Sketchfest’s broad strokes
Distilling 150 shows down to a more manageable amount
If you don't think BriTANick is funny, they can always be louder.
Sketchfest’s ninth year is no less ambitious than its predecessors: The festival once again brings more than a hundred troupes from all across the country (though mostly Chicago) together to get everyone laughing instead of cursing another Chicago winter. Just like last year, even a cursory look at the math—a hundred-plus troupes performing 150 shows on Theatre Building’s three stages for two consecutive Thursdays through Sundays—means that at some point decisions will need to be made and you’ll have to miss seeing some groups in favor of others. To help ease your indecisive suffering before the whole thing gets rolling on Jan. 7, The A.V. Club humbly submits this list of sketch troupes that you shouldn’t pass up.
Should you choose to experiment blindly, visit chicagosketchfest.com for the complete schedule; all performances take place at 1225 W. Belmont Ave. Tickets are $12.50 per show and passes for the entire festival run $150.
THURSDAY JANUARY 7
8pm, North Theatre
365 Sketches
Don’t be alarmed: Second City alumnus Joe Janes’ show at Sketchfest will not attempt to squeeze 365 sketches into a single half-hour. Word spread slowly through the improv and sketch communities earlier this year when Janes boldly set out to write a sketch a day. Obviously, with any artistic endeavor like this, there’s sure to be some clunkers among the gems. That’s why Janes is presenting the “10 that didn’t suck.” If you don’t have the patience to sift through his tireless work online, showing up to see the results of Janes’ commendable work ethic is easier than, well, writing a sketch every damn day.
FRIDAY JANUARY 8 AND SATURDAY JANUARY 9
10pm, West Theatre
Pangea 3000’s official bio on Sketchfest’s website simply reads, “fart humor,” so it’s not that shocking that the UCB New York group proudly leaps headfirst into toilet humor. But this isn't the sketch equivalent of violently bursting a whoopee cushion—in fact, the troupe's pedigree is relatively highbrow, its membership consisting of contributing writers for McSweeney’s and something called The Onion. Still, there’s no denying that these performers celebrate something we all know deep down to be true: Farts are funny. You might think you’re too smart for this sort of stuff, but give Pangea's “Spelling Bee” sketch a whirl and you’ll probably be disproven of that notion.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 9
8pm, North Theatre
Whether you only started paying attention to beloved iO improv troupe The Reckoning after member Pat O’Brien was unsurprisingly plucked to write for Saturday Night Live last August or you have a standing order for tickets for the group's weekly shows, seeing it in a new space performing scripted material is a no-brainer. Said script is also a satire of Murder, She Wrote with Strangers With Candy’s Greg Hollimon in for the Angela Lansbury role, appropriately named Murder He Wrote. The Reckoning has performed this show in a limited run at its home theater, so but that's no excuse to miss it here.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 15 & SATURDAY JANUARY 16
9pm, West Theatre
UCB New York group Rue Brutalia pokes fun at domesticity and aging through sketches and videos wholly reminiscent of The Kids In The Hall—no small feat for a duo. Jon Pack’s and Jason Kalter’s videos exhibit a high level of expertise, mixing animation and documentary style, which makes sense considering they were originally intended as a web series. One of Rue's most popular videos, “Stinky Marmalade: Sunny Day Sing-Along,” is essential viewing, a faithful and creepy re-creation of the awkward strangeness of old-timey children’s cartoons.
FRIDAY JANUARY 15
10pm, West Theatre
After winning the 2007 jury prize for best sketch comedy at the now-defunct U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, L.A.-based sketch group Summer Of Tears has built a solid following through national live shows and videos like the super-popular "Teen Wolf." The video shows these self-professed nostalgia geeks inserting themselves as freaked-out high-school students into the classic Michael J. Fox film to maximum effect. SOT appears here for the first time onstage since June and on the heels of selling its screenplay Beat Kip (written by group members Todd Waldman and Rob Kerkovich).
FRIDAY JANUARY 15 & SATURDAY JANUARY 16
11pm, South Theatre
The A.V. Club isn’t much for hyperbole, but New York duo BriTANick’s performance at last year’s Sketchfest was nothing short of utterly brilliant. Where some troupes lazily throw up the obligatory video sketch to either buy time to catch their breath or change into elaborate costumes, BriTANick effortlessly wove a grand tale involving time travel (which entailed seamless interaction between the performers and their onscreen versions in the future), inept scientists, and something called a "slide-whistle penis.” This lasted for an entire show, and that it never felt gimmicky, lazy, or tiresome means that whatever BriTANick has planned this year will likely be nothing short of utterly brilliant.
