Arts and Culture 6 New Kids on The Block: The Fresh Faces of Oops Improv

Getting laughed at by your classmates is normally a student’s nightmare, but for CJ Jenkins and Drohan

Lord it is a moment of excitement. One could hardly tell that this Oops Improv show was Jenkins and Lord’s first performance in front of an audience. Both new faces to the selective club this semester, Jenkins and Lord were not expecting anything to emerge from auditions. However, a successful tryout in Hance and a collective nine practices later, the pair walked onto the 900 Room stage for Oops’ Live Thursday show, welcomed by cheers from friends and strangers.

I had the opportunity to interview Jenkins and Lord in the lead up to their debut show and again in the wake of it. On the Tuesday before the performance, the two riffed off of each other in the Belk lounge with palpable nerves and eagerness. The pair met earlier this year through mutual friends and Commons meals, and, when Jenkins decided to audition for Oops this semester, Lord joined him for support: “I just did it for fun, to see CJ.” So, when the news arrived that both of them made the cut as the only two new members, Lord was surprised. “I had a picture in my mind of who would get accepted, and I was definitely not in that picture.” Jenkins similarly explained his feelings towards the news, “I guess everyone has imposter syndrome,” wondering “are we even funny?” The irony in their nerves, though, arrived in the natural humor that filled Belk’s lounge when Jenkins and Lord answered simple questions. Lord articulated the key feature of improv: “It’s all about the chemistry…because it’s improv, it’s all so temperamental.” And Jenkins and Lord are in no way lacking comedic chemistry. When Lord explained that he “was considering doing standup before the pandemic started,” Jenkins, without missing a beat, quipped “but he had to sit down.” At that moment, all three of us laughing, I knew that there was nothing to worry about for Thursday night.

On Friday afternoon, Jenkins and Lord were still riding the high of the last night. Where nervousness was in the Thursday interview, enthusiasm now filled its place. Answering if their performance went well, Jenkins smiled and responded, “From what I’ve heard, it did.” Full of improv elements ranging from “sandcastle competitions” and accents to squirrels and character switches, the Oops show left the audience laughing past its eleven o’clock finale. Of course, behind the smooth performance were the inescapable first show jitters. Lord recalled a moment right at the beginning of the show when he forgot where to stand, and Jenkins mentioned freezing up for a moment in his squirrel skit, which involved miming the size of an acorn and lying on the ground. Lord chimed in, though, that “it feels like you freeze for a long time, but really everything just slows down for a second” and, as an audience member, it’s true that none of these supposed mistakes or pauses are noticeable. The pair also found support in their fellow Oops members. Jenkins remarked on the comfort that even if he had a bad prompt, “I know Emma, Pete, and Amelio are going to make this workable.” Lord explained that the veteran cast “all gave their own individual wisdom” to the newcomers as they prepared for their first show. It’s clear that that wisdom paid off, as the duo seamlessly meshed with the rest of the group during their first show. By the end of the hour-long performance, Jenkins explained that he “was ready for the next.” Jenkins and Lord have now set a high bar for whatever comes next, and they can go back to their weekly practices knowing they’ve overcome their official inauguration into Oops. In parting words Jenkins thanked “everyone for supporting” and Lord–to fans–wanted to be clear: “Oops thanks you, and America thanks you.”

Cate Goodin/2026 (she/her) is a English and Political Science major from McLean, VA. She can be reached for comment at cagoodin@davidson.edu