When asked, “How are you doing tonight?” the average person might respond with something along the lines of “good” or “fine,” but when you ask the same question to the audience of a Nuthouse Improv show, you are responded to by the screaming of “catamaran.”

WSU’s distinguished improvisational comedy group Nuthouse continued its ongoing “catamaran” tradition Saturday night at its music benefit show in the CUB junior ballroom to support the WSU Concert Choir and Madrigal Chamber Singers, who are planning a tour through South Korea in the spring. All of the proceeds from the performance went toward funding the trip.

While some may not understand the tradition of replying with “catamaran,” performer James Campbell tried to explain by simply saying, “Life is a mystery.”

The six-person cast performed nine different short-form improv games over the span of the night, finding numerous ways to pander to the musically inclined audience.

Games included crowd and performer favorite “freeze tag” where performer Joseph Olsen broke down the typical views on electricians and instilled new ones as he acted as an electrician who only gets jobs from responding to Craigslist ads to help people move their cat litter.

Musical references laced the entire show and deeply resonated with a large portion of the crowd which was involved in WSU’s music program.

One of the night’s most well-received games was “the dating game” in which Campbell had to identify three mystery bachelors/bachelorettes. The three performers, respectively acting as Beethoven, Amy Winehouse and a trombone, had to answer questions that would allow Campbell to figure out who they were. Sarah Tisinger’s Beethoven won the audience over as she stayed true to her deaf composer’s character and pretended not to hear any of the questions.

Whether the audience knew anything about Rachmaninoff or Beethoven didn’t seem to matter as the Nuthouse performers drew laughter from the crowd throughout the entire evening.

Elias Nilsson admitted he was the least knowledgeable about music of all of the performers, but said it didn’t seem to matter to him or the audience when it came to having a good time.

“With the suggestions, anyone could enjoy the games that were being played,” Nilsson said.

Nuthouse holds open rehearsals from 5 – 6 p.m. every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday for anyone willing to try their hand at improv comedy.

Nuthouse’s next show, PJ Party, is scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday in Wadleigh Theatre inside Daggy Hall. Tickets will be sold at the door for $5.

Reporting by Chris Ryder