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Graduated in 1998

Name: Tom Haughey
Nickname: Munky
Major(s): Biology w/ Theatre technology minor
Years in Group: 1 (1997-1998)
Favorite Game(s): Ding, Interpretive dance (ID), and world's worst/scenes from a hat. We had a tendency to be a bit off-color then, but Freeze was a perennial favorite.
What am I doing now/wish I was doing? I am currently the assistant professor of technical direction/production manager for the Department of Theatre and Dance at West Chester University of PA. I'm also the advisor of record for the newly attempting to form Improv/Sketch group LOL. I wish that I still were doing the improv do, or at least that I'd never lost my superpowers in that reactor explosion a few years back.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: I've got a few funny stories from then. First, the Cows gathering to cook a spaghetti dinner before our first show. Driving to Yale for a show with Purple Crayon where Sarah and I were completely upstaged by Brian throwing Amy around like Raggedy Ann. And finally, sometime in late February of that year, Amy returned from breaking things off with her fella at the time. She wanted us to know first, before things were hearsay. The only thing I could think of was "Sweet, another single chick in the group--dibs!"
And low, but dibs were gotten and thereafter a union was formed. The likes of which have not been seen since Spiderman and the Fantastic Four. This alliance moved into the North to flee from famine and pestilence. Upon their return Amy begot Maura and there was calf. And the calf was good, with better comic timing than both before her. And it was decided that they shall live happily ever after.


Name: Amy (Smolnik) Haughey
Nickname: AMY!
Major(s): Communications/Corporate Media; Minor: Theatre (we didn't have a theatre minor back then)
Years in Group: 1 (1997-1998) as it was the first year of Mad Cow and I was a senior. Wish it could have been more!
Favorite Game(s): Props, Scenes from a Hat, Halftime
What am I doing now/wish I was doing? Working in the marketing department as a Creative Services Account Executive for Project Management Institute, a professional association for project managers. And being a mommy.
Wish I was doing: Improv. Or laying on a warm sandy beach. Or doing improv on a warm sandy beach. But also wearing flipflops...don't want to burn my feet.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow:
- Being recruited to join Mad Cow while I was helping to construct the Sock and Buskin float for Homecoming '97.
- In a bit of foreshadowing, Tom and I did the game Halftime where I was a pregnant woman going into labor and he was the father. (Well before we started dating.) Scary.
- Jim and his constant quoting of Austin Powers' "Do I make you horny?" Not funny (exactly), just memorable.


Name: Sara Mooney
Nicknames: Tech goddess
Major(s): Corporate Communications with a minor in Theatre Production
Years in Group: 1(1997-1998) Just one. This thing called "graduation" brought it to a premature end. But it was good.
Favorite Game(s): Hmmm...what kind of things can I do to throw off the performers? Do I have any new sound effects?
What am I doing now/wish I was doing? In addition to working part time in a library, I work full time for Cirque du Soleil's /La Nouba as a lighting technician in Orlando, FL, but I'll be soon be on my way to Las Vegas to do Technical Documentation (think a library for tech work) for one of their upcoming shows. It's a great melding of my current foray into a Master's degree in Library Science and my love of the theatre. And I'm playing some scratch-off lottery tickets.
Big Bucks, Big Bucks, Big Bucks.... STOP! Oh, wait... wrong game.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow! The scene: Inaugural performance.
The situation: Jim, the director is floundering while trying to explain a skit. The punchline: I hook up a mic to the audio console and say, "Jim, this is God. Get on with it!"


Graduated in 1999

Name: Luisa (Mescia) Knecht
Nicknames: Weez
Major(s): Social Work
Years in Group: 2 (1997-1999)
Favorite Game(s): Mystery Line
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: I am an MSW working as a behavior specialist with kids and families in Chester County PA. I am just like super nanny but way underpaid. I am also a new mom which is the best job in the world :)
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: Toward the end of our first year, I was obsessed with the song from the Little Mermaid and when skits got boring, I would just burst into song and run across the stage singing "Look at this stuff, isn't it neat. Wouldn't you think my collection's complete...” I am sure it was horribly annoying for everyone else since I am in no way a singer, but it was super fun for me :)


Name: Joseph Ruggieri
Years in Group: 1 (1998-1999)
joseph@josephruggieri.com


Graduated in 2000

Name: Sarah (Cropley) Henley


Graduated in 2001

Name: Brian Cowan
Nicknames: The one year I got a nickname "I'm my own grandpa" (it’s great being from the South).
Major(s): Religious Studies
Years in Group: Performing: 2 (97-99)
assistant director: 1 (00-01)
Favorite Game(s): Half time
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: In my second year of law school in Boston. Still trying to figure-out if this thing called "a paying job" exists with the goal of not starting any sort of a career until after I turn 30.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: Sending one member to the emergency room a few days before Mad Cow's first show.


