SketchFest Seattle, the world’s original sketch comedy festival, comes roaring back with a brand new festival for 2019.
This year, SketchFest will bring the best sketch comedians from around the U.S. and Canada and pair them with local favorites. All shows are at Unexpected Productions at the Market Theater – 1428 Post Alley.
And special for this year, two groups that performed at our VERY FIRST SHOW back in 1999 have reunited and are coming back to SketchFest – Kazoo and Disgruntled Bit Players, though there will probably be fewer Y2K jokes this time around.
And if that weren’t enough, SketchFest presents the return of the Comedy Film Challenge at Central Cinema (1411 21st Avenue): Twelve short films, three guest judges, two cash prizes, and one incredibly funny evening. So buy your tickets today!
Schedule
Thursday, September 5 | 8:30 pm
Featuring:
• CheerSpeare!
• Sweaty Dee
• Human Tubes
Friday, September 6 | 7:00 pm
Featuring:
• Sleepover
• A Walking Tour of Mags Corner
Friday, September 6 | 8:30 pm
Featuring:
• Tragic Girl
• Salty Bees
Friday, September 6 | 10:30 pm
A special “Industry Night” performance featuring sketches deemed “too weird, too outrageous, too normal, or just too…something…” from many participating groups, including Sweaty Dee, Darrin Schultz, Nitro Girls, Sleepover, Tragic Girl, and possibly more!
Saturday, September 7 | 7:00 pm
Featuring:
• The “Responsible” “Adults”
• Kazoo
Saturday, September 7 | 8:30 pm
Featuring:
• Matt Hatfield
• Nitro Girls
Saturday, September 7 | 10:30 pm
Special BEST OF THE FEST show, with sketches picked by the SketchFest staff of the first weekend’s best sketches. Can’t come to every show? Well this is the tl:dr for you!
Sunday, September 8 | 7:00 pm
Central Cinema | 1411 21st Avenue
$15 General Admission
The SketchFest Seattle Comedy Film Challenge returns for its 11th year to crown the winner of 2019’s funniest film. Join SketchFest and celebrity judges for an evening of food, booze, and hilarity! Featuring a live set by Seattle favorites Rascals
Thursday, September 12 | 8:30 pm
Featuring:
• Justus Ladies
• Bathwater
• Matt Olson
Friday, September 13 | 7:00 pm
Featuring:
• Matt Hatfield
• Disgruntled Bit Players
Friday, September 13 | 8:30 pm
Featuring:
• Drop the Root Beer and Run
• ChLane
Friday, September 13 | 10:30 pm
A special “Industry Night” performance featuring sketches deemed “too weird, too outrageous, too normal, or just too…something…” from many participating groups, including ChLane, Marv ‘n’ Berry, Monkey and Apple, and possibly more!
Saturday, September 14 | 7:00 pm
Featuring:
• Maple Daddies
• Marv ‘n’ Berry
Saturday, September 14 | 8:30 pm
Featuring:
• The “Responsible” “Adults”
• Bad Medicine
Saturday, September 14 | 10:30 pm
Special BEST OF THE FEST show, with sketches picked by the SketchFest staff of the second weekend’s best sketches. Can’t come to every show? Well this is the tl:dr for you!
Performer Bios
A Walking Tour of Mags Corners
Friday, September 6 | 7:00 pm
New York City, NY
Welcome to Mags Corners, a small town with a big heart! Join Farmer Tom as he guides you through the historic sites of Mags Corners. You’ll meet the Mayor, swim the mighty and deadly Hoosic River, and so much more! Yes, Mags Corners is a magical place, and it is in no way harboring unspeakable secrets, we swear!
Sam Rogel is an improv and sketch comedian in NYC. He has performed Mags Corners multiple times at the Magnet Theater in NYC as well as Philly Sketchfest this past June.
Bad Medicine
Saturday, September 14 | 8:30 pm
Washington DC
Bad Medicine is a team of friends from a political town doing distinctly non-political comedy. With a bent toward the dark and the absurd, Bad Medicine likes to keep audiences guessing with varied styles and formats, with the goal of pointing out the ugliness and the silliness of real life.
Bathwater
Thursday, September 12 | 8:30 pm
Seattle, WA
Bathwater performs all authentic, homemade sketches, where you feel like home, but not any home you’ve ever known. Born from the brains of best friends, Bathwater brings heart to the absurd and joy to the unknown. There are larger than life characters, unlikely friendships, and down-to-Earth life lessons. It’s not your mother’s sketch group, but it’s fun for the whole family.
Forerly Cevin Kostner, Kristine and Cailey have been performing together for over 4 years.
CheerSpeare!
Thursday, September 5 | 8:30 pm
Seattle, WA
The high school cheerleading coach, Miss Jackson, has been given the task of preparing the theater kids for the high school Shakespeare competition by reviewing Macbeth, Henry V, and Hamlet. With no theater experience, Miss Jackson will have to rely on her cheerleading expertise to convince the kids to find their motivation and learn their lines!
