THE
BEST OF THE BEST SKETCH FEST 2007
SIMPLY
THE BEST
Only the Best Are Invited to the Best
Comedy Sketch Festival
Thursday,
July 12th, 2007
Alison Hallett
The first national Sketch Fest
was held in Seattle in 1999, conceived both as a showcase
for touring sketch comedy groups, and an opportunity for
sketch comics to meet, network, and show off. Each year
since, the concept has grown in popularity, as other cities
quickly jumped on the bandwagon. Sketch comedy festivals
are held in most major cities these days—and a few
less-than-major cities as well. In addition to solidifying
a community of sketch comics—and attracting a level
of visibility that draws audiences to shows they might not
otherwise attend—the festivals can serve as a
launching pad for careers in television and film, as
comedians hope that their work will be seen by producers or
agents. The Chicago Sketchfest is the biggest, and perhaps
the most well known, of the fests, in large part because
the city has a reputation for turning out successful
comedic talent: Chicago is the home of the Second City
comedy troupe, from which Saturday Night Live regularly
draws members.
Most of these festivals accept applications from any
touring sketch comedy troupe. Portland, however, does
things a little differently.
Unlike Chicago or Los Angeles, Portland isn't known for
having a large "industry" presence; what we are known for,
perhaps not coincidentally, is having some of the smartest,
most appreciative audiences in the country (go ahead, pat
yourself on the back, smarty pants). When members of
Portland's 3rd Floor comedy troupe decided to start a fest
here in town, inspired by a trip to Chicago Sketchfest,
they realized they needed something other than the promise
of industry attention to lure touring troupes to Portland.
This realization coincided with a feeling that the
open-application process used by most sketch festivals
wasn't selective enough; that just because a group could
pull together a video clip for an application didn't
necessarily mean they would be funny live. The 3rd Floor
hit on the idea of a more exclusive festival that would
bring only the best to Portland. Hence the name: Best of
the Best Sketch Fest, now in its fifth year.
Unlike other festivals, Best of the Best is invite
only—every act on the bill has been seen by members
of the 3rd Floor, and presumably made them laugh pretty
hard. 3rd Floor founding member Ted Douglass explained the
requirements for an invite: "You are active on the sketch
circuit. We've seen you live. We love you." This
exclusivity gives the Portland festival a cachet that draws
top talent, despite the fact that we're not exactly known
as a launching pad for careers in film or television.
If you're curious about the festival, but are scared to try
new things, a quick Google search on any of the following
troupes will turn up a dizzyingly diverse handful of
YouTubes and video clips, ranging from acerbic to manic to
surreal.
"There's no true definition of 'sketch comedy,'" Douglass
told me. "I can say 'really smart' about all the groups in
the show"—other than that, the only thing these
groups have in common is that they will probably make you
laugh very hard."
It's important to note, too, that sketch comedy is not to
be confused with improvisational comedy. Everyone knows
what improv is—fast, off the cuff, occasionally
hilarious, and definitely hit or miss. Sketch comedy is a
different animal altogether. It's unfortunate that the word
"sketch" implies something that is hastily drawn, because
sketch comedy often has more in common with traditional
theater than with a game of Party Quirks: Scenes are
scripted, rehearsed, and presented with varying degrees of
theatricality. And if you've never seen it live, you're
missing out—the energy and intelligence that bristled
through last year's festival made it one of the highlights
of the summer.
This year's show features eight troupes from across the
country, several of which have performed in previous
festival years.
FRIDAY,
JULY 13
SLOW
CHILDREN AT PLAY, 8 pm
When Googling Slow Children at Play, the first
hit is for a website run by a guy who works at a group home
for "boys who have had the misfortune of being born to
crack whores, carnies, perverts of all kind, white trash,
and gang bangers." I spent some time on this page trying to
figure out if I was being outsmarted by a too-clever comedy
troupe, but eventually realized I was just on the wrong
website. Slow Children at Play hails from Boston
University, and this seven-person "sensual sketch comedy
troupe" has taken some time out from their summer vacation
to revisit Best of the Best, where last year their show
packed the house.
