Categories
News Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia Uncategorized

Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia – May 2nd through May 8th

Yes, you came here to find out what the ‘happs’ are this week for sketch comedy in Philadelphia. But first, we have to take a moment to acknowledge some Philadelphia sketch groups who’ve been accepted into and will be performing in some incredible festivals over the next two weeks. Please join us in congratulating The Flat Earth (PHIT) and The Incredible Shrinking Matt & Jacquie on their acceptance into Montreal Sketchfest 2016 as well as it’s the new., Kathryn & Sarah, Sweetish, and Until Pluto on their acceptance into this week’s Charm City Comedy Festival in Baltimore, MD! If you’re from Philly and looking for an over-night adventure built around supporting sketch comedy from your city, you could make the trip to Baltimore in time to see Kathryn & Sarah (10:00pm) and Until Pluto (11:30pm) on Friday night, Sweetish (4:00pm) and it’s the new. (7:00pm) on Saturday, and then be back in Philly in time for Mother’s Day on Sunday. Or you could stay in Philadelphia and catch all the incredible sketch comedians that are performing this week. Who are they? See below for all the details…

Categories
News Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia

PHILLY SKETCHFEST 2016 CLOSING NIGHT – COMMUNITY EDUCATION CENTER

Tonight is CLOSING NIGHT of Philly Sketchfest 2016 and it all takes place at The Community Education Center (3500 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104)! Please join us and host Nicole Yates for more sketch comedy than is legally allowed in the great Quaker state of Pennsylvania featuring performances from – Until Pluto, Bad Medicine, Goat Rodeo (Philly Improv Theater), Hoagiefist, Baby Steps, Your Mom, Brick Penguin (Dojo Comedy-Washington, DC), Success 5000, The Don’t We Boys (Grand Rapids, MI), The Flat Earth (Philly Improv Theater), Mani Pedi, Secret Pants, Barbara Bush, 2 Humans (Toronto, Ontario) and a very special live podcast taping of ‘My First Sketch with Joshua Higham’ with Dave Hill, Pat O’Keeffe, Greta Wink and Your Mom. Also, we apologize for this inconvenience but Adventure Friends performance has been rescheduled for Friday, May 20th at 8:30pm at the Adrienne Theater Playground. Check out the details below or at our festival calendar here

&nbsp#
my first sketchPhilly Sketchfest 2016 – My First Sketch with Joshua Higham featuring Dave Hill, Greta Wink, Pat O’Keeffe and Your Mom
Community Education Center (CEC) – 3500 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104Sunday, April 3rd at 4:00pm / Tickets – $10
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
Philly Sketchfest Closing Night Show #1Philly Sketchfest 2016 – Until Pluto + Bad Medicine + Goat Rodeo
Community Education Center (CEC) – 3500 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Sunday, April 3rd at 5:00pm / Tickets – $10

&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
Philly Sketchfest Closing Night Show #2Philly Sketchfest 2016 – Hoagiefist + Baby Steps + Your Mom + Brick Penguin
Community Education Center (CEC) – 3500 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Sunday, April 3rd at 6:30pm / Tickets – $10

&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
Philly Sketchfest Closing Night Show #3Philly Sketchfest 2016 – Success 5000 + The Don’t We Boys + The Flat Earth
Community Education Center (CEC) – 3500 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Sunday, April 3rd at 8:00pm / Tickets – $15

&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
&nbsp#
Philly Sketchfest Closing Night Show #4Philly Sketchfest 2016 – Mani Pedi + Secret Pants + Barbara Bush + 2 Humans
Community Education Center (CEC) – 3500 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Sunday, April 3rd at 8:00pm / Tickets – $15

&nbsp#
&nbsp#
Can’t wait to see everyone tonight to close out Philly Sketchfest 2016! – Brian, Curt, and Ben!

Categories
2016 Philly Sketchfest News Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia Uncategorized

The 2016 Philly Sketchfest – Performing Groups Announced!

Philly Sketchfest thanks everyone who submitted to the 2016 festival and congratulates the following sketch groups on their upcoming performances as part of Philly Sketchfest 2016!

