Sketch comedy is no laughing matter: seriously, part the first

*Introduction by Justin Haigh, your cross-country moderator*

The public perception of sketch comedy ranges from complete naivety to enthusiastic fandom, which is hardly surprising considering the same could be said of contemporary visual art, opera, modern dance and most other artistic forms.

The difference is that sketch comedy is rarely regarded with the same reverence and attention that the previously mentioned arts forms are. Is that fair? Why does that rift exist? Is there a media bias and if so does that contribute to the state of affairs?

These issues are all big morsels to chew on. We at Plank have been fortunate enough to assemble a panel of expert masticators to debate and break down these very issues. And in the spirit of Plank’s bi-coastal coverage, we have representatives from both Vancouver and Toronto to contribute to the discourse.

From Vancouver we have:

*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_

From Toronto we have

*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 think the public and other performing artists consider sketch to be an art form? Is there a hierarchy and if so where does sketch fit in with regards to stand up and theatre?*

*Boothby:* It’s a bad idea to ever call something you do art. It’s like calling yourself pretty. Let other people do it and never expect it or you’re just going to look needy.

I was at a meeting with an improv group a while back and they were complaining how they couldn’t get funding from the government because what they did wasn’t respected. They also mentioned that if they did apply for funding they’d be in a category that also contained circus acts. This got a big groan from the room. But okay, in the first place if there’s any “art” form that’s done amazingly well recently and come out of Canada it’s circus performing. "Cirque De Soleil":http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/ is respected around the world and brings in millions of dollars. Improv should wish it was the circus.

But no, they looked down their noses at circus while complaining no one takes them seriously. You can bet Soleil doesn’t care what they think and that’s the only way to go if you want any success. Performers are needy by nature and we love praise but it’s a trap. There will always be someone looking down at what you do and someone looking up, you can’t take either too seriously.

So forget any hierarchy of respect, that’s all bullshit that’ll just mess you up.

[img_assist|nid=826|title=The members of Assaulted Fish including Kuan Foo|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=330|height=288] *Foo:* With regard to my experiences with the general public, I would actually go back one step further and say that most non-performers I’ve talked to don’t really have a clear idea of what sketch comedy is, much less have any opinion on whether it’s an art form. When I tell people that I do sketch comedy they tend to automatically assume I mean stand up or improv; there just seems to be very little awareness that there is a live theatrical tradition of non-improvised sketch comedy. Mind you, I also find that most people’s perceptions of stand up, improv and even live theatre are pretty limited as well. Maybe the people I hang out with are particularly uncultured but it could also be a Vancouver thing. I’ve always felt we were more of a bandwagon city than one interested in cultivating its own arts scene.

I actually don't have any problem with calling sketch comedy an art form. I think it demonstrates a respect for the tradition of sketch comedy and the people that perform it. I do agree that getting hung up on whether or not you personally are an "artist" is a recipe for bitterness and depression, but there is an equal and opposite trap of not acknowledging and appreciating the craft of what you do. I've seen many sketch groups who I think are incredibly innovative and artistic - "Ten West":http://www.tenwest.net/, the "Pajama Men":http://www.myspace.com/pajamamen and the "Cody Rivers Show":http://www.codyrivers.com/ spring to mind – but I’ve also seen groups who had obviously not bothered to put in the work to learn even the basic fundamentals of stage craft – which is fine, everyone has to start somewhere – except that they were charging admission. It’s the old cliché: take what you do seriously; just don’t take yourself too seriously.

As for other performers, I’ve encountered very few who think that one form of performance is inherently superior to another. With most of them, it’s more of a qualitative thing: sketch comedy can be an art form if it’s done well. The only people I've met who seem to have hang-ups about hierarchies in art are people who are either just starting out or are just generally insecure about their own place in the cultural firmament … and, of course, critics.

*Unger:* Pretty much every time we ("The Skinny":http://www.myspace.com/theskinnycomedy) go to promote a new show, we begin the game of educating the public about what kind of show they are about to see. Calling it sketch comedy is not enough for most people as Kuan said, because they immediately think of improv. While working the lineups at the "Victoria Fringe Festival":http://www.victoriafringe.com last year I reluctantly started to use the phrase "Monty Python meets Mr. Show" because it was the closest reference to something people could envision if they've never seen us. Of course there was a good 30% of the people that have never heard of "Monty Python":http://www.pythonline.com or "Mr. Show":http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112084/ which my description would then become "we will be on stage, stuff will happen, you might laugh."

Whether it's an art form or not is a moot point, all that matters is if people are coming out to the show and watching. I agree with Ian about calling what you do "art" because once you do you become an elitist snob. If there is a hierarchy it will depend on who you talk to, to find out where you are on the totem pole. Most sketch comedy on stage is done in the hope of eventually getting on video for youtube and then hopefully TV. With us it was actually the opposite, we all met on a sketch comedy TV show and our drive was to do a stage sketch show that incorporated elements that TV, as a medium, limited. Of course that does hamper us from being able to educate people on "what" we do, aside of course from the filmed stage shows which are always sketchy (sorry) quality at best.

