SketchFest 2010

Beneath the “SketchFest” sign made of Red Bull cans and a gigantic Chipotle burrito, hundreds of laugh-lovers packed into the Theatre Building lobby all weekend to catch Chicago’s (or the country’s) premiere sketch comedy event. The caffeinated and caloric sponsorships couldn’t be more appropriate – SketchFest takes energy! Most festival staffers double as performers and work around the clock to launch 149 acts to the stage in two Thursday thru Sunday weekends. And audiences too put in some long hours to soak up all the funny. SketchFest appreciates the effort, and on Saturday night we capped off a great evening of comedy with one thing we at Cheeky adore: a huge spread of complimentary food.

Food. Yum. Now that we have your attention, let’s talk entertainment. SketchFest celebrates a diverse collection of performers, from well-established comedians to emerging artists who’ve been hand-picked for their promise. We kicked off Saturday night with Heavyweight, a group that falls into the former category. Brady Novak, Nick Vatterott, and Mark Raterman expand on ideas from their respective stand-up comedy routines when creating sketches together (see a great explanation of their creative process here). They had us in stitches, especially in a sketch about the first-ever game of baseball.

To venture beyond Chicago artists, we checked out New York-based Pangea 3000, whose members contribute to The Onion. Their festival bio contains two words – “fart humor” – and the group does live up to this promise in a sketch that finally unites two longtime staples of comedy, the fart and the spelling bee. In an imaginative, prop-heavy, multi-media show, we were particularly tickled by a simple “non-sketch” moment, in which Dan Klein read aloud a letter that fellow cast member Arthur Meyer wrote as a child to Bob Saget. The show had some slow moments, but overall the ideas and delivery kept us laughing, and we recommend keeping an eye on these guys.

Another great thing about SketchFest is the surprise discoveries. Most time slots feature two acts, so you’re likely to stumble upon something unexpected for the price of admission to the group you came to see. This happened on Sunday when we checked out W.A.S., a hilarious act based on washed-up former members of a 90’s girl band. We know these performers well and had a great time, as expected, with their uber-cheeky characters and brash delivery. What we hadn’t anticipated was Ruby Weapon, whose raucous, slapdash show featured hip hop, an animated history of the apocalypse, big dance numbers, the most emo rap battle ever, an original cat video, and a dude in tiny pink shorts singing Seal to a gorilla monster while backed up by a live orchestra. A far cry from the precisely-crafted comedy of more purist sketch groups, but a damn good time.

We could go on about highlights from the first week, but let’s look forward the next and final week, which runs this Thursday (1/14) thru Sunday (1/17). Be sure to check out our picks here. We caught the ever-charismatic Tim and Micah on Saturday and recommend catching their next show (1/15, 8 pm) for its whimsical mix of cerebral humor and goofy shenanigans. We also caught buzz on more female groups sure to cheekify your SketchFest experience: Laura on Laura (1/14, 9 pm) features Laura Grey from the Second City e.t.c. stage; Gretchen & Regina (1/17, 2:30 pm) perform funny folk songs on acoustic guitar; and Off Off Broadzway (1/14, 9:30 pm and 1/15, 11 pm) performs burlesque mixed with raunchy, foul-mouthed humor. With plenty of options, there’s no reason to miss your taste of SketchFest 2010. Especially when that taste could include late-night food.