SketchFest Seattle, the world’s original sketch comedy festival, comes roaring back with a brand new festival for 2014.
Every year SketchFest brings the best sketch comedians from around the world and pairs them with local favorites. This year the festival sports groups touring from New Orleans, Los Angeles, and even Winnipeg!
And if that weren’t enough, SketchFest presents the return of the Comedy Film Challenge: 12 short films, three celebrity guest judges, two cash prizes, one incredibly funny evening.
So buy your tickets today!
Schedule
Thursday, September 18 | 8:00 pm
The Pocket Theater | 8312 Greenwood Ave. N
$10 General Admission
Featuring:
• Troy Mink
• Day Job
• Now with Dames
• Drop the Root Beer and Run
Friday, September 19 | 8:30 pm
The Pocket Theater | 8312 Greenwood Ave. N
$10 General Admission
Featuring:
• Philip Schallberger
• Tony Lacy
• Princess
Friday, September 19 | 10:00 pm
The Pocket Theater | 8312 Greenwood Ave. N
$10 General Admission
Featuring:
• Charles
• Melody
• Generation Friends
Saturday, September 20 | 7:00 pm
Central Cinema | 1411 21st Avenue
$15 General Admission
The SketchFest Seattle Comedy Film Challenge returns for its 7th year to crown the winner of 2014’s funniest film. Join SketchFest and judges Charles Mudede (Police Beat), Emmett Montgomery (“Weird and Awesome with Emmett Montgomery”), and Alycia Delmore (Humpday) for an evening of food, booze, and hilarity! Featuring a live set by Seattle favorites Drop The Root Beer And Run!
Sunday, September 21 | 7:00 pm
The Pocket Theater | 8312 Greenwood Ave. N
$10 General Admission
Featuring:
• The Entertainment Show
• ALL CAPS
Thursday, September 25 | 8:00 pm
The Pocket Theater | 8312 Greenwood Ave. N
$10 General Admission
Featuring:
• Tiny Baby Talk Show
• Ubiquitous They
• Attack
• Comedy Mystery Mutants
Friday, September 26 | 7:00 pm
Annex Theatre | 1100 E. Pike St.
$15 General Admission | $10 Students
Hosted by Jana Hutchison
Featuring:
• Brett Hamil
• Now With Dames
• Lilan and Wilder
Friday, September 26 | 9:30 pm
Annex Theatre | 1100 E. Pike St.
$15 General Admission | $10 Students
Hosted by Jana Hutchison
Featuring:
• Erin Ingle
• Princess
• Hot Thespian Action
Saturday, September 27 | 7:00 pm
Annex Theatre | 1100 E. Pike St.
$15 General Admission | $10 Students
Hosted by Joel Dale
Featuring:
• Andie Main
• The Entertainment Show
• Stupid Time Machine
Saturday, September 27 | 9:30 pm
Annex Theatre | 1100 E. Pike St.
$15 General Admission | $10 Students
Hosted by Joel Dale
Featuring:
• Tyler Schnupp
• Day Job
• The Intecollectuals
Performer Bios
Attack (Seattle)
Thursday, 9/25 | 8:00 pm
ATTACK is specially formulated by an expert group of medical and simulation professionals for your comedic enjoyment. Formulated with a special mix of baking soda and peroxide, this show is compliant with the rigorous MIL-9A specification for high durability composite materials and comedy. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll leave — it’s hilarious and (as far as you know) educational!
Charles (Seattle)
Friday, 9/19 | 10:00 pm
A cerebral and imaginative duo from Seattle, Charles will take you down a wormhole of interwoven worlds. You might see two Glockenspiel clockmen debate the existence of freewill, or a pair of 19th century gentlemen play Jenga by mail. The show is intelligent without sacrificing accessibility, as Charles seamlessly combines highbrow and lowbrow sensibilities into a brand of humor they call unibrow.
Comedy Mystery Mutants (Seattle)
Thursday, 9/25 | 8:00 pm
Comedy Mystery Mutants is a constantly evolving concept with a varying cast.
