THE
BEST OF THE BEST SKETCH FEST 2006
WEEKEND
LOOKS SKETCHY
Wednesday, August 9th, 2006
Grant Butler - Editor Of The A&E
Sketch Fest is just a few nail-biting days away, but
there's little sense of the pressure among members of
Portland's The 3rd Floor comedy troupe.
The ensemble is gathered in the lush Milwaukie backyard of
company member Andy Lindberg for a Sunday evening rehearsal
of sketches they'll present in this weekend's fourth annual
Best of the Best Sketch Fest. Yet this balmy evening, the
only heat is radiating from the setting sun, not frayed
nerves.
Cast member Jordana Barnes gives her toenails a
candy-colored coat of polish; radio personality and actress
Daria O'Neill busily taps out text messages on her cell
phone; and Loren Hoskins is trading sassy banter with
Spencer Conway between belts of Red Bull.
The one person on edge, it seems, is Ted Douglass, one of
the producers of the two-day marathon of laughter, which
begins Friday night at the New Stage at Artists Repertory
Theatre. Among the festival headaches are last-minute
scheduling logistics, the printing of Sketch Fest T-shirts,
and the biggest worry of all for a grass-roots event with
virtually no promotions budget: Will word get out to enough
people for turn-away crowds, or will the jokes play out
before empty seats?
Right now, though, Douglass is sweating out the staging for
a bit about a boozy Irish jig competition. The pacing of
the rapid-fire dialogue between Lindberg and enigmatic
comics Andrew Harris and Kevin-Michael Moore still needs to
be tightened up. And there's the matter of exactly when
Moore should drop his pants and moon the audience.
In sketch comedy, flashing hiney is serious business.
The 3rd Floor's routines will close out this year's
festival, which features 10 other comedy troupes from
around the country. And Douglass asserts that the companies
that are coming to town really do measure up to the event's
hyperbolic name.
"The troupes we have this year are ones we see at festivals
around the country," he says. "And they are consistently
among the top."
Troupes featured this year come from New York City, Boston,
Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, as well as
two Portland companies. The variety should showcase the
range of what sketch comedy can be, as well as what it's
not: Don't confuse it with improvisational comedy, and
don't think for a minute that it's stand-up. Sketch comedy
is theater, complete with rehearsed scripts, elaborate
staging and costumes.
For The 3rd Floor, this year's performance is a chance to
show off some of the troupe's best acts from its 10-year
history and will feature 17 actors.
"It's our favorite stuff from over the 10 years," Douglass
says. "Ten years of doing this -- it's pretty insane."
In addition to The 3rd Floor, here are some of the likely
standouts from this year's lineup:
Cupid Players: A Chicago collective that combines sketch
comedy with musical theater for social and political
satire. Their last performance here in 2004 featured
dynamite singing. 9 p.m. Friday.
MEAT: This all-female New York City troupe has been one of
the highlights of the last two editions of Sketch Fest,
using frenetic energy to skewer gender politics. 10 p.m.
Friday.
The Scramble Bamble: The wild card of the festival is this
free-for-all featuring impromptu collaborations between
sketch comics from all over the country. It's also a chance
for people who aren't in the festival to dish out their
best stuff. Anything goes. 1 a.m. Friday night.
All-American Push-Up Party: Seattle comic Dusty Warren's
one-man troupe is one to watch, according to Douglass:
"He's got the biggest chance of crossing over." 7 p.m.
Saturday.
Troop! One of only three troupes to play all four years of
Sketch Fest (along with The 3rd Floor and San Francisco's
Kasper Hauser), this Los Angeles company is known for
surrealism. 10 p.m. Saturday.
Elephant Larry: This five-man New York company has been one
of the top groups during the past two years, with delicious
send-ups of television commercials and popular culture. 11
p.m. Saturday.
sketchRAWK!
On Thursday night, you can get an early jump on the Sketch
Fest vibe with sketchRAWK!, a special kickoff concert at
Sabala's Mt. Tabor featuring rock performances by sketch
comics who also have flourishing music careers. Expect the
focus to be on music, not humor . . . though -- come on! --
they're comedians. Don't be surprised if some juicy
one-liners slide their way in between the tunes.