THE CODY
RIVERS SHOW, 9 pm
The Cody Rivers Show is two
men, neither of whom is named Cody Rivers, who hail from
Bellingham, Washington (apparently a hotbed of comedic
awesomeness. Seriously! Don't scoff.). Lindy West at the
Mercury's sister paper, The Stranger, had this to say about
their show: "The sketch comedy duo of Mike Mathieu and
Andrew Connor creates and performs intellectual,
blazing-fast, highly conceptual theater that's so bizarre
and charming and unselfconscious that you can't quite
comprehend what you're looking at. Like a baby giraffe.
Like a baby giraffe wearing a monocle and giving you a
high-five."
MEAT, 10
pm
If
fountains of blood- and gore-stained butchers' aprons are
your scene, then New York City's Meat are the ladies to
watch. Invited back for the fourth consecutive year, Meat
is a slightly deranged four-women troupe whose new show,
Camp Blood, promises to be so blood soaked that you "might
not want to sit in the front row."
SCRAMBLE
BAMBLE, 11 pm
Scramble Bamble is a "comedy
free-for-all" in which any sketch comic present, whether
they're in the fest or not, is invited onstage to perform.
Basically, it's a chance for comedians to cut loose and
show off, sans the pressures of producing a full-fledged
show. And it's free.
SATURDAY, JULY
14
DARK EYED STRANGERS, 8 pm
Dark Eyed Strangers are a four-person troupe
including former Portlander/3rd Floor member/Drammy winner
Tony St. Clair (even moving away from Portland isn't enough
to escape the incestuous web this town weaves). The Dark
Eyed Strangers take a theatrical, character-based approach
to comedy, featuring "heightened production values and an
array of dramatic conventions rarely utilized in sketch
presentations." It took me 20 minutes to find their
website, because it's disguised as a swingers' site and I
was afraid to click the link that read "i am curious: dark
eyed strangers." Clearly, these people are much smarter
than I am, and from all accounts they're pretty funny, too.
KARLA, 9 pm
Karla is a two-women troupe currently residing in Los
Angeles, though they have roots in the Chicago scene.
Douglass described Karla as simply "one of the most
brilliant shows I've seen in years" and, after seeing them
perform in New York, invited them out to Portland on the
spot.
THE WEEKLY ARMENIAN, 10 pm
Douglass described Bryan Coffee's Weekly Armenian to me in
a tone of voice that bordered on reverential. The one-man
show features Coffee (a founding member of the 3rd Floor
who now lives in LA) interacting with a variety of
characters—none of whom are actually onstage, since
it is a one-man show. The Weekly Armenian has the added
advantage of being directed by John Breen, arguably the
funniest man in Portland, who rocked last year's fest by
bringing along a live mariachi band.
THE 3RD
FLOOR, 11 pm
The 3rd Floor should need no introduction: They've been
local stalwarts since 1996, winning raves in these pages
and others for their smart, literate brand of comedy. With
650 finished sketches under their belt, and something like
37 alumni, the 3rd Floor is handily Portland's premier
sketch comedy troupe, touring frequently in between selling
out shows here in town. The 3rd Floor has also
single-handedly put Portland on the sketch comedy map; in
addition to organizing the Best of the Best, they have
recently taken to hosting guest performances from touring
comedy troupes after their own shows, giving Portland
audiences a chance to experience what's going on in the
rest of the country. Their larger-than-average cast (six to
eight people, on average) distinguishes them from other
groups, but it also works to their advantage: As Douglass
put it, "If something made that many cast members laugh,
it's a keeper." Their performance at the festival is also
their 11-year anniversary show, and they'll be inviting
alumni from all 11 years to join the current cast in
performing classic 3rd Floor Sketches.
Tickets for Best of the Best are $10 per show, $32 for four
shows, or $49 for a festival pass—and you might as
well just go for the pass, because once you get there you
probably won't want to leave. And get there early, because
many of last year's shows sold out.
"Portland audiences are a large part of why troupes come
here," Douglass told me. "They know they'll be
appreciated." Prove the man right, and show these comedians
some love—you won't regret it.
Best of the Best Sketch Fest, Artists Repertory Theatre,
1516 SW Alder, Fri July 13-Sat July 14, 8 pm, $10 per show,
first come first served, bestofthebestsketchfest.com