Joel Dale (Host)
Saturday, 9/27
Joel Dale is a respected comedian of varying styles. Best known for his seventeen years performing improv in Seattle and around the country, he’s the creative mind behind the beloved, long running show The Temporary People. Joel has also been seen performing stand-up comedy, original essays about his life, and even sketch in SketchFest. His works have been published by the Out of Bounds Comedy Festival. On top of all that, he’s the official movie reviewer for sonyrumors.net. It seems his goal is to find the humor in everything. Like, actually everything.
Day Job (Seattle)
Thursday, 9/18 | 8:00 pm & Saturday, 9/27 | 9:30 pm
Let your mind be at hilarious ease as we show you what whimsy and wonder there is to be had in comedy. Does time travel work? What is up with pigeons? Have you stabbed your friend recently? This is getting a little weird. Maybe you need some professionals to guide you through this fever dream of a show. Luckily this is our Day Job!
Drop The Root Beer And Run (Seattle)
Thursday, 9/18 | 8:00 pm & Saturday, 9/20 | 7:00 pm
A single chair is on stage. A clown walks over to the chair and places a banana peel on the ground besides it. The clown crosses upstage and begins encasing himself in concrete. A decorated admiral walks over to the chair and when he steps on the banana peel, the chair falls over, and kittens burst free from the concrete where the clown used to be.
That’s what our show is like.
Generation Friends (Olympia)
Friday, 9/19 | 10:00 pm
Generation Friends hails from the esteemed Evergreen State College, where they do improv, sketch, and stand up comedy in lieu of our schoolwork. They put on multiple improv shows per academic quarter (remember those?) and perform at least one sketch show per quarter as well. The stand up comedians in the club are lone wolves who hunt laughs on their own time.
Brett Hamil (Stand-up)
Friday, 9/26 | 7:00 pm
Brett Hamil is a standup comic based in Seattle, where The Stranger called him “a truly treasured ham.” He writes a monthly humor column for City Arts Magazine along with cartoons, essays, videos, and interviews. He performs at clubs, colleges, and festivals all over the U.S. and Canada, including the Bridgetown Comedy Festival (Portland), Northwest Comedy Fest (Vancouver) and Bumbershoot. He is the creator of the award-eligible one-man sketch comedy podcast Ham Radio with Brett Hamil, featured on the Earwolf Podcast Network’s Earwolf Challenge. His videos have been featured on websites like Upworthy and the Daily Dot, receiving hundreds of thousands of views. He lives atop Beacon Hill with his wife and two dogs, all of whom he found on the internet.
website: www.BrettHamil.com
Twitter: @BrettHamil
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/HamRadioPodcast
Hot Thespian Action (Winnipeg)
Friday, 9/26 | 9:30 pm
Using no props, sets, or costumes, Hot Thespian Action uses their bodies to set the scene, which draws the audience in for a totally immersive show. It also allows for quick, no-filler sketches where scenes end the second they have to, instead of dragging on to justify the expense of a crazy wig. Transitions are also short, sometimes only a few seconds. And with an aresenal of over 150 time-tested sketches to pull from, the show is strong, with only the best, most laugh-out-loud sketches seeing the light of day.
Hot Thespian Action is a fresh, lively voice in sketch, offering a show unlike any being performed in North America.
Jana Hutchison (Host)
Friday, 9/26
Jana is a proud ensemble member of Unexpected Productions in the Market Theater, makers of TheatreSports for over 30 years. Some representative improvised and scripted work includes (An) Improvised Christmas Carol, Cannibal! The Musical, Manos: Hands of Felt, Scarecrow for Hire, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, Lovetanic, Honky Tonk, Lease and Shades of Gray. She is also co-host of Weird and Awesome with Emmett Montgomery at Annex Theatre. Off stage, she is an Audiologist that falls down a lot.
Erin Ingle (Stand-up)
Friday, 9/26 | 9:30 pm
Erin Ingle may be a new comic to the Seattle scene, but she’s a veteran feminist stoner goofball- so you can trust she speaks from experience. Delight in her verbose witticisms and half-baked attempts at righting the world’s wrongs through guided group giggling.
