SKETCHFEST
NYC 2009 RECAP
Danel Lehman
...The
3rd Floor fed me a pancake (more on that later) -- but not
before waging a mariachi battle and disposing of some
incriminating evidence...
During
the Friday night performance by long-running Portland, OR
troupe The 3rd Floor, my front-row seat inadvertently gave
me a supporting role in the show. (Remember I told you I
ate a pancake? More about that right now.) The scene began
innocently enough: A very diligent chef tries to prepare
the perfect stack of pancakes. But when two 3rd Floor
members placed a little table in front of my stage-side
seat, I knew I was in trouble. Then came the plate and
napkin, the fork, the syrup, and the stack of fluffy
pancakes. A bib was nicely tucked into my shirt and butter
was spread over my pancakes.
All of this while being watched closely by five funny guys
and a roomful of attentive fans. All I could think was, "I
hope I don't get in the way while these dudes are trying to
be funny." I guess I was in good hands though, because when
I hesitated to eat my meal, The 3rd Floor collectively
created a tunnel for a fork-and-pancake choo-choo train to
make its way towards my mouth -- and how could I resist a
choo-choo train pancake bite? (It didn't taste too bad,
either.) I can't say my cameo got the biggest laugh of the
night, but, well, I can lie and say it might have.
Back Stage is proud to have been a sponsor of the fifth
annual Sketchfest NYC. Can't wait for another Sketchfest
NYC next year!
MORE
FLESH FROM SKETCHFEST
Jeff Kreisler
...The 3rd Floor (Portland)
Here's where the potentially too insider feel of the
SketchFest reared its head. When these guys were
introduced, there was just a smattering of applause. Almost
every other act got a thunderous reception, usually led by
the back of the room (i.e. where the other comics are).
Come on, people. Support 'em all, or don't book 'em at
10pm.
Nonetheless, these guys were really great. Perhaps more
than any other group, this was a show, rather than a
collection of sketches., from opening credits to final
scene. There was a continuous story line that skipped above
the surface of each sketch, never intruding, but always
present. They were able to do pieces that were seemingly
unrelated, but still fit into the whole. Clearly a lot of
work went into it.
Highlights: The pancake sketch (defined characters,
excellent use of subtlety), the transitions were well-paced
and creative (except, of course, for the one right after I
wrote down "good transitions"), commitment, energy, and a
nice solid ending.
Meh: A couple sketches started coming down with SNL too
long disease, and the panty ninja sketch, while funny,
seemed a little unnecessary. We like you guys, don't make
us gag.
Some other trends we're noticing: 80s music (especially the
Phil Collins-esque stuff), lotta talent, lotta 20-something
dark haired white guys....
RECAP:
HIGHLIGHTS FROM SKETCHFEST NYC
Matthew Love
Absurdity governs all
aspects of human life, and proving it is easy. All that's
required is three free evenings and a pass to Sketchfest
NYC.
While laughing to the point of exhaustion at the
five-year-old comedy festival—which took place last
weekend at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre—a
cumulative portrait of humanity as something wholly
ridiculous began to take shape. Some highlights, and
convincing proof of our essentially nonsensical nature,
from the weekend...
...An awkward yet confident man stood cooking three
pancakes on a griddle to a Sinatra rendition of a Christmas
carol. Satisfied with their quality, he stacked the
pancakes on a plate as a crowd of helpers plunked a tray
down in front of one lucky audience member, who was then
fed, weirdly, by members of the group The 3rd Floor....
SKETCHFEST
NEW YORK CITY 2009 WAS AWESOME!
Conzalo Cordova
So this past weekend,
Sketchfest New York took place, and it was amazing. The
event was held at the Upright Citizen's Brigade theater,
running from Thursday through Saturday. Over the course of
those three days, over twenty shows were held, involving
over 27 sketch groups and performers. It was really great
fun!
I've been struggling how to write a post about all the
weird, different, interesting, hilarious, and mind blowing
shows I saw without it sounding like a very long rant. It's
literally too much show for too little post!
