Senseless Acts of Comedy takes second-place within their bracket at the College Improv Tournament.

Senseless Acts of Comedy tried out a new routine last weekend at the College Improv Tournament, and if the results are any indication, their set was a success.

The improv comedy troupe placed second out of five teams within their bracket at the competition, which was held in Kansas City, Mo. last Saturday.

Benjamin Yoder, a junior business information systems and marketing double major, said the troupe adapted a short game they play in their weekly performances into a 20-minute routine.

“The audience chooses a snapshot of a significant event in a made-up town, and four of the improvisers are put in the snapshot,” said Connor Paden, junior journalism and sports broadcasting double major and co-president of SAC.

Paden said the team then breaks from the snapshot and acts out the scenes that would take place leading up to that moment.

The tournament audience’s suggestion for the snapshot was the digging of the first well.

“We were gaining laughs from people we had never met before,” Ryan Lynch, a sophomore film-television-digital media major, said. “We earned every single laugh, because these people had no idea what we were coming in with.”

In their competition set, SAC broke away from the short-form comedy they showcase at their Thursday night shows on campus. Their skit introduced the audience and the other competitors to a unique style of comedy.

SAC’s 13-member team was the largest group in the competition. Paden said having so many people on stage is seen as a disadvantage in improv. However, their connection as a troupe made it possible to place second in their bracket again this year, Yoder said.

The members of SAC grew closer together over the weekend as they accomplished their goal to “make people laugh and have fun while doing it,” Lynch said.

“It is important to know how other people work and to know their personalities, so you can look at someone on stage and know exactly what they need for you to do,” Lynch said.

Very few groups have the kind of weekly shows and large audiences that SAC does, Paden said. The team hopes to continue working on this new style of improv.

Catch the members of SAC in action at their show at 9 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 30 in the Brown-Lupton University Union Ballroom.