The Shaun Cassidy Fan Club’s first show of the season was held on Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. at the Marano Campus Center auditorium. The SCFC is SUNY Oswego’s “free and uncensored improv comedy” troupe that is in its 32nd year.

The club performed for 14 guests who, upon entry, were asked to place a slip of paper with their favorite quote from a movie, TV show or book into a helmet. The performers used these slips for a game during the show, in which two characters must only use words from the quotes when communicating with a third, bewildered character. This is one of many absurdist games the club prides itself on.

The night included various skits that, out of context, could seem borderline maniacal. At one point in the show, three actors had to play as one-legged lawyers with Kentucky accents, arguing over the case of “Winnie the Pooh vs. The Animals of the Hundred Acre Wood.”

Member Charlie Harkins had been doing improv comedy since high school and discovered the SCFC through their pandemic livestreams.

“I watched some of [the livestreams] and then I’m like, ‘alright I should join this when I get there,’” Harkins said. One of his favorite shows is “Whose Line Is It Anyway?,” a clear influence on the club’s style of comedy.

The club has plans to post full recordings of the shows to a YouTube channel for publicity. Member and videographer Jack Gembala typically filmed the show with his phone while he was offstage, but because of a small number of members present, the club resorted to placing a camera in the audience that filmed the show in its entirety without an operator.

Member Tom Ehrhard is optimistic for the future of the club. “Our first show back, it’s going to be a little rusty,” he said. “But through practices and doing the shows, it will get better over time. Our next show will probably be better.”

Turnout matters a lot to the club, since improv comedy is dependent on an enthusiastic and responsive audience. “In a perfect world, we would fill this place every night,” Gembala said.

“That wasn’t a field of field mice, that was a field of elementary students,” a performer said to a shocked but humored crowd.

“A quiet audience really means a quiet show,” Ehrhard noted.

The SCFC runs an Instagram account and Discord page where they post information and regular updates about the club. A trademark of the club’s Instagram are virtual posters for each Saturday show, featuring intentionally tacky graphics and a weekly theme. The Sept. 9 show was titled “Back 2 Skool” with three members posing with backpacks; one member’s shirt is humorously “censored for copyright infringement.”

Binghamton-based columnist and Oswego alum Tim Mollen founded the SCFC in 1990. In his column, Mollen said he chose the name for its “guaranteed kitsch and pure ‘what the?’ value.”

Posters throughout the campus promote the club’s showings, with a regular meeting time of Saturdays at 8 p.m. at the Marano Campus Center auditorium. Practices are held every Sunday at 6 p.m. at MCC 220.