Chicago Sketchfest 2010: Sketchtastic
By Julienne Bilker in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 16, 2010 5:15PM
We're sorry to say that last weekend was the first time we'd ventured to Chicago Sketchfest - we had no idea what we were missing. Now in its ninth year, the two-weekend event is the largest sketch-comedy festival in the country. With 113 groups doing 149 shows, it's impossible to see everything. We managed to catch four groups in a Saturday night comedy marathon - if the talent we saw is any indication, you'll want to head to the Theatre Building this weekend.
First up, we checked out The Reckoning, who claim to be Chicago's longest running improv group. These guys presented "Murder He Wrote," a satirical (and scripted) take on "Murder She Wrote" starring Greg Holliman from Strangers With Candy, which was clearly the selling point for us. This group gets an A for appropriate use of a velour track suit, Principal Blackman's deadpan delivery, and generally being hilarious.
Kanellis & Armstrong were next on our schedule - we're sorry to say the duo won't be in this weekend's lineup, and that they call Gotham home, because their show was hands-down our favorite of the evening. Their 13(ish) sketches hit extremes on both ends of the taste and intellectual scales, playing with accents, the audience and the line between funny and incredibly uncomfortable. The range was impressive and the show was structured perfectly - the final three seconds of their last bit literally made us laugh until we cried. The unfortunate thing about comedy is, if we explain it to you, it won't sound funny. Just trust us.
The next stop on our comedy tour: Hard Left Productions. Although their live sketches were cute, the funnier stuff came from their videos. Our favorites: Suicide Baby and Bloody Mary.
We capped off our evening with The Tim and Micah Project, the only group we saw that also performs this weekend. Their show description promised "'fresh ideas,' 'avant garde turtlenecks,' and 'nonsensical' 'precision timed' 'David Lynch fantasies,'" and that's exactly what we got. These are some weird - but funny - people. Their sketches required a bit of thinking - they were certainly clever, but we might have enjoyed them more in an earlier time slot. The fact that our favorite piece consisted mainly of the duo shouting WIZARD DUEL! while doing silly walks speaks to our intellectual capacity at 11:30pm on a Saturday night.
The festival has so much comedy to offer, you're bound to find something you like. If you're a fan of the Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video, grab tickets for Last Call Cleveland. If you don't know what you're a fan of, check out the full lineup and descriptions of each group.