If you missed it, official Sketchfest photographer Tracey
B. Wilson (i.e. not me and my crappy cellphone camera) took
pictures of the entire event and was nice enough to share
them with us. So now you can experience the joy, the magic
and the fun, while not actually experiencing any real joy,
magic or fun. That's what the future is all about!
One of the biggest shows of the entire event was Kevin
McDonald's one man show, Hammy & the Kids. It was
surprisingly personal. For example, did you know his father
was a raging alcoholic who never approved of McDonald and
his career with The Kids in the Hall? The more you know!
Kristen Schaal performed solo. Apparently Kurt Braunohler
was being Braun-AWOL-er (sorry!). She was really funny
though! First, she came on stage dressed in red show dress,
and performed a fun dance for us.
When she caught an audience member taking video of her
dance with his digital camera, she called him up on stage,
reprimanded him, made him dress up in an orange jumpsuit
and forced him to carry her around to Britney Spears's
"Toxic"… sometime during this routine it dawned on
me that the poor gentlemen was actually a staged performer
and not a real hapless victim of Schaal's absurd whims.
Team Submarine came out, throwing hard candy into the
audience (it kind of hurt when it hit me. I'm going to sue
for millions!), and then they dug into their bag and
started giving out free bread, but they didn't stop there.
They gave out bananas, potatoes, TiVo's, a laptop, a
bicycle, a ladder, and skis as presents to the confused and
excited audience.
After they gave everything out, they paused for a second,
looked out at the audience, and promptly asked for all the
items back. GENIUS! At least one banana was not returned,
but it's okay, because apparently they got on extra potato
back, so it evened out.
Rue Brutaglia was really funny. Piggyback rides are always
hilarious.
Harvard Sailing Team was there. They sang some songs and
performed some sketches. The best was when they mimed the
instruments to the Home Improvement theme song.
Pangea 3000 ordered some ribs and ate them on stage in
front of us.
They then ended their show with a rocking live song. Our
very own Eric March tickled the ivories during their
performance!
The Apple Sisters wore watermelons as fashion accessories.
I just realized how insane all of this sounds out of
context. It was pretty insane in context too.
And finally, The 3rd Floor murdered somebody.
So, basically, in
conclusion, I had tons of funs and LOL'd all night along.
If you didn't attend Sketchfest, I am going to pray that
you don't kick yourself too hard and too fast, thereby
causing your foot to explode. You're going to need that
foot for walking to Sketchfest next year.
SKETCHFEST
2009
TAKE 3: THE DRAW OF THE
ARTISTS
As part of the fifth
anniversary celebration of SketchFest, thirty-four
different groups converged at the Upright Citizens Brigade
Theatre. Each night, New York audiences experienced the
absolute best sketch comedy North America has to offer...
...The crowd went crazy this year for The 3rd Floor
(Portland), pictured left. Their fifth year performing at
Sketchfest, this group is so unique, special, and unlike
anything I’ve ever seen before! The best reviewed
show in their history, “The 3rd Floor XXVI,”
not only had a great production value (music throughout and
DRY ICE!!!), but I couldn’t believe quite what I was
seeing. It felt as if I was having some new comedy
experience and watching something truly unique and
exceptional.
The most amazing sketch of the entire evening was the Andy
Kaufman-esque Chef who flipped pancakes while lip synching
to The Drifters version of “White Christmas.”
There was just something about this character that was so
engaging, that captured some hilarious human essence, and
then THEN the moment before the audience might have
wondered where this was all going, more chefs emerged to
set up a breakfast table for a lucky audience member. The
pancakes were placed on a plate before him, the syrup was
poured, the pancakes were cut and fed to him, and the
audience started screaming! SCREAMING!
(*Insider Info – in rehearsal the original griddle
actually caused a wire to short circuit so most of
backstage and the “Chill Room” was in complete
darkness for two days. As a result, the pancakes had to be
pre-made and not actually prepared live on stage as
originally intended.)
From the Nick Wind Show, to the dancing to The Rockford
Files Theme, to the Mariachi band singing Extreme’s
“More Than Words,” Portland is extremely lucky
to have such geniuses walk amongst them!