Categories
Interviews News Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia Uncategorized

Q&A with Kristin Finger of Spirit Animal

Tonight at 8:30pm, Philly Sketchfest Presents will host sketch from the two Philadelphia groups that performed in the 2016 Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, Spirit Animal and The Flat Earth. The entire event is hosted by comedian Alyssa Al-Dookhi and ticket proceeds will help them recover some of the costs associated with their trip. Philly Sketchfest sat down with Kristin Finger of Spirit Aniaml to talk about their duo’s origins, their experience at this year’s Chicago Sketchfest and their upcoming (and second consecutive) appearance TONIGHT

Categories
Uncategorized

Q&A with Jacquie Baker, Adam Siry, Molly Silverman & Matthew Schmid of The Flat Earth

Tonight at 8:30pm, Philly Sketchfest Presents will host sketch from the two Philadelphia groups that performed in the 2016 Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, Spirit Animal and The Flat Earth. The entire event is hosted by comedian Alyssa Al-Dookhi and ticket proceeds will help them recover some of the costs associated with their trip. Philly Sketchfest sat down with Jacquie Baker, Adam Siry, Molly Silverman and Matthew Schmid of The Flat Earth to discuss what it’s like performing comedy on the road, their experience at this year’s Chicago Sketchfest and their upcoming (and second consecutive) appearance in March at the 2016 Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival

Categories
News Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia

Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia – February 15th through February 21st

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
Template_11x17_vertPhilly 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).

&nbsp#
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
The Prince Whole Human Whole HorsePhilly 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!

The Prince is a sketch comedy duo featuring Frank Farrell and Jamie Glasheen. They were accepted into and performed at the 2014 Philly Sketchfest and have also performed at ‘Hey, We’re Cool‘ at L’etage, Philly Improv Theater (PHIT), and Good Good Comedy.

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.

Categories
News Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia

Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia – January 18th through January 24th

We were delighted to see the news from Toronto this morning that three sketch groups from Philadelphia made it into the 2016 Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival. Please join us in congratulating The Flat Earth, The Incredible Shrinking Matt & Jacquie, and Jon & Ian Have Something To Tell You on their acceptance and then check out the full list of sketch groups participating here. Those of us in Philly won’t have to wait until March to see Jon & Ian though. In fact, you won’t have to wait more than 72 hours and you can find out where to see them along with all of the other sketch in Philadelphia below…

Categories
Uncategorized

Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia – January 11th through January 17th

The new year brings with it the beginning of a new sketch festival season. The world’s largest sketch comedy festival, Chicago Sketchfest, began last week and continues through this Sunday featuring 165 groups, two of which are from Philadelphia; Spirit Animal and The Flat Earth. The Flat Earth will be performing two shows at Chicago Sketchfest’s Stage 773 with performances on Friday & Saturday night. Spirit Animal performed over the first weekend of Chicago Sketchfest and you can see them next as part of Philly Sketchfest Presents February showcase on Friday, February 19th at 8:30pm! We’re also happy to announce that sketch duo, The Prince will be headlining our 10:00pm showcase in February with their brand new show, ‘Whole Man Whole Horse.’ And don’t forget, the 2016 Philly Sketchfest takes place from Thursday, March 31st through Sunday, April 3rd and submissions are now OPEN through January 31, 2015. In the meantime, why not get your new sketches together and head out to this week’s only sketch show, Sketch Up or Shut Up – Philadelphia’s only sketch comedy open mic…

Categories
News Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia

Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia – January 4th through January 10th

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016! Yes, we are still celebrating because there is so much to be happy about. On New Year’s Day we opened up submissions and announced the dates of our upcoming 2016 Philly Sketchfest taking place from March 31st through April 3rd. You can submit here until we close out the submission process on January 31st. We’re also thankful to everyone who came out and enjoyed our January showcase featuring the American Breakfast Reunion Show with Your Mom and our 17 group sketch event, Sketch Hangover – The First Sketches of 2016. Our never-ending thanks to the performers who spent their New Year’s Day with us including, American Breakfast, Your Mom, Adventure Friends, Barbara Bush, Dog Mountain, High Dramma, HoagieFist, House of Solitude, ManiPedi, Mean Wendy Band, Patric Writes Sketches, The Burgundy Boys, The Flannel Chucks, The Flat Earth, The Incredible Shrinking Matt & Jacquie, The Prince, Until Pluto, and WGRA Radio Theatre. Let’s do it again next year! If you missed your first opportunity to see sketch comedy in 2016, you are in luck. There are no less than six sketch comedy shows occurring this week and we can’t wait to tell you about them…

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…