SketchFest NYC is in TWO WEEKS!

If you (heart) New York, AND you (heart) sketch, you'll (heart) SketchFest NYC!

Tickets are now on sale for the Fifth Anniversary of SketchFest NYC, which is only two weeks away:

Individual Tickets: $10

Nightly Passes: $40

Full Festival Passes: $100

Stand-by tickets for individual shows can be purchased by UCB students (with ID) for $5.

A Full SketchFest Pass allows you to see all the shows in the Festival throughout the weekend.

Nightly Festival Passes allow you to see all the SketchFest shows on a given night.

To purchase all tickets and passes online, head over to: http://newyork.ucbtheatre.com/sketchfest/

Questions? Call 212-366-9176

Applications and New Summer Workshop!

Two exciting announcements:

1) SketchFest Seattle is offering a 5-week sketch writing workshop this summer, taught by the one-and-only Mike Mathieu of The Cody Rivers Show. This is an excellent chance to elevate your comedy-writing skills to the next level, or learn what it takes to get started, with one of the best sketch writers around. All levels are welcome. Do it! You know you want to...

See below for details on how to sign-up.

2) Applications are now available for the 2009 SketchFest Seattle Comedy Festival. We are once again searching the

globe to bring the best comedy to Seattle. This year's festival will be Sept. 21-26 at the illustrious Theatre Off Jackson.

Details below.

As always, check out www.sketchfest.org for the latest.

Love you all,

SketchFest Seattle

-------------------------

(1) 5-WEEK SUMMER

SKETCH COMEDY-WRITING WORKSHOP:

Seattle SketchShop

Sketch writer, director, and half of the internationally acclaimed duo The Cody Rivers Show, Mike Mathieu, will lead a five-week course in sketch comedy writing, culminating in an informal performance of new work.

With 4+ years and 150+ sketches of experience, Mathieu has learned a few lessons about comedy writing that elevate material above the formulaic norm.

In this workshop, participants will learn how to brainstorm, write, perform, and tweak a scene while anticipating an audience's needs.

Participants are invited (but not required) to bring any new or in-progress scripts for critique, and will be expected to attend every class, generate new ideas, rewrite, and have a good time.

Seattle SketchShop Details:

• Classes will be on Tuesday nights, 6pm-9pm, from June
• 30th through July 28th, at The Seattle Center
• The five-week session will culminate with an informal performance of participants' work on the final night of class
• Workshop fee is $160 per participant (minimum of five participants, maximum of twelve). Payment is due to secure a spot in the workshop
• If you are interested in participating in Seattle SketchShop please send an email to: info @ sketchfest.org

---------------------------------

(2) SKETCHFEST SEATTLE APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN

Applications are now available for the 2009 SketchFest Seattle Comedy Festival. The deadline is July 1, 2009. Go to www.sketchfest.org for more information and to download an application.

The SketchFest Seattle Comedy Festival is indeed a sketch-oriented comedy festival, but we are also open-minded, and we are seeking innovative comedy of all kinds from around the world. This year we will be accepting applications from any genre of comedy (sketch, improv, stand-up, theater, music) as long as it bears at least some resemblance to sketch (for example: traditional stand-up and improv shows are probably not appropriate, but a stand-up set based on characters and scenes or an experimental hyrbrid improv/sketch show might be). So, if what you got is at all sketch-y, bring it on!

Info: www.sketchfest.org

Spam*O*Rama: Pork-Filled Players, Burlesque, and Ubiquitous They!

Asian American sketch comedians The Pork Filled Players add a dash of burlesque to a special prime time edition of Late Nite Spam-O-Rama, the monthly comedy/music cabaret!

A trio of Seattle burlesque legends - Emperor Fabulous, Atlanta Summer, and Whisper - join PFP and sketch comedy favorite, Ubiquitous They.

Spam*O*Rama

April 11, Saturday, at 8 pm

Theatre Off Jackson

409 7th Ave S. in Seattle's International District

Tickets are still $6 and are available at Brown Paper Tickets
( 1-800-838-3006).

