John Loos likes a crowd. He likes them enough to join two different improv comedy groups, Spicy Clamato and DeBono, performing at the Union twice a week. Starting Nov. 1, however, the Courtyard Caf‚ will send Spicy to join DeBono on Mondays – and Loos can only hope the crowds will follow.

The Union Director’s office has decided to make Monday a comedy night at the Caf‚. Tuesday nights, when Spicy used to play, will be an open mic night, said Bob Conrad, the multimedia department manager at the Union.

Spicy will move to 8 p.m. Mondays, and DeBono will keep their 9 p.m. time slot.

Loos, the president of Spicy Clamato and senior in communications, said he was not in favor of the change.

“Obviously I don’t like it because you lose audience members that way,” Loos said. “I thought the different nights helped each group have a different identity.”

Conrad said the Union made the change to “increase the use of the Courtyard as an entertainment venue.”

“We wanted to expand the programming on other nights,” Conrad said. “The Courtyard is a venue to highlight the different talent we have on campus. The open mic provides a venue for these people.”

Adam Wolf, president of DeBono and senior in education, said he hoped the change would be positive for the two groups.

“The groups draw such different crowds, so hopefully people will come for Spicy and stay for DeBono or DeBono fans will come early for Spicy,” Wolf said.

Loos, an Illini Media Company employee, said he thought Spicy might lose fans initially but that their fan base was large and solid enough to follow them to another night.

Both Loos and Wolf agreed that having a weekly show is the most important thing for any group.

“When I first joined Spicy, there was no set schedule for performances,” Loos said. “There were days when we just had 10 people come to watch. When people know you’re playing every week, it becomes part of their routine to come see you.”

For Loos, though, the change will be more than just coming to the Caf‚ on a different night. Because he is a member of both groups, he will have to perform for more than two hours straight.

“The two groups are very different,” Loos said. “Spicy is more short sketches and DeBono is long-form improv, so it’ll be a tough transition for me.”

Loos spends 10 hours each week between practice and shows for the two groups. With the change in schedules, he will devote four hours to performances on Monday alone.

The Courtyard Caf‚ has had several open mic nights already this year, Conrad said, but none on a Tuesday. He said turnout to the events was fair but a little less than the comedy groups.

Despite the changes, both Loos and Wolf praised the Union and Conrad for being supportive of their groups over the years. They expressed doubt, however, that the open mic night would be successful.

“I don’t think the open mic will do well because there are other open mics in town that are more popular already,” Wolf said. “And I think the most important part of an open mic is booze, which they don’t have here.”

“There are other open mic nights on campus,” Loos added. “But there aren’t other improv comedy groups.”