*Baram:* I think that anyone who is skillful at anything at the highest level of his/her craft is an artist. It’s that simple. But for some reason, sketch comedy performers aren’t given that distinction. Or at least we don’t endow ourselves with that title. We call ourselves ‘sketch performers’ instead (not even actors). On the other hand, a world-class surgeon who performs a boob job might consider himself an artist in the operating room. The scalpel is his instrument…the table his stage. I’ve heard people refer to themselves as a graffiti artist, a tattoo artist, a culinary artist, and an escape artist (feel free to think of your own examples). Oh wait…in movies; hired assassins refer to the artistry in killing a man. But I’ve never heard anyone that I’ve worked with refer to themselves as sketch artists. To us, sketch artists hang out with nude models and drink fourteen dollar glasses of pinot noir in wine bars or sit on short, three legged stools down by the harbourfront and charge you ten bucks for a caricature of you hanging off the CN tower like King Kong.

*Rideout:* I think the bigger question is "do I think people think comedy is an art form" and generally speaking I would say no. As a producer of the "Toronto Sketchfest":http://www.torontosketchfest.com, we have been lucky enough to receive grant money for the last 2 years from 2 levels of government. This is the first funding for comedy (outside of "Just For Laughs":http://www.hahaha.com) that I have heard of. It allows us to pay an honourarium to all the sketch artists, something other Sketchfests don't do. I had heard great things about the "Chicago Sketch Fest":http://www.chicagosketchfest.com for years but went and was generally unimpressed. We had great packed shows; in fact I went to comedy shows all over the city that were packed. The audiences weren't very discerning, they just loved everything.

I do think other artists see it as an art form, well everyone but "actors" who think they can do anything. Try watching a bunch of what passes for sketch in LA. With the "Sketchersons":http://www.thesketchersons.com we have had the luxury of booking musical guests for our show each week and it has helped tie us to that community. Members of the troupe have appeared on bands’ albums and at their shows and we have given them opportunities to perform sketch and combine sketch and music.

Ultimately I couldn't care less if anyone considers it art, as long as they consider it funny.

*What is the state of sketch comedy in your city with regards to audiences, venues, and any challenges that may be specific to your city? How has your local sketch scene changed over the years?*

*Boothby:* Vancouver has never had a strong sketch scene. Groups like "The Sunday Service":http://www.myspace.com/sundayserviceturbo do a weekly improv show that mixes some sketch into it, usually through video. Groups come and go but few have a lasting presence. "Morgan Brayton":http://www.morganbrayton.com brought Sketchfest to the city for a few years and in that time my group "Canadian Content":http://www.canadiancontentsketch.ca/ debuted as did "Bucket":http://www.myspace.com/bucketcomedy which is my favorite local sketch troupe made up of stand up comedians Charlie Demers and "Paul Bae":http://www.myspace.com/paulbae. Another sketch festival tried to start up last year but didn’t. Vancouver is a rough city for comedy. The talent here is great, some of the best in the world but we just haven’t developed the structure to get enough people in seats to make it viable. There are some $5 shows in town where you can see stand up and maybe some improv or sketch but that’s about it. Yuk Yuks:http://www.yukyuks.com is the big stand up venue and "Vancouver Theatresports":http://www.vtsl.com the improv one but neither do sketch on any regular basis.

I created a sketch television program for the "CBC":http://www.cbc.ca called "The 11th Hour":http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19028419913 in 2000 based on a Theatresports improv show "See BC":http://www.vtsl.com/mainstage/shows/see_bc.php. At the same time "Slightly Bent":http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0220047/ and its follow up Suckerpunch was a sketch series on "The Comedy Network":http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/ coming out of Vancouver. All the shows lasted about a year and didn’t connect to live performances. The actors almost all went back to doing improv when the shows were cancelled.

The trick next time someone gets a TV show is to connect it with a live one in town. The problem is when you’re doing TV you’re usually too busy to do show that night on top of it. But really it’s the only way I can see we’ll get a new audience.

*Unger:* I think Ian described the Vancouver scene pretty well. Our sketch TV show was called "Off-Centre Television":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-Centre_Television, which failed for too many reasons to get in to. But it does seem like YouTube is the way to go for sketch groups trying to make a global splash. The Fringe Tour is also a great way to travel the country and get some press. Last year "Die Roten Punkte":http://www.myspace.com/dierotenpunkte from Australia really made waves through the circuit almost purely on press and word of mouth. After visiting the Chicago Sketch Fest though, you quickly understand why it is the motherland for all things sketch.

