Chicago Sketch Fest
Encyclopedia
The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival is an annual nonprofit sketch comedy
festival
held in Chicago
. It is the world's largest sketch festival. It combines over 100 events of shows, workshops, and discussions over a two week period. The festival is sponsored by Budweiser
, The Onion
, The Second City
, Red Bull
, and more.
The tenth installment will take place January 7-17, 2010 @ Stage 773, 1225 West Belmont at the Stage 773.
The idea of The Chicago Sketchfest was born in October 2001. Chicago teacher/director Brian Posen wanted to create a venue to showcase the city’s best sketch comedy troupes, and provide a venue for up-and-coming troupes, all free from financial burden. A theater was leased and sketch groups from around Chicago were invited to perform at no cost. The festival opened in January 2002, and ran for 7 weeks. Over 30 sketch comedy groups performed, nearly 2000 patrons attended.
Building on the success of the first festival, The Chicago Sketchfest became an annual event.
Sketchfest 2003 was host to 53 groups, this time from all over the nation. The festival was shortened to 3½ weeks. A panel of sketch comedy experts was added to share their knowledge with performers and the public. Weekly forums were put together so that groups from all over the country could come together and share information.
The Chicago Sketchfest 2004 expanded to three theaters and 120 performances. It ran two weeks, and attracted close to 5500 patrons. 71 groups performed that year. Besides the panels and forums, 2 new events were added: Sketchubator & Octasketch-The 8 Hour Project. Sketchubator ran Saturday nights at midnight, and provided a free-for-all for sketch groups to perform experimental work. Octasketch was an experiment modeled after ‘The 24 hours project’. Four seasoned directors were randomly assigned Five writer-performers, all from different sketch groups, and given 8 hours to create a 30 minute sketch show performed that night. The festival also gained the sponsorship of Budweiser
, WBEZ, Days Inn
, Kinkos, & National Photo.
The Chicago Sketchfest 2005 had 83 groups over the 2 weeks. In addition to the events, writing workshops were added, including Joe Garden- head writer from the Onion
, and John Vorhaus-author of "The Comic Toolbox". Budweiser was back. Red Bull joined the sponsors. New sponsors included WXRT
, The Onion
, and Whole Foods
, American Airlines
and Avis
. In 2005, the Chicago Sketchfest officially changed its name to “The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival”. Some patrons had actually called the box office to see if it was a festival about drawing. We needed the word ‘Comedy’.
January 2006 marked the 5-year anniversary with 92 sketch comedy groups performing. Over 700 artists came together to perform, collaborate, share information. An event called Master Sketch was added. Participating groups performed a scene in front of some of the masters in our industry and received their feedback. Chipotle joined as a sponsor.
2007- The festival was one shy of 100 groups (approximately 800 performers) and hit 10,000 patrons. OctaSketch entered its 4th year, and honored four the major comedy institutions The Second City
, iO
, Annoyance
and ComedySportz
by having each of them supply a director who created under their specific style. Sam Adams
came on board as a sponsor.
In 2008, the 7th year, 100 groups signed on. Lou Malnatis’ Pizza was the new sponsor.
In 2009, the festival added Children’s programming. Sketch by kids, Sketch for kids and sketch educating kids.
In 2010, the children's programing was expanded.
The 2011 festival marks the 10 year anniversary of The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival.
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
festival
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
held in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. It is the world's largest sketch festival. It combines over 100 events of shows, workshops, and discussions over a two week period. The festival is sponsored by Budweiser
Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch)
Budweiser is a 5.0% abv American-style lager introduced in 1876 by Adolphus Busch and one of the highest selling beers in the United States. It is made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt. Budweiser is produced in various breweries located around the world...
, The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
, The Second City
The Second City
The Second City is a improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...
, Red Bull
Red Bull
Red Bull is an energy drink sold by the Austrian Red Bull GmbH, created in 1987 by the Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz. In terms of market share, Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the world, with 3 billion cans sold each year. Dietrich Mateschitz was inspired by an already...
, and more.
The tenth installment will take place January 7-17, 2010 @ Stage 773, 1225 West Belmont at the Stage 773.
The idea of The Chicago Sketchfest was born in October 2001. Chicago teacher/director Brian Posen wanted to create a venue to showcase the city’s best sketch comedy troupes, and provide a venue for up-and-coming troupes, all free from financial burden. A theater was leased and sketch groups from around Chicago were invited to perform at no cost. The festival opened in January 2002, and ran for 7 weeks. Over 30 sketch comedy groups performed, nearly 2000 patrons attended.
