The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival

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Support the Troupes!

Posted on: December 5th, 2011 by julianne

Friends of TOsketchfest, lend us an ear!

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival Inc. is a registered not-for-profit charitable corporation that is funded in part by The Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, our corporate partners and by donations from people who believe in what we do.

We’re working very hard to increase capacity for the Festival in order to provide more and better opportunities for comedic writer-performers. We invite you to join us as we Support the Troupes in 2012 and beyond!

Your tax deductible donation enables The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival to present the best live, scripted comedy in North America and to invest in the training and career development of hundreds of talented comedic writer/performers each year.

Donations will help us:

Grow the Festival with marquee programming from across Canada and the US.
Offer better performance fees and travel support to troupes performing in the Festival.
Bring high-profile directors and teachers to the Festival to deliver unique training.
Grow our professional development programs to offer year-round learning and networking opportunities for sketch troupes.
Provide consistent, year-round support to sketch comedy troupes by way of advocacy, promotional assistance and learning opportunities.

If you want to invest in the success of Toronto’s comedy community or if you simply enjoy our shows and want to see us do more, consider making a donation to the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival!

You can make a gift online using our secure donations page, or you can mail a cheque to our administrative offices.

Thank you. And have a hilarious holiday season!

Paul and Julianne Snepsts

Artistic Producers

Troupe of the Day: The Hooligans

Posted on: October 30th, 2011 by julianne

Each day leading up to the 2011 Festival, the TOsketchfest Blog will feature one of our 40+ awesome comedy troupes.

Today’s troupe is The Hooligans!

This sprawling gang of teenage sketch wunderkinds were the winners of the 2011 Sketch ComAgeddon Championship and as such they won the right to kick of TOsketchfest in style…they will be making their festival debut on opening night.

The Hooligans are fourteen high school and college students who have been working together under the direction of comedy vets Kristine Marchese and Marco Timpano for four years. This Brampton-area troupe performs both improv and sketch, but at the festival you’ll see their fast-paced, energetic sketch show.

Fun fact: The Hooligans are all under the age of 19, but have performed 9 revues in 4 years in venues like The Second City, Comedy Bar and The Rose Theatre.

Check out their troupe profile to see when they are playing, and to grab your tickets.

Troupe of the Day – CORY!

Posted on: October 25th, 2011 by julianne

Each day leading up to the 2011 Festival, the TOsketchfest Blog will feature one of our 40+ awesome comedy troupes.

Today’s troupe of the day is CORY!

Don’t mess with CORY! This full-on, balls-out, fearless duo is returning to TOsketchfest after a three year hiatus, and we’re thrilled to bring them back. Both Leslie Seiler and Lauren Ash are Second City alumnae, but a CORY! show is nothing like a Second City show. CORY! takes you to darker, dirtier, riskier places.

These ladies know their way around comedy. Lauren has the distinction of being one of four performers to have graced both the Toronto and Chicago Second City stages, and her recent credits include an lead role in the Showcase series Almost Heroes. Leslie is a four-time Canadian Comedy Award winner who can also be seen in the festival with Punch in the Box. As CORY! they were featured on the CBC Comedy Special Sketch with Kevin McDonald.

To get an idea of their general sense of humour, you could check out their recent CORY’s First Diet blog which chronicles their six-day crash diet attempt. Spoiler alert: they don’t make it to day six.

Check out theirtroupe profile to see when they are playing, and to grab your tickets.

Troupe of the Day – Approximately 3 Peters

Posted on: October 23rd, 2011 by julianne

Each day leading up to the 2011 Festival, the TOsketchfest Blog will feature one of our 40+ awesome comedy troupes.

Today’s troupe is Approximately 3 Peters!

Pete, Peter and Ian: Approximately 3 Peters. This veteran Toronto troupe will be performing in TOsketchfest for the sixth time, meaning they’ve only missed one festival. This troupe has some serious staying power.

A3P describe their show as “sketch comedy for the nerd in all of us.” And that is just about as perfect a description as I’ve ever heard. It’s high-reference comedy with lots of pop culture (and geek culture) fun, but it remains accessible because this trio is ridiculously charming and know how to write a just-plain-funny scene.

The threesome met at the Second City Training Centre and in their six year career have performed at Just For Laughs, earned a Canadian Comedy Award nomination and toured to festivals at home and abroad.

Fun fact: Peter Hill is the Associate Producer of TOsketchfest. So I kinda have to say nice things about his troupe. But I honestly mean the nice things I say. I like them even though I hate Dr. Who.

Check out their troupe profile to see when they are playing, and to grab your tickets.