*Foo:* I concur with Ian and Mike that the sketch comedy scene in Vancouver is not particularly great. Part of the problem is that there isn't much of an independent theatre scene here so there aren’t a lot of viable independent theatre spaces to perform in. A lot of the "comedy" venues are set up for stand up and aren’t really made to accommodate three or four people that have to move around and speak without microphones. I remember, about a month ago, playing in a nightclub, with three of us squeezed onto a tiny stage. We asked if we could get the entire stage lit and were basically told that all they could do was focus all of the spotlights on us at once. By comparison, we’ve done several shows in Seattle and it just seems like the theatre-going community there is generally more supportive of small productions, including sketch shows, which leads to there being more venues to put on shows.

I think one of the real shames of there not being very many local venues or opportunities for sketch is that it also means that there's not much opportunity for groups from out of town to perform here either. Ian mentioned how Morgan Brayton brought Sketch Fest to Vancouver for a few years. I'll always be incredibly grateful to Morgan for programming Assaulted Fish:http://www.assaultedfish.com into SketchFest in 2005 when we were still a relatively fledgling group, because she not only gave us a chance to perform to a new audience but she also gave us the opportunity to see and interact with more veteran groups like "Kasper Hauser":http://www.kasperhauser.com, "Reid Along With Browning":http://www.reidalongwithbrowning.com, Canadian Content, "MEAT":http://www.funnymeat.com/ and "Obscene But Not Heard":http://www.obscenebutnotheard.com. That was an incredible watershed moment in our development as troupe. Unfortunately, with the demise of SketchFest opportunities like that are far and few between for younger groups.

*Baram:* I think the reason we’re not given the same status as other artists is that we don’t really want the label for ourselves. Most of the sketch groups I know would find the ‘artist’ label to be pretentious and counterproductive. We’re a self deprecating bunch for the most part who work in a circle of people that find everything and anything around us to be potential for satire. We can’t get caught up in the labels connected to that. That would make us equally susceptible of our own satire.

The only reason that sketch performers might consider calling themselves artists or actors is when it comes to writing grant applications. The day we call ourselves artists instead of performers and theatre instead of sketch the tax paying moola rolls in. That’s if you’re not for profit of course.

Granting bodies have their own definitions as do unions and even journalists (journalists especially). I totally get that. But when the leaders of our industry do it... it’s another matter all together. I call myself an actor first. I studied it at University and have a Bachelor of Fuck All - aka Fine Arts - to prove it (it is at this point in writing this that I started drinking heavily).

When I left "Second City":http://www.secondcity.com after three years on the mainstage, I went to my first audition at "Buddies In Bad Times Theatre":http://artsexy.ca here in Toronto. I had prepared my piece and worked it like hell, eager to get myself back into the community that distinguishes itself so intentionally from the improvisation and sketch communities. The “Artistic” Director at the time took one look at my resume and saw the words Second City on it. He looked up at me and said: “Hmmm… been a while since you’ve done theatre huh?” I wanted to turn around and say the same thing to him, the pretentious bastard. We were creating theatre every night at Second City. We produced two shows a year that were formed using improvisation as a tool. Second City relies on zero dollars from the Canadian government to exist. I wonder how many thousands of dollars…no millions of dollars Canadians have handed over to that guy’s “Theatre”. And that guy has the term artist crammed into his job title. I’d rather people knew me as a Second City actor than someone who worked with THAT guy.

I just started up a company with Kayla Lorette, Ronald Pederson, and Naomi Snieckus called "The National Theatre of The World":http://www.thenationaltheatreoftheworld.com that is specifically set out to bridge the gap between Theatre and Improvisation. Our flagship show is "Impromptu Splendour":http://http://www.thenationaltheatreoftheworld.com/Impromptu_Splendor!.html, an hour long improvised play in the style of a different playwright every week. We’ve done Pinter, Beckett, Judith Thompson, Henrik Ibsen and Woody Allen to name a few. Every show, we invite a member of the “theatre community” to play with us too. So far the response has been really encouraging. The guest brings a knowledge of the plays and a sense of grounding to the work while the improvisers take hold of the narrative. There has already been a mingling of both worlds after our shows. This is the type of thing that makes me feel like an artist.

In terms of generating an audience, we hope that we can cross-pollinate both the theatre and comedy audiences and by doing that, double our numbers. We’ve also started offering a Tuesday night drop-in class at Second City for five dollars. We teach acting basically and pepper it with a little improvisation basics so that everyone at least understands the rules that they are about to break. I find that lots of our students end up attending our shows and because they also know a diverse group of people we will hopefully get to a place where we’re not just performing to our friends. That’s the goal here. That or make thousands of friends.

