The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival

Posts Tagged ‘Contests’

Subscribe to Win!

Posted on: August 22nd, 2011 by julianne

Be a winner! We’ve got a pair of tickets to see the Toronto Argonauts take on the BC Lions on September 2nd and we’re giving them away to one lucky duck who subscribes, likes or follows TOSketchFest before August 31st.

There are three ways to enter (do all three and you get three ballots!)

1.You can subscribe to the TOSketchFest Blog by entering your email in the little purple box at the bottom of our homepage. You know, the one that says “Subscribe to Our Blog.” If you do that, our blog posts about the Canadian comedy scene and hilarious videos will come directly to your inbox!

2. You can “Like” our Facebook fan page www.facebook.com/TOsketchfest

3. You can follow us on Twitter @TOsketchfest

You’ll be glad you did.

Pilot Week in 10 Words or Less

Posted on: August 2nd, 2011 by julianne

Pilot Week at Comedy Bar is upon us. The shows start tonight. This is a really fun contest put on by the good folks at Comedy Bar and Insight, who are looking for the next great Canadian comedy TV show.

All week long, contestents have 30 minutes to perform a live version of their television show. We’ve asked a few of the contestants to describe their pitch in 10 words or less. Here’s what they came up with:

Bad Brother (Created by Marty Adams, Friday 8 pm)

He’s a raging imbecile man child, he’s also your brother!

Watertight (Created by Mike Fly, Tuesday 10 pm)

Assistant Cruise Director Dino, wants to fuck his new boss.

Exact Science (Created by Ely Henry, Friday 7 pm)

A scientific study of hitting rock bottom and working there.

Visionary Times (Created by David Dineen-Porter, Thursday 10pm)

Finally, a sitcom about UFO researchers that’s not for jocks!

Happiness is Hate Therapy (Created by Patrick Smith, Tuesday 7 pm)

Hate filled. Old School. New World. Heart Warming. Racist Lovefest.

Vote for the Canadian Comedy Awards

Posted on: July 5th, 2011 by julianne

This year, the Canadian Comedy Awards added some new public voting categories to their awards list. The public is now able to vote on five categories: Best TV Show, Best Film, Best Web Clip, Best Radio Clip and Comedy Person of the Year.

So get yourselves over to the CCAs website and log your vote. You’ll have to create an account in order to do so, but it’s not hard to do and there’s a contest to win passes and accommodations for the CCAs in Toronto in October. That’s cool, right?

And while you’re thinking about the Canadian Comedy Awards, why not send good vibes to past TOSketchFest troupes who have been nominated for awards:

Falcon Powder (Best Sketch Troupe)
Hot Thespian Action (Best Sketch Troupe)
Picnicface (Best Sketch Troupe)
Haircut (Best Web Clip: Suburbanite)
Bull Hooey (Best Film: Don’t Walk Out that Door)
Punch in the Box (Best Comedic Play or Revue: Pick of the Fringe)
The Second City (Best Comedic Play or Revue: Something Wicked Awesome This Way Comes, and Best Sketch Troupe)

And there are literally dozens of individual comedians who have performed at TOSketchFest nominated for their work in television, film and live performance. We can’t list them all. That would take all day. Just click to see the list.

Good job guys. Way to go.

ps. If you are a legit industry voter, industry voting on all categories closes tonight at midnight.

Pilot Week Submission Deadline

Posted on: June 23rd, 2011 by julianne

It might be too late for you to do anything about this, but we wanted to remind you that tomorrow is the deadline for submissions for Pilot Week at Comedy Bar. Then again, maybe it’s not too late, all you need is 250 words to enter.

Here’s the deal: our friends over at Comedy Bar and Insight Productions have teamed up to present this (2nd annual) contest. Insight is looking for new comedy ideas for TV, and Comedy Bar knows that Toronto has comic talent in spades.

Anyone can submit a short synopsis of their funny television pilot idea. A panel of judges will whittle that down to 20 contestants who will have the opportunity to present their ideas in a live show August 2-6. From there, they’ll pick the top three who’ll present their live pilots again on the finals night, August 7.

The winning pilot gets $1000 plus Insight will attempt to negotiate a development deal with them. And Insight is a pretty good partner to have on your side. They’re behind big TV shows like the Jon Dore Television Show, Canadian Idol and Hatching, Matching and Dispatching.

It’s a fun contest. The shows are oddly fun to watch. (It’s TV, but live…) And in the end, someone is one step closer to making the next great Canadian comedy show. Last year, Lauren Ash won for her pilot Bowling Trophy Wives and the pilot ideas were all over the map from traditional sit coms to sports shows.

So if you’ve got an idea, click here to submit. You’ve got until 12:00 pm on Friday, June 24.

Or just go watch the shows. Tickets are free!