Name: Steve "Choppy" Iwanowski, the original #18
Nicknames: Choppy (very freaking applicable, thank you!).
Major(s): Management Information Systems
Years in Group: 3 (1997-2000)
Favorite Game(s): We actually improv'd the improv shows so hard that we made the games up as we went. My favorite games were the funny ones, which usually meant I wasn't on stage at the time; OK, fine, Half-Time let me do my physically-destroy-myself-on-stage thing...
What am I doing now/wish I was doing? I'm now fatter, older, married, and working as an IT Consultant until I can gather enough paper clips to become the king of a murderous-million-monkey army. So far I have three paper clips, but I can't imagine it will be many more until I have their respect.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: One time when playing Hitchhiker, despite being a 120lb scrawny weakling, I ripped my shirt off and started schwarzeneggin' to an insane amount of cheers (and no, it wasn't just my mother, who was in the audience). In the third year, we had a "hidden talents" show where I showed off my unique ability of making farting noises (like when you use your armpits) with the back of my knees to the horror of, well, pretty much everyone involved.


Graduated in 2002

Name: Chris Ashworth
Nicknames: ChosPgh, Ewok
Major(s): Communications
Years in Group: 2 (2000-2002)
Favorite Game(s): Ding, Press Conference, Mystery Line (later combined with Stage Direction to form MLSD), Die Actor Die
What am I doing now/wish I was doing? Creative Design though I'd rather be fishing.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow! Going to Ohio and seeing the Windmills


Name: Becky (Bowers) Unruh
Nicknames: Bones, B-bo
Major(s): Communications - ROCK ON!
Years in Group: 4 (1998-2002)
Favorite Game(s): Party Quirks, Ding, MLSD
What am I doing now/wish I was doing? Currently playing Snood. Wish I was para-sailing off the coast of Grand Cayman Island.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: Craig Chassen's ability to constantly drop kick himself, and not dislocate anything. Thirsty Thursdays at the Ranch House. Miami University of Ohio. Incorporating multimedia into our shows. Oh yeah... and a group gift of a lime green thong!


Graduated in 2003

Name: Kevin Cawley
Nicknames: Lassie, Spork
Major(s): Communications (Mass Media)
Years in Group: 3.5 (1999-2002)
Favorite Game(s): I like risk, chutes and ladders and tag. Those are outside the bedroom games, inside... I loved gripes and whatcha doin? NOTHING INVOLVING SINGING.
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: I'm a technical director for Al Jazeera English. I should be a director, dangit.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: Miami baby, MIAMI! University of Miami.... Ohio.
Oh one of the best things we EVER did, was rip a baby to shreds at the Miami of Ohio show. Oh my gosh! Greatest crowd reaction, I'd ever seen. We carried this baby (that we'd found on the way). We carried the baby around and treated it like a baby the entire weekend, and then performance time we showed it off, and set it aside to watch the show. Then to close, we raised the baby up high in worship and RIPPED it to shreds, awesome. And, don't ever let anyone tell you that a LION on a copy machine isn't funny. One of the other groups had a program, I believe it was Miami of Ohio’s long form group; they had a program with a picture of a lion on top of a copier. Hours of laughs. Hours... how'd they make all those copies? We still don't know.


Name: Bob Brookens
Nicknames: Lil' Buddy
Major(s): History
Years in Group: 3.5 (2000-2003)
Favorite Game(s): Triple Dub (not sure if you current cows have even heard of this game?), Environmental F-ups, Dating Game
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: Working as a Claims Representative for Nationwide Insurance in Harrisburg, PA. I wish I was living in warmer weather.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: My favorite was during practice from mystery lines/stage directions. My line was "Behold the power of cheese," and I went on to explain how I had killed someone using a wedge of cheese. Also, we took a trip to Miami (OH) in spring '02, which was great, especially having our driver get pulled over while staring at windmills along the turnpike.