Building on the success of the first festival, The Chicago Sketchfest became an annual event.
Sketchfest 2003 was host to 53 groups, this time from all over the nation. The festival was shortened to 3½ weeks. A panel of sketch comedy experts was added to share their knowledge with performers and the public. Weekly forums were put together so that groups from all over the country could come together and share information.
The Chicago Sketchfest 2004 expanded to three theaters and 120 performances. It ran two weeks, and attracted close to 5500 patrons. 71 groups performed that year. Besides the panels and forums, 2 new events were added: Sketchubator & Octasketch-The 8 Hour Project. Sketchubator ran Saturday nights at midnight, and provided a free-for-all for sketch groups to perform experimental work. Octasketch was an experiment modeled after ‘The 24 hours project’. Four seasoned directors were randomly assigned Five writer-performers, all from different sketch groups, and given 8 hours to create a 30 minute sketch show performed that night. The festival also gained the sponsorship of Budweiser
Budweiser
Budweiser is a German adjective describing something or someone from the city of České Budějovice in Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic.Beer brewing in České Budějovice dates back to the 13th century...
, WBEZ, Days Inn
Days Inn
Days Inn is a motel chain headquartered in the United States. Founded in 1970, it is now a part of the Wyndham Hotel Group, based in Parsippany, New Jersey, which was formerly a part of Cendant...
, Kinkos, & National Photo.
The Chicago Sketchfest 2005 had 83 groups over the 2 weeks. In addition to the events, writing workshops were added, including Joe Garden- head writer from the Onion
Onion
The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
, and John Vorhaus-author of "The Comic Toolbox". Budweiser was back. Red Bull joined the sponsors. New sponsors included WXRT
WXRT
WXRT, also known as WXRT 93.1, XRT, and 93-XRT is a AAA radio station in Chicago, Illinois. For many years their slogan has been "Chicago's Finest Rock". WXRT is a primary sponsor of the Chicago nonprofit Rock For Kids.-History:...
, The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
, and Whole Foods
Whole foods
Whole foods are foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible, before being consumed. Whole foods typically do not contain added ingredients, such as salt, carbohydrates, or fat. Examples of whole foods include unpolished grains, beans, fruits, vegetables...
, American Airlines
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is the world's fourth-largest airline in passenger miles transported and operating revenues. American Airlines is a subsidiary of the AMR Corporation and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas adjacent to its largest hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport...
and Avis
Avis
-Businesses:*Avis Budget Group, founded in 2006 as the successor company to Cendant Corporation**Avis Rent a Car System, a car rental company**Avis Worldwide Foreign Education Services, a worldwide foreign education company formed and owned by Sandeep S Pillai....
. In 2005, the Chicago Sketchfest officially changed its name to “The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival”. Some patrons had actually called the box office to see if it was a festival about drawing. We needed the word ‘Comedy’.
January 2006 marked the 5-year anniversary with 92 sketch comedy groups performing. Over 700 artists came together to perform, collaborate, share information. An event called Master Sketch was added. Participating groups performed a scene in front of some of the masters in our industry and received their feedback. Chipotle joined as a sponsor.
2007- The festival was one shy of 100 groups (approximately 800 performers) and hit 10,000 patrons. OctaSketch entered its 4th year, and honored four the major comedy institutions The Second City
The Second City
The Second City is a improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...
, iO
I.O.
iO, or iO Chicago, is a theater located at 3541 N. Clark St., in Chicago, Illinois, one-half block south of Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. The theater both has performances of, and teaches improvisational comedy. It was founded in the 1980s by Del Close and Charna Halpern...
, Annoyance
Annoyance
Annoyance is an unpleasant mental state that is characterized by such effects as irritation and distraction from one's conscious thinking. It can lead to emotions such as frustration and anger...
and ComedySportz
ComedySportz
ComedySportz is an improvisational comedy organization started in 1984 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by a group of local comedians including Dick Chudnow, Bob Orvis, Brian Green and many others.-Format:...
by having each of them supply a director who created under their specific style. Sam Adams
Samuel Adams (beer)
Samuel Adams is an American brand of beer brewed by the Boston Beer Company and its associated contract brewers. The company was founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, Harry M. Rubin, and Lorenzo Lamadrid in Boston, Massachusetts, USA...
came on board as a sponsor.
In 2008, the 7th year, 100 groups signed on. Lou Malnatis’ Pizza was the new sponsor.
In 2009, the festival added Children’s programming. Sketch by kids, Sketch for kids and sketch educating kids.
In 2010, the children's programing was expanded.
The 2011 festival marks the 10 year anniversary of The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival.