Sketch comedy is no laughing matter: seriously, part the second
Plank moderator extraordinaire Justin Haigh and the esteemed Sketch Comedy Panel return with the second part of the exploration of the state of the art for Sketch Comedy in Vancouver and Toronto. This time around they talk about whether there is a national community for sketch comedy and how the form is treated by the media.
To read the first part of the Sketch Comedy Panel, head over this "way":http://www.plankmagazine.com/feature/sketch-comedy-no-laughing-matter-se....
Here again are your panelists:
*Ian Boothby:* comedy writer and founding member of _Canadian Content_
*Kuan Foo:* writer, reporter, performer and member of sketch troupe _Assaulted Fish_
*Michael John Unger:* writer, performer and member of sketch troupe _The Skinny_
*Matt Baram:* writer, performer, Second City alumnus and member of improv and sketch troupe _The Gents_ and _The National Theatre of the World_
*Gary Rideout Jr:* writer, performer, member of the sketch troupe _The Sketchersons_ and co-owner of the venue The Comedy Bar.
*Do you follow sketch in other parts of Canada and if so what have you gleaned from it? How closely knit is the "Canadian" sketch community vs your local sketch community?*
*Boothby:* I think "Picnicface":http://www.picnicface.com in Halifax is doing some great work and have tapped into the world of YouTube like no one else. Most of the sketch I’ve seen has been at The Canadian ComedyAwards and it all blurs together after a while especially groups from Ontario. They’re funny but all seem to have the same Second City influence. Again it’s like having a delicious steak, then steak soup, then steak ice cream.
*Unger:* Yeah aside from Picnicface, who I discovered on YouTube, and "Dance Party of Newfoundland":http://www.myspace.com/dancepartycomedy, I couldn't name you another sketch troupe outside of Vancouver. There're really not many venues for cross culture exposure. The Sketch Fest here in Van, has kind of died of, and as far as know there hasn't been much representation of Western sketch troupes at Toronto Sketch Fest.
*Foo:* It’s very difficult to follow sketch in other parts of Canada. Vancouver’s sort of in a bubble: not many sketch groups from other parts of Canada come out here (see, venues and opportunity, lack of). I personally try to keep up with a few groups in Toronto but it’s mainly because I know those people. So it’s hard to comment on the “Canadian sketch community” seeing as I’ve never really felt like we’ve been a part of it. As for the local sketch community, we’ve done joint shows with other local groups – the "Crawford Twins":http://www.myspace.com/thecrawfordtwins (Morgan Brayton’s group), the Skinny, the "Dead Understudies":http://www.myspace.com/deadunderstudies and "Grimaldi’s Asylum":http://grimaldisasylum.com, to name a few – and there has been a certain degree of cross-pollination in some of our projects but ultimately that’s more due to the fact that the we know and like individuals in those groups than any great comment on the sketch community in Vancouver. We’ve actually collaborated far more with groups from the US than we have with other Canadian groups.
*Baram:* I’m also in a sketch group now called "The Gents":http://www.thegents.ca with some older Second City Alumni. The huge thing I’ve learned from them is that there is absolutely no difference between doing the gig with my contemporaries and doing it with guys who are in their fifties. It’s all the same problems. It doesn’t get any easier to get people to get on board. They still plug away and start all over from the beginning. And these guys were on television shows for stretches of 10-15 years. The "Women Fully Clothed":http://www.womenfullyclothed.com kind of proved that sketch is alive and well and can be done at any stage of your life. They are an inspiration to me for sure. I think they hit the right audience at the right time. Really smart. They found a niche in big theatre playing for sold out houses of 400 middle-aged women. They figured out that the people that actually buy tickets to theatre are older women. If they see something they like, they tell their husbands. Then they see it again with them to see where they laugh. I’ve kinda noticed this on a smaller scale with younger women too. They are our major demo in our houses. Guys just don’t get out as much. That’s why great sketch groups that focus on the guy stuff like The Frantics have a harder time bringing people in these days. Once they’re in, they kill but it’s a battle on the road cause their audience stopped going to theatre.
*Rideout:* Okay, in terms of sketch around the country, I was really happy with "Uncalled For":http//:www.uncalledforimprov.com from Montreal and their move from improv into sketch about 2 years ago. I also really like Dance Party of Newfoundland and I think Mark Little from Picnicface is hysterical. The Imponderables are polished like no one else and in classic Canadian fashion will be given a TV show far after they deserved it.
From the west coast I don't know too much, at Sketchfest we only really received west coast submissions from the "30 Cent Players":http://www.30centplayers.com. Uh...I'm not sure what's going in Ian's brain that makes everything taste like steak but it must be the same thing that makes him think that all Ontario sketch is A) the same and B) Second City influenced.