For more information, email oink@porkfilled.com

SketchFest NYC - Application Deadline This Week!

Hi Sketch Fans,

Just a reminder, ALL applications for SketchFest NYC's 5th Anniversary must be in-hand by the end of the day on Friday, March 27th! All groups or individuals, American or International, live or filmed sketch comedy shows are encouraged to apply:

Late Deadline: In hands by Friday, March 27th ($40 application fee)

Head over to www.SketchFestNYC.com, and download an application now!

Week of Fun!

The third annual Week of Fun gets started tonight with:

Cracked Up
Featuring Stranger Gong Show winner Solomon Georgio! (Capitol Club, 414 E Pine St (206) 325-2149 8 pm, all ages, free)

Then continues tomorrow night with something are calling SKETCHBALL!
Featuring the sketch comedy duo “The Cory and Doug Show” followed by the “The Super Mega Art Show”.

(Live Girls Theater, 2220 NW Market, 9pm, all ages, $5)

AWARDS!

The good folks over at CLOG! The Seattle Comedy Blog, recently hosted their first ever Seattle Comedy Awards. The nominees and winners are listed below. Congrats to all!

Best ongoing Alternative Comedy Show
Nominees:
Dart-Mondo (producer: Dartanion London), The Entertainment Show (producer: Travis Vogt & Kevin Clarke), Laff Hole (producer: People's Republic of Komedy)

Winner:
Laff Hole

Best onetime Alternative Comedy Show
Nominees:
Comedy Trainwreck (producer: Corbett Cummins), Rendezvous Election Show (producer: Paul Merrill), Sub Pop 20th Anniversary Comedy Show (producer: Sub Pop)

Winner:
Comedy Trainwreck

Best Host
Nominees:
Brian Boshes, Danielle Radford, Jackson Lowe

Winner:
Brian Boshes

Best "Old" Comic
Nominees:
Brad Upton, Heneghen, Kermet Apio

Winner:
Kermet Apio

Best "Young" Comic
Nominees:
Danniel Linn, Kitty Poole, Ryan Cuddihy

Winner:
Ryan Cuddihy

Outstanding Achievement: Overall Promotion
Nominees:
Next Monsters of Comedy, Pagliacci Pizza Monthly Comedy show, Ron Reid

Winner:
Pagliacci Pizza Monthly Comedy Show

Best "Long Format" Comic
Nominees:
Derek Sheen, Geoff Brousseau, Joey Vespaziani

Winner:
Derek Sheen

Best "Short Format" Comic
Nominees:
Jesse Case, Ross Parsons, Xung Lam

Winner:
Jesse Case

Best off-stage Announcer
Nominees:
Carl Warmenhoven, Chas Roberts, Kevin Hyder

Winner:
Carl Warmenhoven

Emerging Comic Award
Nominees:
Brett Hamil, Nicole Lucas, Solomon Georgio

Winner:
Solomon Georgio

Best Improv Comedy Group
Nominees:
Blood Squad, Dart-Mondo, Jet City Improv

Winner:
Blood Squad

Best Sketch Comedy Group (All 2008 SketchFest Seattle performers!!!!)
Nominees:
Charles, Travis and Kevin (Clarke the Vogt Productions), Ubiquitous They

Winner:
Travis and Kevin (The Entertainment Show/Clarke the Vogt Productions)

Outstanding Achievement: Flyer/Poster Design
Nominees:
Solomon Georgio, Alex Thomas, Ross Parsons

Winner:
Solomon Georgio

Best Musical Comedy Act (Solo or Group)
Nominees:
Becky Poole, Justin Rupple, Reggie Watts

Winner:
Reggie Watts

Best Comedy Writer
Nominees:
Emmett Montgomery, Jeremy Whitman, Paul Merrill

Winner:
Paul Merrill

Best Website
Nominees:
Billy Wayne Davis (billywaynedavis.com), “The Seattle Comedy Blog aka Clog!" (SeattleComedyBlog.com), Sean Ottey (seanottey.com)

