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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…

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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…

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2015 Year In Review – Daniel Corkery of House of Solitude and Goat Rodeo

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. Daniel Corkery has improved the quality of sketch in Philadelphia on multiple levels. His work as a writer and performer on Alley of Nightmares brought immediate attention to Philadelphia’s sketch scene with the show being accepted into the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre’s SPANK series and the 2014 Toronto Sketchfest. Fresh off the success of ‘Alley,’ Dan was brought on as a performer for PHIT Sketch House Team Goat Rodeo and quickly found himself contributing to the writer’s room. When asked, his peers unanimously agree that Dan is the smartest mind in the room. Recently, Daniel has taken his talents and applied them to animation creating sketches that serve as both web content and interstitial transitions for House of Solitude’s live shows. You can see Dan and Caitlin’s sketch group, House of Solitude, tomorrow night, on New Year’s Day, as they perform their first sketch of 2016 at our Sketch Hangover! In the meantime, please enjoy Dan’s look back at Philly sketch in 2015…

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2015 Year In Review – Nicole Yates of DidjaEat? and Fighting Burrito Comedy

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. Nicole Yates is a stand-up comedian, co-creator of the Black Friday Comedy Marathon at Philly Improv Theater (PHIT) and since 2010, the host of the popular ‘foodie’ blog and podcast, DidjaEat?. It would be an understatement to note that Nicole is a fan of sketch comedy. She has been instrumental in not only bringing Philadelphia stand-up and sketch comedians together but also their audiences. Whether she’s performing stand-up as an opener at sketch shows or featuring sketch writer/performers as guests on her Fighting Burrito Comedy shows, we’re extremely thankful for her support of sketch comedy as part of the Philadelphia comedy community. And if we know Nicole, she’ll likely in attendance tomorrow night, on New Year’s Day, to see 17 Philadelphia-based sketch groups perform their first sketch of 2016 at our Sketch Hangover! In the meantime, please enjoy Nicole’s look back at Philly sketch in 2015…

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2015 Year In Review – Aaron Nevins of Hang On! and Good Good Comedy

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. Aaron Nevins is so many things; a performer, host, writer, creator, producer and thankfully, a supporter of comedy in Philadelphia. As host of the interactive talk show, Hang On! he enabled audiences to share status with his guest comedians to hilarious and unexpected results. Along with his production partner Kate Banford, he introduced Philadelphia to Five Dollar Comedy Week, a low cost, high-concept week of comedy shows that begat their latest endeavor, Good Good Comedy. With productions that take place across the cities venues such as Plays & Players Theater, Underground Arts, Vox Populi and PhilaMOCA, there are now more opportunities for sketch comedians to perform their material in Philadelphia and for that, we are thankful. In Aaron’s review of sketch comedy in 2015, one show in particular group from The Incredible Shrinking Matt & Jacquie stood out for him. You can see Matt & Jacquie this Friday night, on New Year’s Day, when they perform their first sketch of 2016 at our Sketch Hangover! In the meantime, please enjoy Aaron Nevins’ appreciation of ‘Sketch Comedy’…

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2015 Year In Review – Patric Ciervo of Patric Writes Sketches and Until Pluto

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. Patric Ciervo is making it known that he writes sketch comedy. No, not just because the name of his group is Patric Writes Sketches, although that does help. Rather, Patric is carrying the weight of writing material for two distinctly different sketch groups; the aforementioned Patric Writes Sketches and Until Pluto, a narrative-driven, sketch comedy collaboration with writer/performer Peter Gerbron. It’s also proving quite successful for Patric. This year, Patric Writes Sketches was accepted and performed at NYC Sketchfest at The People’s Improv Theater (The PIT) and Until Pluto performed two new shows of brand new material; a sketch murder-mystery-who-done-it entitled, ‘Bill Melchior Is Dead’ at PHIT and a rewriting of history in ‘Still Not A Better World’ as part of Philly Sketchfest Presents. Patric’s dedication to the craft of sketch comedy is seen not only in his work ethic and output, but also in his support of the entire Philadelphia comedy community. His commitment is admired by his peers and his comedy is being enjoyed by audiences both in and outside of Philadelphia. Don’t miss your opportunity to see both of Patric’s sketch groups this Friday night, on New Year’s Day, when they perform their first sketches of 2016 at our Sketch Hangover! Please enjoy Patric’s 2015 sketch year in review…

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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…

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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…

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Sketch Comedy in Philadelphia – December 28th through January 3rd

This week marks both the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016. With that in mind we’ve decided to celebrate both the old and new with two shows on New Year’s Day, Friday, January 1st as part of our Philly Sketchfest Presents January showcase. First at 8:00pm, it’s the American Breakfast Reunion Show with special guests, Your Mom. Then at 9:30pm it’s Sketch Hangover, an outright cavalcade of Philadelphia sketch groups as 17 troupes perform their first sketches of the year to kick off 2016. While these are the only two sketch shows in town this week, a rumor we’re starting right here has it that there will be an announcement of substantially sized proportions happening right here at www.phillysketchfest.com regarding the dates of March 31st through April 3rd. Until then, join us Friday night and BYOB for the following sketch shows…