The Intecollectuals (Los Angeles)
Saturday, 9/27 | 9:30 pm
An original sketch comedy group sprouting out of the cracks of the infamous Los Angeles surf ghetto known as Venice Beach. Created and directed by LA sketch veteran Jeff Leaf, this collision of wit and edge infused with 80’s music has become a monthly favorite in LA. Performing to sold out crowds, the founding members Jeff Leaf, Betsy Currie, Stephanie Hodgdon, Elliott Peele, and Michael Geary create a fast paced flipbook of comedic genius inspired by their community, culture, and personal baggage. There is a party atmosphere the minute you enter the space, continuing with drinks after the show while chatting with the cast.
The Entertainment Show (Seattle)
Saturday, 9/27 | 7:00 pm
Kevin Clarke and Travis Vogt are Stranger Genius Award-Nominated filmmakers/sketch comedians who have been producing shows in the Seattle area for the better part of a decade. They have produced one full-length feature film (Steel Of Fire Warriors: 2010 AD), one six-part TV series (Adventure Buddies) and countless short films and live sketches (well, not literally countless. Just lots). They have also appeared at Bumbershoot, Sasquatch music festival, Vancouver Comedy Festival and Bridgetown Comedy Festival. Travis and Kevin’s reputations precedes them. Whatever that means.
Tony Lacy (Seattle)
Friday, 9/19 | 8:30 pm
Tony Leahy is Tony Lacy. On top of that he’s a variety of characters. You will find each more hilarious and ridiculous than the last!
Lilan and Wilder (Los Angeles)
Friday, 9/26 | 7:00 pm
“Lilan and Wilder” is an LA-based sketch comedy duo and are the most hardcore best friends in the whole flippin’ world.
Andie Main (Stand-up)
Saturday, 9/27 | 7:00 pm
Andie Main was born and raised on the mean streets of SE Portland, both ironically and passive aggressively. In the past she used her talents as a painter to be the original illustrator of the website for the popular podcast Professor Blastoff, hosted by Tig Notaro, Kyle Dunnigan and David Huntsberger. After producing one painting each week for over a year, Andie needed to leave her studio and pursue stand-up comedy. It’s probably for the best but who the hell knows?
In the last two years, Andie has made a name for herself through her caustic and insightful cynicism, adorable profanity and anarchic joy, which has given her the opportunity to produce a Portland branch of the LA based showcase Picture This; where artists illustrate the jokes comedians are telling, projected live on stage behind them. Andie also performs regularly at Helium Comedy Club and Curious Comedy Theater, and had the privilege to be able to perform for sold out crowds at UCBeast, UCB Chelsea, and The Stand nightclub in NYC this year.
She regularly opens for some of her favorite humans; TJ Miller, David Huntsberger and Jackie Kashian, and has been featured in the All Jane No Dick Festival and Bumbershoot 2014. She also contributes to the Portland Mercury by writing and drawing about her experiences as a comedian. In her spare time, Andie enjoys punk rock, animals, yelling, and spending 40 hours a week in her lonely cubicle thinking about how much more she’d rather be performing comedy than auditing boring shit for a stupid bank.
Melody (Seattle)
Friday, 9/19 | 10:00 pm
Melody is a character who is quite shy but loves to sing. She is closed off at first, but quickly opens up and is willing to make new friends with audience interaction and participation.
Troy Mink (Seattle)
Thursday, 9/18 | 8:00 pm
A dude from Milwaukee who like to “party heavy” gets escorted to “Hotel Hell” & ends up over his head, a troubled city council woman artist wanna-be who’s been thrown out of ever karaoke bar in town sings thru her divorce, a gay “psychic” attempts to exorcise his doll to “Carmina Burana,” a washed up Lawrence Welk singer attempts to bring his style of music to “today’s pop tunes”, an elderly smoker woman with walker & oxygen tank gives her all to tap dancing to REO Speedwagon & Pink Floyd, & the woman who started Chikalatte shares her first experience in the 1950’s as a barista at a place called “Coffee & Tits.” All these loveable losers & more fill out an evening of butt-clinching humor & hy-sterical cuckoo mayhem. Starring Troy Mink & 1 or 2 surprise co-performers bring a night of improv-sketch (improv with an outline) fun!
