About Us:
SketchFest Seattle is the world’s original sketch comedy festival and has established a reputation for presenting the best and most original comedy from around the globe. Our mission is to promote sketch comedy as a performing art by providing a venue for groups to network and showcase their talent.
History:
Seattle performer and writer Mike Daisey looked around at his friends and saw something special: an emerging community of sketch comedians eight or ten groups strong, more than fifty people deep. What would happen, he thought, if they combined forces? SketchFest ‘99 presented nine Seattle comedy troupes performing 8-minute samplers to sold-out audiences at Theater Off Jackson. Seattle celebrity John Keister hosted the event and ended up using certain groups on future episodes of his television show, “The John Report with Bob.”
SketchFest gained the attention of comedy groups from Portland to Los Angeles. With a growing pool of dedicated volunteers, 13 comedy groups performed 50-minute shows to sold-out audiences at the Speakeasy Café.
SketchFest tripled our audience capacity in the 286-seat Broadway Performance Hall. We enticed audiences through the torrential rains with multimedia performances that included movies, videos, local bands and all the fake blood we could pack into three nights of comedy.
Once again housed in the Broadway Performance Hall, SketchFest expanded to two weekends, giving comedy groups the opportunity to perform their show twice. Groups from Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orlando, Austin, Chicago, and New York City rocked Seattle with their wicked comedy ways. Highlights of both weekends included cutting-edge performances at PUSH, a late-night forum for experimental comedy work.