First of all I call what Second City does in Toronto "comedic theatre derived from improv". As comedic theatre they do it brilliantly but that said, as sketch comedy, it is in a different vein. C'mon Ian, you were at the comedy awards, remember we all had funny sets and then there was that group that sang "Jesus on your Facebook" and everyone was staring at it wondering if it was a mistake.
Now I know Matt Baram is in here and is Second City alumni so I want to be clear, 2 years ago when the awards were in London I saw Sandy Jobin-Bevans and Jennifer Goodhue do some brilliant sketches for the awards and totally ripped the audience but I think the scenes chosen for Regina, outside of the context of the entire review were poor choices that didn't have the ability to be stand alone pieces.
*What is the media coverage like for sketch at the moment? How does it compare with coverage of other performing arts?*
Boothby: If you get your hustle on and give the media a good angle they’ll cover sketch. We did a strong push for our two "Vancouver Fringe Festival":http://www.vancouverfringe.com, Canadian Content shows and got some covers in the local papers and "Globe and Mail":http://www.theglobeandmail.com. We made sure the pictures we had were sexy and funny because the press wants something that’ll grab the eye (and who doesn’t like having their eye grabbed?) and get people to pick up the paper.
Most people who complain about no coverage really haven’t looked at what the media wants. There really isn’t any regular sketch coverage but there isn’t enough to merit it. When a comedy or Fringe festival comes to town they’re all over it.
*Unger:* Yeah getting press to a regular show is just about being relentless, but on the other hand if you can create an "event", something exclusive they're more apt to take notice because it doesn't happen as often. We brought up Ten West from L.A. to do some shows and we got great press because they were foreign and they had never been here.
*Foo:* Our experience with the media has been pretty much like everyone else’s here. We’ve gotten reasonably good coverage but we've also tried to learn what the media needs to meet their deadlines and how to be able to give it to them. Ultimately, you still have to be able to produce something that is worth covering. Arts reporting in Vancouver is not particularly extensive but let’s face it, media is a business and the reality is that you sell more ads with hockey scores than with theatre much less sketch comedy. That said, I agree with Ian that there is not enough sketch comedy activity in town to warrant regular coverage.
*Baram:* One of our entertainment magazines called "Eye Weekly":http//:www.eyeweekly.com, which is a seventy page entertainment mag that tries to compete with the more popular "NOW magazine":http://www.nowtoronto.com doesn’t have a comedy section. To be fair, it doesn’t really have a theatre section either. Is a quarter of a page considered a section? The newspapers don’t really have a comedy section. Unless you can convince the Star:www.thestar.com or The Globe that you’re doing something truly unique, you are on your own. You can always use Facebook. But then you start relying on it and you soon realize that people who respond 'maybe' to invites are just too scared to let you down. In Facebook a 'maybe' is closer to a 'no' than it is to a 'yes'. I think we need to move beyond the 'maybe' thing. Just say Yes!
*Rideout:* I have always been lucky enough to get great press, for the Sketchersons and for the opening of the bar. I agree it's all about making a nice press release, being persistent and delivering the goods when you finally get them there.
*More about our esteemed Panel:*
Matt Baram is a veteran of the Second City Toronto, and a founding member of _The National Theatre of the World_. Among their projects is _Impromptu Splendor_, a live improvised play in the style of a different famous playwright each week. You can check out more their "website":http://www.thenationaltheatreoftheworld.com and read recent press coverage of _Impromptu Splendor_ "here":http://www.thestar.com/Entertainment/article/589661 and "here":http://www.eyeweekly.com/arts/comedy/article/51773 .
Ian Boothby is one of the founding members of _Canadian Content_, winners of the 2008 Canadian Comedy Award for Best Sketch Group. Their new CD _Canuxsploitation_ comes out in early 2009. Find out more "here":http://www.canadiancontentsketch.ca
Kuan Foo is a member of Assaulted Fish, a Vancouver-based sketch comedy troupe. He has also written for numerous print and web publications, and has produced and reported for community radio and television. Find out more at "Assaulted Fish":http://www.assaultedfish.com or on Facebook.
Gary Rideout Jr. is a founding member of the sketch troupe "The Sketchersons":http://www.thesketchersons.com who have performed at Massey Hall and at the Just for Laughs festival. He has written for the Royal Canadian Air Farce (for Air Farce Live) and has produced more than 400 live comedy shows. His latest venture is "the Comedy Bar":http://www.comedybar.ca.
Michael John Unger is 1/3 of the collective brain known as _The Skinny_. Their latest show _Adventures in X-Ray Theatre_ got rave reviews at the Victoria Fringe Festival. You can find out more "here":http://www.myspace.com/theskinnycomedy