause as the student joined the other members on stage and the group began their show, for real this time. The new member being so ceremoniously introduced was freshman student Ben Gilbert, who was chosen during the group’s open auditions two weeks prior.

“[Joining Scatterbomb] was really fun, they’re really nice people so you click with them really easily and I honestly was completely surprised that I got in,” Gilbert said. “Knowing that, you sort of feel like they’re your parents in a way, but you’re also like ‘oh, they’re super fun and we’re all having fun,’ so it’s overall just a fun experience.”

Gilbert almost didn’t audition at all after seeing the crowd of people that showed up with hopes of becoming the group’s new member. Having had no previous improv experience, Gilbert debated whether he even had a shot. Despite this, he went through with the audition in the end and was glad he did, since he soon found himself being named as the group’s newest member.

“I think [my first show] went well, I hope it went well,” Gilbert said. “It’s daunting at first, but it was fun, it was a good experience.”

The audience seemed to agree that the show was a success, providing roaring applause and congratulating the members on a job well done in the hallway outside after the show. Senior student Audrey Sabatino has attended many Scatterbomb shows in her time at Manhattan College and found this month’s show to be among the best.

“It’s always good, but I thought tonight was particularly good,” Sabatino said. “I don’t know if everyone was just on their best A-game or what, but I feel like everyone was so excited, the audience was so excited, and I think they were feeding off that energy maybe, because it’s just infectious.”

Sabatino plans to keep coming to shows and providing the group with as much positive audience energy as she can.

“Honestly, I’ve been coming to the show since freshman year, now I’m really good friends with some of the people in Scatterbomb too, so of course I like to support them,” Sabatino said. “But our whole friend group since freshman year we’ve always wanted to come, and we always have such a good time.”

The group’s next show will take place on Oct. 4 in Hayden 100, in collaboration with Fordham University’s improv group, Stranded in Pittsburg.