To stick to the game and please his audience, sometimes junior Mark Hobrath has to lick the floor.

Hobrath, a member of the improv group The Plastic Shatners, was playing the game called “Kenny,” in which members have to act according to the audience’s suggestions.

“So I laid my tongue on the carpet,” he said. “And then I got sick for a few weeks.”

Getting sick may be the only downfall in being part of the group, which performs for audiences every other week in a “Whose Line is it Anyway”-style show.

“My favorite part is the laugh I get from the audience,” Hobrath said. “You crack a good one and it gives you the sense you did something right.”

Junior Clay Lutz was after that satisfaction when he tried out for the group his freshman year.

After going with a group of friends to audition, Lutz ended up being the only one to make it.

“I like being reminded that I know what I’m going to say is absurd and it’ll be warmly received,” Lutz said.

The shows are typically family-friendly and the group adjusts the show according to what the audience wants, said Director Scott Stechschulte.

For senior Leah Sence, it’s the audience that makes her job as an actress better.

“One of the greatest accomplishments of my life was when someone came up to me after a show and said, ‘You’re really funny,’” Sence said.

Being the only funny one of her group of friends outside of The Plastic Shatners, Sence said sometimes the performances will turn into a competition — especially when she’s paired with freshman Natalie Wilson.

“They’re good at setting each other up,” said sophomore Zack Robb, an acting and directing major.

Although now she’s good at setting her partner during two-player games, Wilson said that was not always the case.

“I was so scared coming in here as a freshman,” Wilson said. “But they were not exclusive or condescending at all.”

Because the group spends much of its time working and laughing together, it is very close, Stechschulte said.

“When you come on this group, as cheesy as it sounds, you end up with a group of friends,” Stechschulte said.

When it comes to performing with that group of friends, Stechschulte said it’s best to have nothing prepared.

“Go up there with a blank slate,” he said. “It’s probably not going to go as planned.”

A few months ago, junior John Waddle’s audition didn’t go as planned.

After being told to act like the fake superhero “Oxymoron Man,” Waddle said he got very confused.

“I forgot what oxymoron meant,” Waddle said. “So I just tried to stay out of people’s way.”

Waddle said he was surprised when he found out he made the group.

Being in the group requires nights of practice, but Lutz said he really enjoys watching his group members improve.

“We teach them the mechanics and they’re all really funny,” Lutz said. “This group brings people together.”