Few things make us happier than seeing (or hearing) all the love Philadelphia’s sketch comedy community has been getting from national comedy festivals and this past weekend at Montreal Sketchfest 2016The Flat Earth added a few more accolades performing in the closing night “Best of Fest” show and winning “Best Newcomer” (a.k.a. The Bag of Beer). Philly Sketchfest congratulates Jacquie Baker, Vincent DiCostanzo, Rich Lee, Adam Siry, Matthew Schmid, Molly Silverman and director, Paul Triggiani of The Flat Earth on all their accomplishments this year (including runners-up for Producer’s Pick at Toronto Sketchfest) and thanks you for putting Philadelphia in the conversation when it comes to sketch comedy.
Now please enjoy this week’s listings, with special attention for the May 20th Philly Sketchfest Presents Showcase at The Adrienne Theater Playground!
A very exciting week for us here at Philly Sketchfest. We have our February showcase taking place this Friday, February 19th with sketch from Spirit Animal & The Flat Earth and stand-up from Alyssa Al-Dookhi at 8:30pm and then at 10:00pm it’s a brand new set of sketch from The Prince entitled, ‘Whole Human, Whole Horse’ directed by Maggy Keegan with stand-up from Joe Bell!
We’re also hard at work behind the scenes sending emails and updating our site in effort to release the names of the groups from Philadelphia & North America who have submitted and been accepted into this year’s 2016 Philly Sketchfest! Once they’re all sent out, we’ll update here. We’ll also be updating to let you know about our festival revue shows that feature both festival performers and up-and-coming local sketch groups! There is simply so much to do and so little time, so let’s get started by telling you about our February showcase at the Adrienne Theater Playground as well as sketch shows taking place all over Philadelphia this week…
Philly Sketchfest Presents – Spirit Animal & The Flat Earth with stand-up from Alyssa Al-Dookhi The Playground at Adrienne Theater – 2030 Sansom Street (1st Floor on left), Philadelphia, PA 19103 Friday, February 19th – Doors at 8pm and Show at 8:30pm / Tickets – $10 Philly Sketchfest is proud to host the two sketch groups who represented Philadelphia at this year’s Chicago Sketchfest, Spirit Animal & The Flat Earth. They’ll be performing their sets, in full from Chicago for this one-night only event! The entire block of comedy will be hosted by stand-up comedian, Alyssa Al-Dookhi who will also perfrom! Follow Alyssa on twitter @TheDookness and her website – thedookness.tumblr.com.
Spirit Animal is the quirky, reference-filled sketch comedy duo of Shannon DeVido & Kristin Finger!
The Flat Earth is a Philly Improv Theater (PHIT) Sketch House Team formed in 2012. They have been accepted into and performed at the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival (2015 & 2016), San Francisco Sketchfest (2015), and Toronto Sketchfest (2015 & 2016). The Flat Earth is Jacquie Baker, Vincent P. DiCostanzo, Rich Lee, Matthew Schmid, Molly Silverman, and Adam Siry. They are directed by Paul Triggiani (Secret Pants).
 # Philly Sketchfest Presents – The Prince’s ‘Whole Human, Whole Horse’ with stand-up from Joe Bell The Playground at Adrienne Theater – 2030 Sansom Street (1st Floor on left), Philadelphia, PA 19103 Friday, February 19th – Doors at 9:45pm and Show at 10:00pm / Tickets – $10 Philly Sketchfest is equally proud to host, The Prince for a full-length show entitled, ‘Whole Man Whole Horse’ directed by Maggy Keegan! Comedian, Joe Bell will be hosting the show and performing stand-up!
Joe Bell is a Philadelphia based comedian. He regularly performs stand-up and is the co-host of ‘Senior Pancakes Drunken Voyage,’ an audience-interactive, stand-up drinking game. He can also be seen performing live comedy as a part of various Good Good Comedy productions such as ‘Eat Your Beats’ and ‘Five Dollar Comedy Week.’ Joe is also an animator, producing shorts that can be seen monthly at ‘The Phone It In Film Festival‘ and his YouTube channel. Fore more, follow Joe on Twitter – @JoeBell.
This week Philly Sketchfest will be taking a look back at the year 2015 through the eyes of the writers, performers, directors and producers that make sketch comedy in Philadelphia a reality. Frank Farrell is one-half of the sketch duo, The Prince with fellow La Salle University graduate, Jamie Glasheen. In 2015, The Prince put up one of our favorite sketch sets of the year, a seemingly minimalist show set entirely in one location (the stage of a grade-school talent show) with barely any costume changes/props and no blackouts. The end result was quite complex. Frank & Jamie seamlessly alternated between characters (and on different nights, they would even trade roles) using single objects as totems/short-hand to communicate information to the audience that would be further revealed through their performance. They play students, teachers, parents, and at one point, Frank plays himself, translating the excitement and vulnerability that comes in attempting to define yourself while at the same time, being defined by others. You can and should enjoy The Prince this Friday night, on New Year’s Day, when they perform their first sketch of 2016 at our Sketch Hangover! Until then, please enjoy what Frank enjoyed in his 2015 sketch year in review…
House of Solitude is the sketch comedy duo of Daniel Corkery & Caitlin Weigel. Some might ask, where do they both find the time though? Dan writes and performs on PHIT Sketch House Team, Goat Rodeo as well as improvising with Triple Double. Caitlin improvises with two acclaimed groups, The Future and the aforementioned Triple Double, directs the PHIT Improv House Team, Outside Voices, teaches improv at PHIT and writes & performs with sketch groups, ManiPedi and Sketchier. Oh, and they have day jobs and a show this Friday night at 8:30pm with The Wire Mothers (NYC) and stand-up comedian, Jake Mattera as part of Philly Sketchfest Presents December showcase. We found a little room in their schedule this week to sit down with us to talk about their origins, if improv informs their sketch writing and some details on their upcoming show, ‘Home for the Holidays’….