Name: Sarah (D’Emilio) Ashworth
Nicknames: Big D, Big Red, D
Major(s): Occupational Therapy
Years in Group: 4 (1999-2003)
Favorite Game(s): N-things, Buddha, interpretive dance, die actor die, triple dub, film noir
What am I doing now/wish I was doing? I'm an OT at a children's hospital in Philadelphia, and I just got hitched last November :-)


Name: Jose Riofrio
Nicknames: Rio


Graduated in 2004

Name: Mark Fleming
Nicknames: Divot
Major(s): Sociology/Anthropology
Years in Group: 4 (2000-2004)
Favorite Game(s): MLSD, Hoedown
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: Currently, I'm finishing my Master's Degree in archaeology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I am also continuing with improvisation and comedy as part of the professional troupes Improv with Attitude, which is Chicago-style long form improv, and Sketch 22, which is group written directed and performed sketch comedy.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: My most memorable (or rather, what others remembered of me) moment was during Follow the Leaver. The suggestion was Prohibition, and the scene began with Cow-a-bunga leaving a speakeasy. The next scene was me running into her as a bootlegger, with what was (apparently) a hilarious character inquiring if she had seen the cops, because they were after my "Truck-o-booze!"


Name: Chris Richman
Nicknames: Skip/Broccoli Boy
Major(s): English
Years in Group: 4 (2000-2004)
Favorite Game(s): Chain-Death-Murder, Dating Game, Scenes from a Hat
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: I’m writing—I’m trying to get a book published, I’m writing plays, and I’m a featured contributor for Collegehumor.com.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: One of the things I liked best about being in Mad Cow was the lengths we’d go for a laugh at the expense of our own dignity. Nothing showed this better than during a show my junior year—Craig Chassen and I were playing one of the gibberish games and he was trying to show me that he was a minister using only gibberish and mime. At first he made both of us pray. Since I thought I was an altar boy, I got on my knees but he quickly nixed that idea. He stood me up he set up a wedding. When I still wasn’t getting that he was a minister he grabbed my face, looked at the audience, and kissed me full on the lips. My first instincts of anger and revulsion were washed away by the sound of 250 plus people, including Craig’s mother, falling out of their seats. I had to endure kissing another guy in front of a room full of people for the laugh but it was totally worth it. We’re still dating.


Name: Jake Landis
Nicknames: PUNisher
Major(s): Communications
Years in Group: 4 (2000-2004)
Favorite Game(s): Superheroes, Chain Death Murder, 173
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: Working as a public relations associate in Arlington, Virginia for PBS KIDS. I do my best to apply "Yes, and?" to the corporate ladder.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: My favorite memory from Mad Cow was out attempt to start a Mad Cow SDLC, named the "COW House." The idea was to bring improv to senior centers and hospitals around the area and perform, theoretically lightening the spirits of the patients/seniors/etc. This was my sophomore year, and it was probably the most work any of the group of us had put into a project, well, ever. In the end, we made a great pitch but were defeated by a group who wanted to take puppies to see old folks homes. Puppies! You can't compete with their cute little faces. But I think it was a real bonding experience for the rest of us, especially when we all held hands and punted sacks of puppies off of the High Library later that day.


Graduated in 2005

Name: Erik Eberz
Nicknames: Iron Lung, Thinner, Mr. Parasite
Major(s): Communications: Marketing Minor in Business Ad
Years in Group: 3 (2002-2005)
Favorite Game(s): Chain, Death, Murder
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: Inside Sales (aka telemarketing), anything but sales, ideally video production
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: Mark Flemming and Jake Landis sat in the back of the auditorium during practice and heckled everyone else like the two old geezer's from The Muppets, complete with flailing "jiggle arms"
- Mark Flemming hitching up his pants as Wedgie Man and exposing the entire audience to his larger than life hernia.
- Jake's ridiculously complex power point presentations, "searching Mad Cow Database"
- Bob Brookens, teaching the pathogrean thereom on the geography channel during remoto
- Chris Richman's lightning round sound effects or making numerous members cry
- Jay's running 40 acres and mule joke


Name: Craig Chassen
Nicknames: BeaGore, The Goose, Iku So
Major(s): Education/History
Years in Group: 3.5 (2001-fall 2004)
Favorite Game(s): Chain, Death, Murder; N-Things, sound effects
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: Jobless, penniless, living at home, living the good life, my friends... living the good life.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: I remember being doing the first Freshman show and being so nervous... but as soon as we got on stage and we got that pop from the crowd all that went away. There was so much energy from the crowd that we could do no wrong.