Now With Dames (Seattle)
Thursday, 9/18 | 8:00 pm & Friday, 9/26 | 7:00 pm
Now w/ Dames strive to put together a show that is mostly clean, with a broad range of audience appeal. We use recurring characters, very short episodic pieces, longer stand alone pieces, original musical comedy, and a news segment.
Princess (Seattle)
Friday, 9/19 | 8:30 pm & Friday, 9/26 | 9:30 pm
Princess dances across all kinds of lines separating things like pop culture, social commentary, and dick jokes.
Philip Schallberger (Portland)
Friday, 9/19 | 8:30 pm
Philip Schallberger is Portland’s premier (only?) solo sketch-stand-up-whatever performer, He’s also a writer. Heck, he even wrote his own bio! He is a wondrous comedian and sketch performer as well as a liar and a dragon. He has attained many accolades from his town of Portland, Oregon, including being a recurring guest in the Bridgetown comedy festival and a frequent subject of praise for their various local periodicals and other hipster-hate-magnets. Phil has been doing live comedy performance since 2007, and has only given up a bunch of times since then. He is also the head writer for “Dr. Proof’s Whizbang Science Superhour”, a position that many have claimed is “invented”. You know what else was invented? The light bulb. Go to hell. See Phil Schallberger.
Tyler Schnupp (Stand-up)
Saturday, 9/27 | 9:30 pm
Tyler Schnupp is a Seattle based comedian who performs regularly down the west coast. He has performed at Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival, and hosts a monthly showcase ‘We Joke Econo’ in various living rooms around Seattle.
Stupid Time Machine (New Orleans)
Saturday, 9/27 | 7:00 pm
Stupid Time Machine is a New Orleans-based comedy group known for their irreverent sketch revues and stone cold improv shows. STM has traveled for years performing in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, and other great cities bringing their unique brand of comedy to the masses as well as being featured on websites like Funny or Die. “The Machine”, as no one calls it, was once referred to by The Wall Street Journal as a “must see group”. Though since this was not in reference to fiscal responsibility, the group is not entirely sure if it’s a burn. The groups members also teach improv and sketch comedy in New Orleans out of the theater they co-founded, The New Movement. They can be found at their website stupidtimemachine.com or on twitter @STMcomedy.
Tiny Baby Talk Show (Seattle)
Thursday, 9/25 | 8:00 pm
Daniel Desrosiers and Daniel O’Connell have a fantastic late night show planned on an absurdly tiny stage, and it would sure be nice if they could actually get through it. Each installment is quickly torn off the rails. Whether it’s scorning an old gypsy to try and get her to swap their bodies, having to deal with a pirate who dreams of getting into show business, or discovering that, sometimes, purchasing crack-cocaine IS the moral high ground, the show never goes as “planned”, and the manicness of a plethora of moving pieces enhances what’s already a well written show.
Ubiquitous They (Seattle)
Thursday, 9/25 | 8:00 pm
Since moving to Seattle in 2007, Ubiquitous They have toured Vancouver, Portland, L.A., San Francisco, and New York with their innovative brand of comedy. Ubiquitous They:Half Time is the group’s tenth and most ambitious show to date. They have been a regular at Bumbershoot and Seattle SketchFest since 2008, and they have performed at: Annex Theatre, The Ballard Underground, Chop Suey, Theater Schmeater. Ubiquitous They is funny.
Ubiquitous They has been an audience favorite and critical success in Seattle for years. Lindy West of Jezebel, and former Stranger Comedy Correspondent, has described Ubiquitous They as, “a cohesive, funny group with a brand and a plan and jokes to deliver. It is a good thing to have in one’s town.”
