I ended up seeing shows on four of the six nights of the festival, which is much more than I had anticipated. I will attribute my pretty good attendance at the festival to the venues. The Lower Ossington Theatre was a great place to see shows with comfortable seats and great sightlines, and the Comedy Bar provides a good beer selection, and a comfortable spot to hang out before, during and after each show. Also, both venues are really close to my house.
Here are some reviews of the sketch groups that I caught in alphabetical order.
Accidental Company
Because of the scheduling of the festival, I was able to see both Accidental Company sets at the festival. I can honestly say that I enjoyed their second set as much as the first.
The combination of wacky characters and off the wall sketch topics worked really well. Their commitment to characters and obvious rehearsal time made their sketches come off funny and polished. I like Accidental Company because on the surface, their sketches seem like nothing more than dudes in silly situations, but if you look deeper, they do provide a comical take on society without hitting the audience over the head with it. For example, I see their Car Salesman sketch is a commentary on consumerism and how stupid car commercials and the entire auto industry has become. Their Office B-Day Party sketch speaks to crappy, mundane, generic office jobs and the repetition of a days work. And yes, their musical sketch poked fun at how stupid musicals are. Maybe that last one was a bit more obvious than the others.
Favourite Sketches: Did you sleep with my girlfriend? & Office B-Day party
Approximately 3 Peters
I skipped out a couple of times during their set, so only caught a couple of sketches. No real review here.
Nice Work Gentlemen: Mansbridge DVD
Falcon Powder
Falcon Powder is made up Toronto comedy veterans Jim Annan, Kurt Smeaton and Scott Montgomery. Going into the show I expected a lot from these guys since they are all working writers and actors when they are not performing at the Sketch Festival.
Their show started off and followed the narrative of three miners stuck in a mine. The recurring mining sketches with returned throughout the show worked well and were very funny. Simplicity and strong writing really showed through in their show, especially with their Gorilla Airplane sketch, which consisted of Jim and Kurt simply sitting on stage beside each other reacting to a voice over provided by Scott. They showed how much you can really do with very little production and a little imagination. It was a very satisfying theatre experience.
Best Sketch: Gorilla airplane and that one about the guy from Winnipeg who is going to open a restaurant.
Haircut
Both Patrick Smith and Allie Price have quite a presence when they take the stage. Being tall and having lots of energy gets peoples attention. I found their work-out sketch to be more loud than funny, as it wasn’t grounded in any sort of reality that I know. The strengths of their show came in their shorter blackout sketches. Their gonorrhea sketch is very smart and the black light call back was unexpected and very funny. I still enjoy watching their Suburbanite video, as did everybody in attendance. It is a great piece of work.
Their closing sketch where they pulled an old lady up on stage and sang a slutty grandmother song to her was pulled off flawlessly. I hate to say it but the grandmother really stole the show as the entire time I was trying to figure out if she was a plant. Her reaction to the song being sung to her and what was going on around her on stage was really subtle and believable. Good work old lady.
Laugh Out Loud Sketches: Gonorrhea, both Black Light blackouts.
Newstradamus
As their name suggests, their set consisted of a recurring news cast which built up to the end of the world. I found their writing really spoke to the early 20’s, university crowd. The things I found funny back then are different than the things I find funny now, so Newstradamus didn’t really do much for me.
In the sketch that set up the closing deal with the devil, it was very obvious that the deal was going to come back and play itself out in a preceding sketch. When it happened both times, it was no surprise and not funny.
I really enjoyed the simple and effective basement make out sketch. The cast of characters that came in to interrupt the two teenagers was really relatable, based in reality and had a pretty funny blow line.
The many Toronto references that they dropped during their set was cute at first, but then became obvious and annoying. They dropped Hurricanes (the bar), The Taco Bell and Queen and Augusta and Steam Whistle, Canada’s Premium Pilsner. The rule of 3’s didn’t work for them this time.
Good Work On: Acoustic guitar guy and the Tea Party sketch
Peter ‘N Chris
As with the Falcon Powder show, Peter ‘N Chris had the ability to really draw you into their sketches with simple props, good acting and great stage direction. The most compelling sketch was their chase sequence which was one part Terminator 2, and one part The Matrix, all played out on stage, really, really well. As expected their sketches were polished and precise since they have been doing the Fringe circuit leading up to the Sketch Festival.
Laugh Out Loud Moments: Chase Sequence and the Sarah McLachlan impersonation sketch when they described the dog who used it’s front legs as its back legs and its head as its front legs. Fuck that was funny.
Punch In The Box
The three Second City alumni are coming off a successful run at the Toronto Fringe Festival this summer. It was refreshing to see some new material mixed in with the old. Of their new material, their Charity Ladies sketch was the most memorable. We all have that friend who seems to be doing a walk, climb, or run every weekend for some disease, natural disaster or orphaned pigeon. It was great to see somebody take the piss out of one of these charity walks that shuts down the downtown core every Sunday morning.
Leslie Seiler, Ashley Botting and Karen Parker put on a fast paced show that everybody, especially the lady in the front row, ate up on Saturday night.
Best Sketches: Charity walk and gagging war correspondent.
The Majors
Take one part of Deadpan Powerpoint, Approximately 3 Peters, Boiled Wieners and Accidental Company, and you get The Majors. If they were in the NBA, they would be the Miami Heat of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival. What stood out for me in their material was the strong premises that The Majors brought to their show. They answered many questions that I have drunkenly pondered at one time or another. Like what happens to sick kids at Sick Kids Hospital when they get too old to be ‘kids’? Why doesn’t the army that fights the Incredible Hulk change up their strategy for fighting him because they NEVER WIN, and why is my Amatto Pizza always cold? As each sketch started, I found myself intrigued to see which, of many possible directions, they were going to take each scenario.
Favourite sketches: Cold Pizza and 1125%
Todd’s Lunch
Back in the early 2000’s I remember seeing a mini van parked around Toronto with a Todd’s Lunch magnet on the side of it. Every time I saw it I thought one of two things (1) Wow, Todd’s Lunch are really successful since they can afford their own mini van or (2) Wow, those guys sure do borrow their parents mini van a lot. In the past I have heard a lot about Todd’s Lunch since they are one of the more successful sketch troupes out there. Touring across Canada, a couple of times, will get you well deserved cred.
Their sketches are funny but rely heavily on Pat Thornton getting away with shit that nobody else can on stage. He is a funny guy. Tal and Gary carry their own and provide some solid support for Pat. I’m not usually one who goes for silly in sketch comedy, but I have to admit that I enjoyed their set.
Favourite Sketches: Airplane seat & Cirque audition
Upset Triangle
For their set they attempted to have a narrative strung throughout the show, but it didn’t translate. It seems like they brought a whole bunch of material and videos with them from Jersey City and tried to string it all together by yelling at each other between video segments. It didn’t work and at times I felt lost during their set. As far as sketch troups go at the Sketch Fest, they seemed to be out of their league.
Best Sketch: Raptor funeral