Graduated in 2006

Name: Dave MacPherson
Nicknames: TastyKake, 2 Quarts, Therapist, Slayer
Major(s): Criminal Justice/Philosophy
Years in Group: 4 (2002-2006)
Favorite Game(s): Soap Opera, Follow the Leaver
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: Sophmore year I was playing Blind Man's Bluff with Kris and the scene was set in a barber shop so when I came in "the door" I said "jingle jangle jingle" like there were bells on the handle.
Also Freshmen Campaign 2005 when we used pyrotechnics in our introduction. I felt like a real badass shooting a 3ft flame out of my hands and having everyone in the 1000+ person audience screaming only to say "Ok, now we're going to play Party Quirks!"


Name: Kris Liebegott
Nicknames: Kaptain, K-Rex, and two others that are probably listed on the website somewhere...Look, I would have listed them but I can't find my stash of old Mad Cow shirts, ok?! (Shubuduh, WashKloth)
Major(s): Marketing Communications, Higher Education Administration (Master's)
Years in Group: 4 (2002-2006)
Favorite Game(s): CD Compilation, Musical & N-Things
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: I am currently working on my Master's Degree and will be moving on to get my Doctorate soon. As for what I wish I was doing - I wish I was still in the womb, that place was warm, stocked with plenty of food, and the rent was off the chain.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: Zombie Musical. The Fly on the Wall. Sliding windows. These were three of my favorite memories from my Mad Cow days and the best part of it, all these memories involved just the Mad Cow members as they all took place during practices. Eat that public admirers and lovers of memories! I defy you at every turn! Victory is mine! Oh yeah. And the "Walker, Texas Ranger - A x-mas Special on ABC Family & Free Knives" CD Comp w/ Lauren. Priceless.


Name: Ali (Douglas) Haines
Nicknames: Caffeine-o, D minus (for the record, I hated that one... damn you Chris Richman)
Major(s): English Education
Years in Group: 2 (2002-2004)
Favorite Game(s): Ding, the TV channel one, and dating game
What am I doing now/wish I was doing? I am fulfilling my destiny by being a literal cow... I have a three-month-old baby that eats all the time. gross, but true.
I wish I was working as a writer for the Daily Show... I would totally be a scab.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: I guess the best story I have would have to be the final show of 2003-2004. We were going to be in Gibble for the first time. Someone scheduled the show to be after the Phalanx senior show... big mistake. They went extremely over time, and left us peeing ourselves back stage. Then we went out and busted them big time. Jerks.


Name: Carrie Beals
Nicknames: Carrie "it on" (worst nickname in the history of Mad Cow) and Maine Event
Years in Group: 2 (2002-2004)
Favorite Game(s): Buddha, Dating Game, Props
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: I am living in Portland, Maine and working at Maine Medical Center as an Occupational Therapist, pretending to be part of the real world (aka working to pay off Etown debt... thanks Etown!)
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: I have fond memories of trying to convince fellow mad-cows that there are actually highways, civilization, and paved roads in the state of Maine... I think "dirt road" might have been one of my nicknames tossed around at one point... it might have been a better nickname than "it on" now that I think of it.... thanks guys!


Graduated in 2007

Name: Jay Harper
Nicknames: Hootie, Nips, Frosty, NBM
Major(s): Communications
Years in Group: 3.5 (2003-fall 2006)
Favorite Game(s): Ding, Hoedown
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: I am currently an Audio/Visual Technician in NYC, but I wish I was a Video Editor in Washington DC
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: Mark Flemming being WedgiMANN and flashing his GINORMOUS DONG when pulling up his pants.


Name: Amanda Brunish
Nicknames: Hardball, NC-17, B.A.M., Firetruck
Major(s): Communications and Theatre
Years in Group: 3.5 (2003-fall 2006)
Favorite Game(s): Party Quirks
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: Working in Carlisle as a Media Coordinator at a marketing firm and living in Mount Joy....trying to figure out what I *really* want to do with my life!
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: There were so many great memories and stories but I was reminded of a funny moment recently that happened when we went to an improv festival in North Carolina. A bunch of us had walked over to the grocery store to pick up some things. A Barenaked Ladies song was on and two of the cows (Sam Gillam and Mike Gephart) mouthed the song to the security camera (where you can see yourself in the TV) and dance and it was just such a funny moment...and a lot of the funny moments with Mad Cow happened outside of rehearsals and shows...because everyone just bonded and got along off of the stage