[img_assist|nid=827|title=Gary Rideout and friend|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=191|height=288] *Rideout:* Toronto goes in waves. Right after "SCTV":http://www.sctvguide.ca/ all kinds of sketch popped up. Things cooled when stand-up got hot in the mid-eighties but there were still troupes. Then came "Kids in the Hall":http://www.kidsinthehall.com/ and all of a sudden there were troupes everywhere again. When KITH was nearing its end and CBC was looking for the next big sketch show, there were dozens in Toronto vying for it. It went to "The Vacant Lot":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vacant_Lot which died and brought the scene with it. Troupes that had live success around that time included "the Chumps":http://web.archive.org/web/19970725081332/www.radio.cbc.ca/programs/chum... and "the Frantics":http://www.thefrantics.com/. [Editor's note: The Frantics also had success with their CBC radio comedy program _Frantic Times_ which ran for 3 years and spanned 113 episodes and their TV show _4 on the Floor_ which despite critical acclaim, was pulled after only one season.]

The last 8 or 9 years has been very strange. I started doing live sketch in 2000 as a trio called Todd's Lunch, and at the time there was very little sketch in Toronto. Pretty much us and the Imponderables:www.theimponderables.com and maybe "the Understudies":http://www.myspace.com/3understudies.

The scene has certainly grown since then but it does feel like it has stalled out. Mostly because there is no end game in place. For many years shows like "Comedy Inc":http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/show/CTVShows/20030923/ComedyInc-d... stood in the way of anyone developing a real sketch show. At CBC they considered "Air Farce":www.airfarce.com, "22 Minutes":http://www.cbc.ca/22minutes/ and "Rick Mercer":www.rickmercer.com) all comedies and had a sketch freeze. And Comedy Network fills their sketch quotient by playing re-runs of SCTV, Air Farce and "MadTV":http://www.madtv.com and therefore has no mandate for original sketch.

Toronto Sketchfest has grown from 12 acts the first year to this year where there are 40 acts each getting 2 performances. We don't have audiences like Chicago so we make a point to have out of town acts split bill with local acts.

In 2004 I co-created the Sketchersons after seeing a large cast "Groundlings":http://www.groundlings.com show in LA. Our goal was to write and perform a new show each week. We thought this would help stimulate audiences that were tired of seeing troupes repeat material as guests on each other’s shows. We decided to call the show _Sunday Night Live_ for the general public it was the most immediate way they could identify with what we were doing. We decided to copy the format of "SNL":http://nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live as well. We have a guest host each week and a musical guest. We are now approaching 200 episodes. We have had great success because of the show including 5 straight "Canadian Comedy Award":http://www.ccavoting.com/ nominations (including a win in 2007).

In 2006 we lost our home venue here in Toronto, the former "Poor Alex Theatre":http://pooralex.com/. It would rent weekly runs to plays but was dark on Sundays and fit our needs perfectly. It was where the Air Farce first performed when they came to Toronto and where "Scott Thompson":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Thompson first saw Kids In The Hall perform before he joined the group. Most of the good regular indie comedy in Toronto has to run Sunday to Wednesday. This is because a lot of the venues available for comedy prefer to host bands on the weekend since they are a guaranteed better sell.

Those are the main reasons I opened "Comedy Bar":http://www.comedybar.ca. It was an Eritrean restaurant and pool hall that I bought out the lease in 2007. After 55 weeks of borrowing money and renovating, we opened the doors full time. We now host 2 shows a night, 7 nights a week. Shows range from sketch to improv and stand-up. Not all of the shows are busy but I anticipate continued growth in the sketch community in correlation to the amount of money that is now becoming available for internet content.

*Boothby:* It's interesting that you bring up Sketchcom. A program with all the best intentions but aside from I think one group from the West (who decided for some reason to do a non-comedy song about book burning) all the groups seemed to be from Toronto, all with similar looks, styles and very safe surface level material.

I get that, when you've only got 2-3 sketches, you're going to do your A-material. Maybe the shorter, weirder sketches would have shown the differences but the top of the line stuff all blended together.

In London a few years back they had the sketch nominees all do perform one sketch. Two of the groups had scenes with fully nude men in them, four out of five did sex based sketches. Again I get it, you want to do the scene that kills live but it all merged together and the audience who was shocked and delighted by the first bit o' cock was bored by it shortly.

It's why "Comedy Now":http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/show/CTVShows/1064338205862_59746362/ is so bland. Stand ups do their best material and it all seems the same over the long run. Once in a while something different will stand out and if you saw the comedians perform live straying into their B material the differences would be much clearer but this is TV so time to play it safe. Comedy Inc is a frustrating case of funny people not allowed to be as funny on television as they are live. It's not an East/West thing; it's the wild live experience vs the bland TV one. It doesn't have to be that way. Kids in the Hall showed how to do it, it's too bad TV didn't learn from that.

*Part Two will appear next week*