On Monday an extension of MU Improv gave birth to a new form of improvisation, which they refer to as The Armando Diaz Experience.

“Every week we’ll have a guest monologist, which will be someone from the community,” senior Dillon Cassidy said. “They’ll talk for a little while and then we’ll do scenes inspired by their monologue. Then they’ll talk for a little while more, and we’ll do more scenes.”

The show’s first monologist was senior Rafa Nizam, who asked the audience to shout out any word. He then used one of the words as an inspiration for his monologue.

“You don’t know what your monologues are going to be about, that’s the thrill of it,” Nizam said. “That’s why it was a refreshing change for me. It was challenging, but at the same time I just got to be myself.”

Nizam spoke three times, separated by multiple scenes performed by the improv team. The words that inspired his monologues were “kids,” “cup,” and “body hair.” He told jokes about his niece being potty trained, his lack of experience holding red solo cups at college parties, and the irony behind how the people with the most body hair are from the hottest places.

“My favorite part was just pulling random stuff out of thin air and then seeing the troupe perform it,” Nizam said.

Audience members said they were not disappointed by the performance.

“I was definitely impressed,” sophomore Matt Schuver said. “It was a lot funnier than I thought it was going to be.”

One audience member said she appreciated the fact that the audience was not the only ones enjoying themselves.

“You could tell they were having a good time, which is important for improv because that’s what makes it a really good show,” junior Natalie Curtis said.

The high energy onstage left the audience wanting more. “I will definitely be coming to another show,” sophomore Seth Wiesman said.

Not only did the audience love the show, but also the members of the Armando Diaz Experience are excited about what the future has in store for them.

“Only awesomeness is what you can expect,” senior Naomi Lafond said. “This is our first show and it went really well. It’s good because now it can only get better and we can eventually be fantastic.”

As the troupe improves from week to week, MU students can also expect to see a lot of familiar faces perform on stage.

“Monologists we can expect to see are some theater graduate students and faculty. Throughout the year, we’re going to try to get other faculty to give monologues, as well.” Cassidy said. “Our dream monologist, in a dream land, would be Brother Jed or DGB.”