Name: Lauren Tucker
Nicknames: Cow-A-Bunga; Scurvee; ARRRGH; YOHO!
Major(s): Sociology/Anthropology
Years in Group: 4 (2003-2007)
Favorite Game(s): Ding, Follow the Leaver, Beastie Rap, 3 Monkeys, 3 Rules
What am I doing now/wish I was doing: Presently employed with the school board of Anne Arundel County in Maryland working at an Outdoor Education Center teaching little kiddies about the world. This will change in about 2 months since I have job ADD and cannot seem to hold down a job for more than 4 months without getting bored and quitting. Hooray!
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: All of the off-campus shows where there was sleeping or driving involved will always be burned into my brain since we all learned WAY more about each other than any of us ever wanted. Our first trip to W&J. DSI in South Carolina... or was it North Carolina?... wait.... South?....no, maybe it was North... whatever, but the name "Zach" will forever be haunting. Our trip through "Langolier" and an overnight gossip session about who would be more nurturing as a wife (it was tied between Kris and Bob) The van ride to Ohio still has to have been the most bonding the six who went will ever know. OMG video!


Graduated in 2008

Name: Molly Campbell
Nicknames: Dr. Clap, Celery, Chunky, T.M.I.
Major(s): English Literature and Spanish
Years in Group: 4 (2004-2008)
Favorite Game(s): Ding, Soap Opera, Follow the Leaver
What am I doing now/wish I was doing? I am going to law school, to study contract law and intellectual property
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: The Dirty South Improv (DSI) Comedy Festival is the father of a ton of hilarious memories in a short 3 day weekend. There were plunger hangers, dirty sinks, Jay walking (in front of buses), harrasment, death, and more! I always loved the conversations too. Whether we were in a car, a quad, a plane, or the cafeteria, we were never happier putting even the most ordinary things into a hilarious light.


Name: Bob Brown
Nicknames: Whitney, Emo, Wookie, Aristhrotle
Major(s): Philosophy, Religious Studies (Eastern Religion Concentration)
Years in Group: 4 (2004–2008)
Favorite Game(s): Ding, Pentameter, Buddha, and Soap Opera
What am I doing now/wish I was doing? I wish I was writing storylines for games in a major corporation but instead I am writing storylines for friends who don't pay me... I'm also looking for a job.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: Oberlin, Ohio...There we were, in a place that hated short form comedy, in the living room of some improver's house sleeping on anything soft we could find. It was a strange sort of camaraderie, as we sat in the darkness of the enemy territory. None of us wanting to call out the awkwardness or admit that at any point that one strange roommate could come down and kill us. All we could do is sing, and as an improv group we lay there in the darkness and let our fears go through a made up song about the highly improbable chance that we were the one sperm to make it through. One in a Million....


Name: Stephen "Goatee" Haberman
Nicknames: Stichman, Groupee, Binglecat, Scratch N’ Sniff
Major(s): History
Years in Group: 4 (2004-2008)
Favorite Game(s): N-Things
What am I doing now/wish I was doing? I'm literally scratching myself wondering why.
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: Ok, so the day CD Comp came together... The reggae song that was a perfect four part chorus, and then, NIKOLI!NIKOLI!, it was Majestic.


Name: Mike “Gep” Gephart
Nicknames: Bucketfoot, Langolier, Robo Raptor
Major(s): Theater, History
Years in Group: 3 (2005-2008)
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: Here’s a few that come to mind before the mushy stuff: Jay peeing all over a hotel, Lauren and Amanda shouting “Peanuts!” and “Mayonnaise!”!, K-ris doing all his good stuff in practice (The Fly!), Dave forgetting “War” from the Horseman of the Apocalypse and instead inserting Rape, Molly’s current namesake during car rides “TMI”, Garrity doing a musical number during his first Oscar Winning Moment, Bob making an incredible mirror metaphor that made everyone stop a scene and think, Steve dancing around and scratching his unmentionables, and three years of hijinks with my hetero-lifemate Sam and our buffer Hilary.
All that aside, these guys were my first comedy family, and to all of them and all of the one’s that have joined that family since – Thank you for the love journey. (Hilary – Cue Journey.)


Name: Brian Garrity
Nicknames: Twentry-Three, High Five, I <3 Melica
Major(s): Professional Writing
Years in Group: 3 (2005-2008)
Funny memory/story from Mad Cow: Really it’s all this crazy blur of practices, trips, parties, shows, filming sessions, and hanging out with my closest friends. You all have put a beautiful Celine Dion love song in my heart. And for that, I am eternally grateful. Oh yeah,Nate Derr, we’ll always be the Gay Double Dragon.