Mandy Canales is a solo sketch performer who has also been a part of Seattle sketch groups including CatEye and Diane. She also performs as an improviser with the group Bitches.
ChLane
Friday, September 13 | 8:30 pm
Austin, TX
ChLane is real-life married jerkos Chloe & Lane Ingram. Honed like river rocks over the course of many millenia, this variety show delights in being a two-way mirror of their marriage. They explore sex, relationships, and forbidden desires. You will be turned on. You will be perplexed. You will choose sides. Whether it’s upbeat, honest, sexy, emotional, or yelling, Chlane remains affectionately provocative and are excited to share these skits ‘n’ bits!
Chloe and Lane have been performing together for ten years and have been married for what feels like eons. They studied improv in Chicago (iO & Second City) before coming back to their home state of Texas.
Disgruntled Bit Players
Friday, September 13 | 7:00 pm
Seattle, WA
Disgruntled Bit-Players were something special. Why, folks ‘round here say they could fell a giant redwood with one swing of their mighty axe. They traveled all over this great country, clearing timber and paving the way for settlers. And fast? They were so fast they could blow out a candle and be in bed before it got dark.
Then came the crash. Booze. Pills. Blackouts. DBP threw themselves into a sewer and had a good long swim. When they finally dragged themselves out, well, let’s just say they’d seen things they couldn’t unsee.
So come on down for some good, old-fashioned hilarity…and a whole lotta heart.
Drop The Rootbeer And Run
Friday, September 13 | 7:00 pm
Seattle, WA
Prepare for a stampede of dark whimsy that will indulge you in a fantasy of fast-paced and bizzare, musical, vibrant, surreal, kinetic, and verbose vignettes that will inspire within you cravings for new euphorias you had never before conceived and which you will never fully realize.
Drop The Root Beer And Run has been peddling its bizarre absurdity to the Seattle comedy scene since 2011 and has performed in SketchFest Seattle, Improlympia, LA Improv Fest, The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, Bumbershoot and Vancouver Sketchfest. Featuring members from Love Snack, Smat and Street Trash, DTRBAR is a celebration of dark whimsy that will crawl inside your heart and lay eggs.
Human Tubes
Thursday, September 5 | 8:30 pm
Seattle, WA
Discovery, scandal, a thicc president, rivalries, fire — how do these things all fit together? Why, they all describe the year 1911, of course! Sketch comedy duo Human Tubes will guide you through this year in history. Oft overlooked for “cooler” years like 1969 or 1776, Darrin Schultz and Michelle Leatherby are going to give this cool, nice year the love it deserves…through comedy.
Coming together to perform comedy for the first time since college, Human Tubes will deliver this once-in-a-lifetime, world premiere and final performance ONLY for Seattle Sketch Fest audiences. Crowds will feel as special Hiram Bingham rediscovering Machu Picchu in 1911 after witnessing this weird, goofy time capsule show.”
Justus Ladies
Thursday, September 12 | 8:30 pm
Seattle, WA
Justus Ladies’ show has a refreshing honest female perspective. They have created a show that brings you fearless slice-of-life satire. You will laugh until you cramp, and don’t be surprised if your cycle syncs with theirs.
Justus Ladies’ origin story began in 2018. It was during Sketch Comedy Month at The Pocket when Chrysta, Desirae, Ellen, Jess, and Mary heard a call for louder female voices in the comedy scene. They’ve been creating comedy magic together ever since.
Kazoo
Saturday, September 7 | 7:00 pm
Seattle, WA
Maple Daddies
Saturday, September 14 | 7:00 pm
Seattle, WA
The Maple Daddies are bringing some old favorites and new soon to be new favorites to Sketch Fest 2019! You better gird your loins because this one is gonna sting, in a fun way.
The Maple Daddies have been performing in Seattle for almost three years. They have headlined Seattle Sketch Fest, and just recently performed in Portland Sketch Fest. They are silly, sticky, sappy, and altogether full of that charm that only a sugar-coated father figure can provide.
Marv ‘n’ Berry
Saturday, September 14 | 7:00 pm
Edmonton, Alberta
Marv n’ Berry features sketches that range from the high concept to the low brow, complete with absurd character work, fourth-wall-breaking audience interaction, and silly improvised riffing.
Marv n’ Berry is a Canadian sketch comedy posse from Edmonton, Alberta, consisting of Chris Borger, Sam Stralak, Nikki Hulowski, Quinn Contini, and Mike Robertson. They formed in 2015 at the Bonfire Experimental Improv Festival in Edmonton. Since 2016, they have traveled across North America doing sketch, from Vancouver, BC to New Orleans, LA.
Matt Hatfield
Saturday, September 7 | 8:30 pm
Friday, September 13 | 7:00 pm
Seattle, WA
It’s Matt Hatfield alone on stage, but he’s playing different characters so can you really say it’s Matt Hatfield on stage?
