THE
BEST OF THE BEST SKETCH FEST 2005
SKETCH
FEST = BEST FEST
Thursday,
August 18th, 2005
Justin Wescoat Sanders
Last time I checked, you were a
fan of things that are funny. What can you do? You like the
ha-ha; the ol' side-splitter; the one-two laughamazoo. But
nobody's looking down on you for loving to shake with mirth
so damn much—on the contrary, you're about to get
your comeuppance, Cap'n Laffy Pants! This weekend the funny
folks at Blue Door Productions (home of Portland's great
3rd Floor sketch group) present The Best of the Best Sketch
Fest: two cram-packed nights of nonstop hilarity from 11 of
the best sketch comedy teams in the country. The groups
can't apply or audition for the fest—it's by invite
only, which cuts out the fluff, ensuring that the festival
consists of nothing more than a bunch of really funny
performers, hand-picked by really funny performers. "We've
seen each of them in person," reads a letter from Blue
Door, "and consider them to be... quite simply, the cream
of the national crop."
Unless you live in a steel bubble deep within an oceanic
abyss, you already know that sketch comedy is much like the
stuff you see on Saturday Night Live—except the
goings on this weekend won't be nearly as terrible. Expect
to see delirious fusions of live theatrics and videography
(NYC's Elephant Larry, Friday, 11 pm); an absurd,
puppetry-laden, 1970s blue-collar romp set in a brewery
(Seattle's Flaming Box of Stuff, Saturday, 10 pm); and the
magical, dream-like antics of Portland's favorite comic duo
(or at least my favorite) Hoskins and Breen (Friday,
midnight). Get your laugh on and get it on hard.