Troupe of the Day – A Classy Affair and The Really Good Show

Posted on: October 22nd, 2011 by julianne

Each day leading up to the 2011 Festival, the TOsketchfest Blog will feature one of our 40+ awesome comedy troupes.

Today, we are profiling two troupes: A Classy Affair and The Really Good Show

What do Stacey McGunnigle and Kevin Matviw have in common? A lot really. First and most importantly, both are super fun comedic performers. Both are writer-performers with The Second City’s Touring Company. And last and most importantly (did I already say that?) both are performing solo sketch comedy at this year’s TOsketchfest.

Kevin is the force behind The Really Good Show. He has performed in TOsketchfest a number of times before, with Death Ray Cabaret and The Sketchersons. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, he’s deservedly been a finalist three times in our Sketch ComAgeddon Championship with various troupes.

Stacey made her TOsketchfest debut last year when A Classy Affair was a duo show, and their show killed. She’s now going it alone, which should be comfortable for her, as she also performs stand-up comedy and writes her thoughts, rants and musings in her blog “The McGunnigle Perspective.”

What can you expect from a solo sketch comedy show? You’ll see confident, versitile performers telling funny stories through monologue, scenes and songs… and the entire show rests on their competent shoulders. It’s bold and brave and an exciting change of pace.

Check out A Classy Affair and The Really Good Show‘s troupe profiles to see when they are playing, and to grab your tickets.

Troupe of the Day – Charles

Posted on: October 21st, 2011 by julianne

Each day leading up to the 2011 Festival, the TOsketchfest Blog will feature one of our 40+ awesome comedy troupes.
Today’s troupe is Charles!

I guess if you and your friend Charles start a sketch troupe, and you both have the same name, you should probably call your sketch troupe Charles, right?

That’s what these two funny Seattlemen did (Seattlegonians? Seattlezins? Seattleites?), and it’s working out great. Charlie Stockman and Chuck Armstrong are bringing their stream-of-consciousness show to Toronto, and we’re thrilled to welcome them for their TOsketchfest debut.

Critics use words like smart, inspired, brave, hyperliterate and deeply clever to describe their particular style of sketch, but we’d like to add the word “funny.” There are a lot of jokes in a Charles show, and it moves along at a fast clip. These two are seasoned comedy writers. Chuck has been a contributing writer for The Onion, and Charlie served as editor-in-chief of Stanford University’s humour magazine and has contributed to McSweeney’s.

Check out their troupe profile to see when they are playing, and to grab your tickets.

Troupe of the Day – Haircut

Posted on: October 19th, 2011 by julianne

Each day leading up to the 2011 Festival, the TOsketchfest Blog will feature one of our 40+ awesome comedy troupes.

Today’s troupe is Haircut!

Making their third appearance at TOsketchfest, Haircut is one of Toronto’s busiest (and tallest) sketch troupes. Comprised of Pat Smith and Allie Price, Haircut was the winner of the 2009 NOW Audience Choice Award at TOsketchfest and were nominated for Best Web Clip at the 2010 Canadian Comedy Awards for their ridiculous rap video Suburbanite. They’re pretty good rappers for a couple of white kids from Orangeville and East York.

When they’re not on stage as Haircut, Pat and Allie keep themselves busy making funny. Pat writes and directs wicked short comedy films with 83 Pictures and has a feature film in development. Allie is a writer-performer in The Second City’s Touring Company, performing every Monday in “Best. Monday. Ever.”

Fun fact time? Ok! Did you know Pat was a semi-pro baseball player? Now you do.

Check out their troupe profile to see when they are playing, and to grab your tickets.

Troupe of the Day – The Templeton Philharmonic

Posted on: October 18th, 2011 by julianne

Each day leading up to the festival, the TOsketchfest Blog will profile one of the 40+ hilarious troupes performing in the 2011 fest.

Today’s troupe of the day is The Templeton Philharmonic

What’s in a name? For The Templeton Philharmonic, their hoity toity sounding name is simply a combo of members’ Brianna Templeton and Gwynne Phillips’ last names, and not a promise of orchestral musical masterpieces.

What you can expect from these two ladies is a show influenced by their theatre and commedia dell’arte roots, highly physical, smart and absurd. This is their first appearance in TOsketchfest, but the Templeton Philharmonic have been around the block, performing their sketch show at the Montreal Fringe, and kicking butt at the Toronto Fringe with their award-winning show, Politically Correct Bedtime Stories.

You want a fun fact? Ok… Gwynne’s mom is an artist who has designed for the Canadian Mint, including the commemorative coin for the 2011 Royal Wedding.

Check out their troupe profile to see when they are playing, and to grab your tickets.