Matt Hatfield has been doing sketch comedy in Seattle since 2011 beginning as a member of “Drop the Root Beer and Run” and breaking off into solo performance in 2016 with “Perfectly Adequate”. In those 8 years he has been a cast member of ComedySportz Seattle, a part of the short-lived sketch supergroup; “Specific Northwest”, he’s produced 3 annual installments of “Halloween Hell Harvest”, made the questionable choice of hosting a late-night talk show with his ex, performed in SketchFest Seattle nearly every year since 2009, as well as comedy festivals in Austin, Boise, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Vancouver.
Matt Olson
Thursday, September 12 | 8:30 pm
Seattle, WA
Are you ready to reach a higher level of consciousness? This potent dose of conceptual absurdist solo sketch comedy will unlock doors to the creamy center of your mind, where the sweetest brain-goos are.
Matt Olson has performed sketch comedy in Seattle since 2011. A member of groups such as Drop The Root Beer And Run and Smat!, he has performed in SketchFest Seattle, SFIT, Bumbershoot, Improlympia, LA Improv Fest, Idaho Laugh Fest, Winnipeg Fringe Fest, Edmonton Fringe Fest, Vancouver Fringe Fest, Vancouver Sketchfest, Chicago Sketchfest, Portland Sketchfest and Montreal Sketchfest.
Nitro Girls
Saturday, September 7 | 8:30 pm
New York City, NY
The Nitro Girls take sketch comedy and hit it with a piledriver that would make their namesake 1997 WCW Divas team proud. See big characters, social commentary that isn’t a bummer, and some folks doubling down on dumb, silly jokes. But don’t be fooled by their upbeat yet dark comedy – they’re all really nice!
The Nitro Girls are a veteran sketch team at the Magnet Theater in NYC, and have performed a weekly show on Friday nights since 2018. Members have been featured on Funny or Die, Hulu, CollegeHumor, McSweeney’s, Huffington Post Comedy, HLN, and more.
Rascals
Sunday, September 8 | 7:00 pm
Seattle, WA
Rascals have been performing together in Seattle for about a year and a half. They’ve performed at Duos Night at the Market Theater, and in the Spectacular! Variety Show and Etch n’ Sketch at the Pocket Theater. They also produced their own show, “Revelry”, at the Pocket Theater.
You can see Rascals at the Comedy Film Challenge on September 8th at Central Cinema. Head over to the Film Challenge page for more info.
Salty Bees
Friday, September 6 | 8:30 pm
Atlanta, GA
The Salty Bees are bringing you an all new satirically salty spectacular. The Atlanta comedians use sketch comedy, personal experiences, and performance art to showcase womanhood in the 21st century. Their unapologetically progressive points of view and off-color humor will have you laughing at all the worst things – in all the best ways.
The Salty Bees, an Atlanta-based improvisation and sketch duo, are Sara Bresee and Courtney Overcash.
Sleepover
Friday, September 6 | 7 pm
Friday, September 6 | 10:30 pm
Seattle, WA
Springtime in West Stanmore is a sketch comedy show set in the fictional town of West Stanmore, comprised of a variety of live and video sketches.
Alex Blackstone and Justina Kolb met in 2015 at Seattle’s Jet City Improv. Sleepover has produced several full-length sketch shows at The Pocket Theater, and have performed in several festivals throughout the US.
Sweaty Dee
Thursday, September 5 | 8:30 pm
Friday, September 6 | 10:30 pm
Seattle, WA
Randy Wood plays the character Jeremiah “Sweaty” Dee, a self-proclaimed lawyer, singer, and expert. He’s a buffoon who attempts to entertain audiences with magic tricks, drum up work for his lawyer business, and give advice on areas in which he considers himself an expert. It’s a highly physical act that’s part standup, part clown, and part karaoke.
The “Responsible” “Adults”
Friday, September 6 | 8:30 pm
Seattle, WA
The “Responsible” “Adults” are a group of questionably-responsible so-called adults with a passion for fun, stupid, positive comedy that frequently dips into the absurd. We try to stay focused on clean comedy that you AND your mom would love. The Adults perform frequently at The Pocket Theater in Greenwood, but have also been seen at Copious, Unexpected Productions, and The PIT in NYC.
Tragic Girl
Friday, September 6 | 8:30 pm
Seattle, WA
She sings Miley Cyrus songs out loud in H&M hoping she’ll get “discovered.” She FaceTimes her Aunt Shelley in the rest stop bathroom. She runs to pilates class eating a handful of refried beans. She’s a Tragic Girl and you’re stuck with her on the Link light rail. Tragic Girl: a comedy show about the most cringe-worthy among us. Tragic Girl debuted at the Pocket Theater and played at the People’s Improv Theater in New York City in June 2019.
Sarah McKinley’s award-winning cast of playful, absurd characters in Tragic Girl makes you feel like you’re at a slumber party with the friend your parents disapprove of.