Winner:
“The Seattle Comedy Blog aka Clog!" (SeattleComedyBlog.com)

Favorite Character
Nominees:
Sylvester McStain (Paul Merrill), Dan Moore, Jeannett DelMonte (Amanda Lee Williams)

Winner:
Jeanette DelMonte (Amanda Lee Williams)

Best Short Comedic Film
Nominees:
Everything’s Andy (Clarke the Vogt Productions), Manoj (Hari Kondabolu), T Rex Attorney at Law (Pastey Boy)

Winner:
Everything’s Andy

Favorite PBR
Nominees:
Billy Wayne's Living Room Adventure, PBR Party with Kevin and Travis, The Future with Dan Carroll

Winner:
The Future with Dan Carroll

Best Performance in a PBR or Dewars ad
Nominees:
Andy Peters in Everything's Andy, Billy Wayne Davis in Living Room Adventure
Dan Carroll in The Future, Kevin Clarke and Travis Vogt in PBR Party

Winner:
Andy Peters in Everything’s Andy


Male Standup Comedian of the Year
Nominees:
Andrew Sleighter, Billy Wayne Davis, Emmett Montgomery

Winner:
Billy Wayne Davis

Female Standup Comedian of the Year
Nominees:
Jessica Strauss, Lizzy Pilcher, Nicole Lucas

Winner:
Jessica Strauss

Tim and Eric, Japanese Clowns and More!

Do you love sketch comedy, but hate knowing what the hell's going on?  Well, this Monday, SketchFest Seattle and Showbox SoDo will be bringing you Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Adult Swim's surreal and abrasively funny late night sketch show on Cartoon Network.

Congratulations to all our winners of the Tim and Eric contest who won free tickets to the show just by emailing us! Great Job, indeed!

To recieve announcements about future events and contests, sign up for the SketchFest Seattle email list?  I mean, come on, what's one more email list?

Monday January 12th

Showbox SoDo - 1700 1st Avenue South

Adult Swim Presents: TIM AND ERIC AWESOME SHOW, GREAT JOB! TOUR 2009

$25.00 ADV/DOS at Ticketmaster

Doors at 8pm - All Ages

For more information, visit www.showboxonline.com

And as long as we're celebrating weird, this February Sketchfest will be hosting Tokyo comedy duo Shoshinz!

Check out this absurdist comedy team, along side Seattle favorites Ubiquitous They and The People's Republic of Komedy.

SHOSHINZ 

in "We Love You Too"

with Ubiquitous They and The People's Republic of Komedy

Fri. & Sat., Feb. 13 & 14 @ 8:00 

Rendezvous’ Jewel Box Theatre ~ $12

2322 2nd Ave, in Seattle’s Belltown

 

But that's not quite all!  February will also bring The Best of SketchFest Seattle, brought to you by SketchFest and Infinity Live Productions.

The past ten years of SketchFest Seattle have offered a plethora of fantastic sketch groups from Seattle and beyond. For one night only, SketchFest is thrilled to present some of the biggest hit shows from the past several years in one night, an evening of top-notch sketch juiciness not to be missed.  Hosted by one of New York’s hottest up-and-coming stand-up comedians, David Cope (formerly of Seattle). 

Sidecar (NYC): This New York sketch trio has it all: looks, smarts, charm, humility. What remains to be seen is whether they are actually funny. Oh no wait, they are. Like, 'good-looking, smarty-pants, charming and humble sketch show that weaves a bunch of crazy stories and characters together brilliantly' kind of funny. Sigh. They win again... 

Becky and Noelle (NYC/Seattle): Becky Poole and Noelle Romano are crazy. They are also brilliant. This pattern has recurred in history many times, but never to such hilarious effect. If you can explain it with words I'll give you a dollar. 

All American Push Up Party (Seattle): The demented and unspeakably charismatic Dusty Warren performs a character-based solo show that will leave you alternately slack-jawed and convulsive. Good luck.

