The house has gone dark on another SketchFest Seattle, which closed to packed houses this past weekend.
Coverage of this year’s festival may have suffered while we were busy making the comedic ends meet, but the fest went off with few problems. The first weekend saw the return of old friends and familiar faces. Perennial favorite The 3rd Floor came up from Portland, and the clowning duo of Ten West returned from LA. We also saw a rare appearance by renowned San Francisco group Kasper Hauser (on Rob’s birthday, no less) who – a brief stop-over on their Sky Maul tour this past November aside – haven’t attended a Seattle Fest in over five years.
The addition of the beautifully paired whimsy-heavy groups KARLA (LA) and The Cody Rivers Show (Bellingham) rounded out this weekend of current sketch comedy powerhouses.
The second weekend started off with a panic. Sidecar – a new and upcoming group from New York – cancelled at the last moment due to a family emergency, igniting a scramble for a replacement. “Our plane had literally just touched down when we got the call,” said Nate Kushner of fellow New York group A Week of Kindness. The AWoK boys managed to rush to the theater and perform with local horror-themed group THEM! and yet another NYC group, Drop Six.
The “New York Invasion” continued the following night with three-woman group The Apple Sisters – one of the hits of the fest, who charmed audiences with their spoof of 1940s radio variety shows – and Party Central USA, a quirky quartet with a penchant for audience participation.
Offbeat local duo Scarecrow and Mr. Vogt then opened for LA’s Keilly and Roeters – a pink-clad, relationship-skewing two-woman group, whose unspoken third member just happens to be Ted Raimi; the younger brother of Evil Dead/Spiderman director Sam Raimi, but perhaps better known as comic relief character Joxter from Xena: Warrior Princess.
The final Saturday opened with adorable Chicago two-woman group (all-girl invasion?) Girly as well as local pair The Cory and Doug Show in their first full performance.
The evening finished with The Apple Sisters and Drop Six in standing-room-only shows, before terminating in a late-night closing party which this reporter honestly can’t remember most of.
We here at SketchFest HQ want to send a final shout-out to our fantastic volunteers, enthusiastic audiences, and, of course, all of the great groups who came out this year!
And as always, stay tuned here, where we keep our ears to the ground, to hear all the dirt.
