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THE BEST OF THE BEST SKETCH FEST 2003


A COMEDY FESTIVAL THAT'S PRETTY SKETCHY, INTENTIONALLY
Friday, July 25, 2003
Holly Johnson - Special To The Oregonian

It's a mouthful to say. "The Best of the Best Sketch Fest," Portland's first national sketch comedy festival, unfolds Friday and Saturday at Artists Repertory Theatre with the energy and scope of a madcap marathon. The event celebrates visiting comedy groups from Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and it's also a chance to see what local companies The 3rd Floor and Hoskins & Breen have been cooking up.

The very titles of participating ensembles pique the imagination. There's Flaming Box of Stuff from Seattle ("creating unique worlds where only brief glimpses are offered"); the four-man troupe Kasper Hauser from the Bay Area; Chicago's Cupid Players, an original musical sketch comedy revue; and Seattle's Bald Faced Lie (regularly featured on National Public Radio's "Rewind").

The festival was inspired by a recent trip 3rd Floor members took to Chicago for the second annual Chicago Sketch Fest, the largest of its ilk with more than 55 participating troupes. 3rd Floor, a sort of revolving-door company for local actors, whose members include Kevin-Michael Moore, Tony St. Clair and Deirdre Atkinson, earned enthusiastic local reviews (as did Hoskins & Breen). The troupe also was praised by members of Second City, the national king of comedy assemblages, which regularly has been the launching pad for "Saturday Night Live" performers.

"The idea for the festival came in part from us developing all these friendships with these different groups," said festival co-producer Ted Douglass, who performs with 3rd Floor. "These were the best groups we were seeing again and again" during participation in festivals countrywide. "So we thought, 'Why not have a festival with groups we've actually seen in person, and know are great?' "

What is sketch comedy? It's not stand-up, with one person at the mike. And it's not improv, where people think on their feet. It's comedy, Douglass says, that tells a story, is scripted, rehearsed and often treated with all the production values of a regular play. 3rd Floor, which has been around for seven years, is "a playground for actors," Douglass says. "Originally there were 10 of us, most came out of Portland State University, and we just kept it going. One of the reasons we've lasted this long is we do have a revolving door."