The Best of SketchFest Seattle

One night only!  

Saturday, Feb. 21 8:00pm ~ $15

Annex Theatre, 1100 E. Pike St. (at 11th Ave.)

For more information: www.infinityliveproductions.com  

Advance tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets

Blogging is HARD!

It's been two and a half months since SketchFest 2008 went dark, and man has it been quiet around here.

Well, we've managed to raise ourselves out of our comedy hangover long enough to let you know about some Decemberesque shows about to hit this sleepy burg.

JOEL McHALE
Sarcastic host of E!'s (Is that math? How the hell do you punctuate that?) The Soup, and alum of Seattle's Almost Live brings his stand up show Thanks for My Pool to the Moore Theater this weekend.

The Moore Theatre
Fri & Sat, November 28 - 29 @ 8pm

THE DINA MARTINA CHRISMAS SPECIAL

I plug this every year, and not without good reason. Dina's bizzar, frenzied one woman (?) cabaret is like a hot buttered rum on a cold winter night.  And by that I mean it sounds really good, but by the time it comes, you're like "WTF is this?"

Nov. 28th - Dec. 31st.
At Re-bar, 1114 Howell St. (at Boren Ave.)
Door opens @ 7pm / Show starts @ 8pm

THE PAJAMA MEN

Are they sketch?  Are they improv? Are they Theater? Who are you?  How did get into my office?  Help!

This comedy duo brings thier internationally acclaimed, high-energy and ... weird show Verses vs. Verses to the Annex Theater this December. A comedy must-see!

Thursdays - Saturdays, Dec. 4-20 8:00pm
Annex Theatre, 1100 E. Pike St. (at 11th Ave.)
$12 Thursdays, $18 Fridays & Saturdays
For more information: www.infinityliveproductions.com
Advance tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets.

Opening Gala and Video Contest Winners!

The opening Gala couldn't have gone better!

The night hosted by People's Republic of Komedy's Kevin Hyder began with Hyder's unconsciously conscientious brand of stand-up, followed by short teasers of the festival's acts, including Slow Children Crossing's team of women scientists investigating the mystery of pickle-jar opening, Assaulted Fish's cultist youth group cookie drive, and a hat made of ham (courtesy of The Birthday Boys).

Next, the SketchFest 2008 Video contest had the audience rolling in the aisles. After a quick audience vote, we found our winners!  See below for the top three video, or click here to view all the finalists!

The show closed with a set by SketchFest favorites The Cody Rivers Show.

Thanks to everyone - performers, volunteers, audience and staff who made this great night of comedy happen.  But don't bail out yet - there's still a lot of fest to see!

The SketchFest 2008 Video Contest Winners:

HONORABLE MENTION (third place)

BEVOLICHER by TROOP!, Los Angeles, CA

SECOND PLACE WINNER

He Said it First by The Public Service Administration, Los Angeles, CA

GRAND PRIZE WINNER

HERPEX by BriTANick, New York, NY

SketchFest Seattle 2008!!!

The opening gala on Wednesday, September 24th is almost sold out.  Get those tickets now!
       
The 10th Annual SketchFest Seattle!

September 24-27

SketchFest Seattle is back once again to thrill audiences with the best comedy from Seattle and across North America with dozens of top-notch performances packed into one amazing weekend.
This year's SketchFest offers:

• An opening night gala featuring The People's Republic of Komedy, The SketchFest Video Contest, and The Cody Rivers Show
  
• Performances from 17 different groups from across North America
  
• Special midnight shows (3pm Beijing Time, Found Magazine Live, and The Sketch Death Match)
  
• The SketchFest Forum on Professional Comedy (free!)
  
• An Incredible Shrinking Ticket price that allows you to see all the shows you want to on the cheap

For more information, visit: www.sketchfest.org.
       
Advanced tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets, by phone: 800.838.3006, or online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/41747.
All shows are at the one-and-only Theatre Off Jackson, located at 409 7th Ave. South, in Seattle's International District.