Categories
News Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia Sketch Hangover Uncategorized

2015 Year In Review – Courtney Painter of Barbara Bush and Dog Mountain

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. Every single day of the week, you will find Courtney Painter living and breathing comedy in Philadelphia. She writes and performs with the ‘first ladies of comedy’ in Barbara Bush and this year, was asked to join PHIT Sketch House Team Dog Mountain as both a performer and writer. She’s the lead house manager at PHIT and wrote multiple shows for the Black Friday Comedy Marathon including a sketch show written with the children she takes care as a daytime Nanny along with writing partner, Jolie Darrow. And to think it all started just over a year ago, with a submission to sketch comedy game show, Iron Sketch offering to be in as many groups as we would allow her to work with. She’s that driven and it’s not just talk; Courtney simply does. You can see Courtney tomorrow night with Dog Mountain and the rest of the ‘first ladies of comedy’ in Barbara Bush, on New Year’s Day, as they perform their first sketches of 2016 at our Sketch Hangover! In the meantime, please enjoy Courtney’s look back at Philly sketch in 2015…

Categories
News Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia Sketch Hangover

2015 Year In Review – Kathryn Amrhein of Barbara Bush

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. Kathryn Amrhein is a Philadelphia-based writer, performer and one of the ‘first ladies of comedy’ in sketch group, Barbara Bush. She is also the sole reason that this website exists in a functional and update-able manner. We’re not going to shy away from it. Prior to a few months ago, this website’s home page hadn’t been updated in almost three years. And the sub-pages? Just a mess. When our new production team came on board, this website was our number one priority moving forward. But how do you internet? That’s when Kathryn arrived. Kathryn’s passion for sketch and her talent in web design/coding enabled everything we wanted in this new website with plenty of room to grow. Kathryn’s given a lot, continuing to entertain us as a comedian and working hard in her free time to allow us to celebrate it here. So when you see her, you thank her and you tell her how much you appreciate her talent and hard work. In fact, you can do it tomorrow night when Kathryn and the rest of the ‘first ladies of comedy’ in Barbara Bush tomorrow night, on New Year’s Day, as they perform their first sketch of 2016 at our Sketch Hangover! In the meantime, please enjoy Kathryn’s look back at Philly sketch in 2015…

Categories
News Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia Sketch Hangover Uncategorized

2015 Year In Review – Frank Farrell of The Prince

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…

Categories
House of Solitude News Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia Sketch Hangover Sweetish Uncategorized

2015 Year In Review – Caitlin Weigel of House of Solitude, ManiPedi and Sketchier

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. Without a doubt, Caitlin Weigel is currently the hardest working sketch writer/performer in Philadelphia. Her contributions to the Philadelphia comedy community in 2015 were numerous, inspiring, and continuously raised the bar throughout the year. At the beginning of 2015 her work on ManiPedi’s, ‘Karen’s Dream’ with director, Maggy Keegan put audiences and her peers in a state of delightful awe, pushing the boundaries of what sketch can be and how it’s executed on stage. In May, she paired with her Triple Double partner, Dan Corkery (Goat Rodeo / Alley of Nightmares) creating the sketch duo House of Solitude with their debut show, ‘Together Forever’. Before year’s end, House of Solitude would perform two more shows of brand-new material – ‘Everything’s Fine* in Sicklerburg‘ and ‘Home For The Holidays.‘ Caitlin also wrote, filmed and edited at least one new sketch every month in 2015 as part of her YouTube channel,’Sketchier‘ which featured one of our favorite videos of the year, ‘The Milk & Cookies Show.’ Caitlin’s given us so much in 2015 and now, before House of Solitude and ManiPedi put up their first sketches of 2016 at Philly Sketchfest Presents, Sketch Hangover, she’s giving us her thoughts on all the beautiful and silly stuff she liked in Philadelphia sketch comedy during 2015…