While some of you might be lamenting that it’s already December, there is still a ton of sketch comedy to be had before the New Year (and our Sketch Hangover show on January 1st at 10pm). This week, it’s the return of Daring Daulton, The Prince and an anthology of sketches inspired by Start Wars from new duo, Wretched Hive (Jack O’Keeffe and Gab Thom).
Last week the Pope visited the city of Philadelphia. We we warned what would happen to the city. We were told we could leave while there was still time. Then reality set in… there would be no sketch shows while the Papal was in town. With a lack of sketch comedy entertainment, it wasn’t long before the city was torn asunder. Pandemonium reigned with chaos replacing all law and order. The children, covered in the blood of their fallen elders, wept when instead, they should have been validating the existence of sketch writers and performers with their laughter. To the survivors, to those returning, to those who have lost, please enjoy the following sketch shows as we move forward, forever changed by a week with no sketch shows.
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< > Hey, We’re Cool – We Got Drunk and Wrote a Show Thursday, October 1st – 8pm / L’etage – 624 S. 6th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147 / $5 at the door Hey, We’re CoolIf nothing else, Hey, We’re Cool prides themselves on their professionalism. So when they said “Let’s get, like, sloppy drunk and then write a show, and then we have to stick to whatever we wrote for that show, no matter how weird or uninterpretable the ideas are,” they did exactly that.
Promising a bizarre collection of ideas, drunkenly written weeks ago that are now simply bad decisions performed weeks after they drunkenly made them, Hey, We’re Cool has both thrown the gauntlet down and subsequently picked it back up. Drunkly written and soberly performed by Quinton Alexander, Matt Aukamp, Jacquie Baker, Kev Ketner, Chris McGrail, Pat Reber and Matthew Schmid.
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< > People of Interest – Two Year Anniversary Show Thursday, October 1st – 10:30pm / PHIT – 2030 Sansom St. (2nd Floor), Phila, PA 19103 / Tix $8-$10 After you’re finished laughing at Hey, We’re Cool, why not give The Incredible Shrinking Matt & Jacquie a ride across town to Philly Improv Theater (PHIT) so you can watch them perform together in People of Interest! Host Ryan T. Barlow conducts NPR-style interviews with characters created and performed by local comedians. However, the performers have no idea who they will be portraying until they arrive on stage. This month, People of Interest celebrates its two-year anniversary and Ryan T. Barlow will interviewing comedy duos from Philadelphia including sketch duo, The Incredible Shrinking Matt & Jacquie and Improv duos, Proper Dodgy (Rachel Semigran & Lizzie Spellman), Mishegas (Mike Marbach & Kristen Schier) and Something Simple with Alex (Gross) & Frank (Farrell).
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< > Monologues at PHIT + Brought To You By… Friday, October 2nd at 9pm / PHIT – 2030 Sansom St. (2nd Floor), Phila, PA 19103 / Tix $10-$12One hour, two shows.Filmed sketch offers groups an ability to reach audiences outside their locale while also opening up creative opportunities not available in a live format. However, the ability to receive immediate feedback from an audience is otherwise absent. That’s where Brought To You By… fills the gap, premiering new filmed sketches from Philadelphia-area groups in front of a live audience. Hosted & curated by Casey Hogan, Peter Szekeres, and Alex Coffey, the trio also integrate live material in-between videos. This month, videos from Patric Ciervo (Patric Writes Sketches), Andrew Sigwart, and Paul Triggiani (Secret Pants/The Flat Earth).
< > If you’re a comedian with an inclination to film and edit your material, email [email protected] to inquire about having your video featured as part of an upcoming show.
After that, it’s Monologues hosted & curated by Dru Kramcsak. This month’s performers include Kathryn Amrhein (Barbara Bush), Jacquie Baker (The Incredible Shrinking Matt & Jacquie), Josh Higham, Billy Kontostergios, Shelia Masters, Jon Plester (Jon & Ian Have Something To Tell You), Charlie Shulman (People Say I’m Sketchy) and host, Dru Kramcsak.
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< > Know about an upcoming sketch show? Want us to tell people about it? Send your listing to [email protected].
Now please enjoy this week’s listings, with special attention for the May 20th Philly Sketchfest Presents Showcase at The Adrienne Theater Playground!
Then at 10:15pm, it’s the triumphant, one-night only, encore presentation of House of Solitude’s, “A Galaxy Uncherished” with special guests One Idiot from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City, performing in their critically acclaimed, lost play from Tennessee Williams, “What The Horse Saw”.
