Introducing 20Q
(-ish). A new feature in which Sketchcenter, and it’s intrepid
Staff, interview the best and the brightest in the sketch comedy community.
Sketchcenter staff member Kevin Chesley takes the tally as the LA Fest of Sketch lights up tinseltown once again.
The table that Charlize Theron usually sits at for interviews was taken. Figures. Lawrin Goulston Salazar and I choose a different table
(a better one, in my opinion) at the Café des Artistes and sit back to gab sketch and hide from the paparazzi. Lawrin is the Producer of The LA Fest of Sketch – Los Angeles’ only sketch-devoted Festival – which celebrates its 5th Anniversary from October 19th through November 4th.
And 2006 will mark a year of huge growth for the Fest. Many of the groups, like NYC’s Fearsome and Chicago’s
The Cool Table, are new to LA this year, helping to up the list of groups from 33 to 40. Every corner of North America is represented, and the A/V gauntlet is being thrown down in the form of the LAFS Film Festival: a cavalcade of video sketch featuring teams like
Trophy Dad, Sketch Armstrong, and
Better Than The Machine. The city that calls film its bread and butter is giving sketch movie-making its due.
And, this year, the Fest also returns to its original location: The McCadden Theatre. Opened by Lawrin and her husband Joe in 1995, LAFS 2006 will mark the theatre’s 100th main stage production. The theatre’s first performance was an Improv show that Lawrin remembers with mixed emotions. She wryly recalls seeing one audience member grip the theatre’s outside gate upon finding out intermission was over and whispering desperately, “Don’t make me go back in!” It would be years later when Lawrin and Joe would find the right comedic fit for the McCadden – and the “Sketchy Weekends” would begin.*
Both Lawrin and Joe come from theatre backgrounds. Lawrin’s father was the producer responsible for bringing Beyond the Fringe and Nichols & May to Broadway, so it’s no surprise that she would grow up to be a champion for sketch comedy. “I’m still amazed when someone can crack the writing of it…the performance of it. When it clicks it’s amazing.” And one night, five years ago, Lawrin watched the sketch team The Hollywood Players, and it clicked for her in a big way. Since then, she’s auditioned scores of groups - from throughout LA and beyond - and given many of them a home on The McCadden Theatre stage. The cream of that crop are then among those selected to perform at the LA Fest of Sketch. And, in this year’s line-up, a monster list of seasoned McCadden regulars
(like 5-time LAFS stalwarts OPM) share the stage with brash new local upstarts and stellar visiting teams from all across North America.
“We saw
everybody last year,” muses Adam Sass of Wet Cookies, “every group was so vastly different…but everyone shares the same energy.” And what do the Cookies add to the mix? “We’re weird. We do weird better than most people.” The group, returning for its second LAFS appearance, is relieved to have graduated their weirdness to the ‘normal’ timeslots after joining the party as a midnight show last year. They’re also thrilled to be performing in front of a new crowd, not as familiar with them as their usual audience at Chapman University. “Now we get to perform for the ‘real’ world,” snickers fellow Wet Cookie Catherine Lamb, “we won’t be coddled…time to hit a broader target.”
And that increased audience base is one of the most exciting parts of a Fest like LAFS – both for home teams and visitors alike. Los Angeles is a hard town to earn an audience base in, and strength in numbers works for sketch teams as well. Many of the groups, like
TROOP! and
Sketch Camp, are choosing this arena to show off some brand new material. The latter’s Jeff Leaf is ready to dive in: “finally this is our time to do a brand new show.” Members of
Sketch Camp wowed this humble reporter last year with an incredibly high energy barrage of sketch. And they’ve had an incredibly busy year, taking the Miami Improv Festival by storm and filming their pilot up North in Canada. But they’re psyched to be back home in LA.
One of the trends Lawrin sees in today’s Sketchiverse is a happy explosion of two-person teams, and LAFS has a great array:
Karla, Diani & Devine, Competitive Awesome, Keilly & Roeters, Tom & Patty, Somebody’s In The Doghouse, Julz And Av, Deb & Judy…there’s a lot of Ands and &s making us laugh this year. One such duo is The
Printers’ Daughters, who debut their brand new show “Reading Rainstorm” at the Fest this year. Lampooning the greatest writers of all time, the Daughters will act as your very own Levar Burton -- dancing through the works of everyone from Anton Chekhov to Sylvia Plath while still leaving room to give Judy Blume the tribute she’s always deserved.
Female groups are a snazzily growing trend this year as well, and
Angry Jellow Bubbles have been a part of that movement for the last decade. Their artistic director Tony Lepore describes the show as “a wide array of comedic sketches from a female perspective,” and that array gets even wider when you as The Bubbles pride themselves on changing up their set every single show – LAFS included -- each of their dates showcases different material. A great bonus for Festival pass-holders.
And that bonus is also boasted by The Cool Table, in from Chicago, who are bringing three completely separate sets of material to LAFS, including sketches to be featured in
The HaHaHalloween Spooktacular hosted on, you guessed it, October 31st. Many of the groups are thrilled to have a theme night to sink their premises into, and that enthusiasm also carries over into the flurry of submissions to this year’s first ever LAFS Film Fest.
The response to the addition of filmed sketch has been so over-whelming that Lawrin predicts it will become the fastest growing facet of LAFS. She definitely intends to give before-the-lens comedy even more room to shine when the Festival returns in 2007. This year’s collection features such national greats as
Trophy Dad, Uphill Both Ways, and
The Asparaguys.
Lawrin hints that the entire Festival may even become a semi-annual event in the coming year partially based on this new direction. With a roster that continues to grow – including an interested team from The Artic Circle…quite a first – it does seem like the Festival has the chance to spread its influence even further.
But the biggest influence of Lawrin’s LAFS could be within her own home. Her baby daughter (Sadie – 2 ½) was just featured in a video by
Summer Of Tears and her son, Sammy, watches as many of the shows as he can. He’s perhaps the youngest fan of live sketch since Lawrin herself – watching the acts her father helped to stardom in her youth. Lately he’s been working in the Nuevo-Pirate Joke Renaissance, whipping out this new classic: “Why wasn’t the kid allowed to go to the Pirate movie?...Because it’s rated ARRRRRR!” Sure, I’ve heard the joke before too…but most of us haven’t mastered it ‘til our twenties. I probably got it wrong anyway. Either way, the kid’s nailing it and he’s still in Elementary School. The future of sketch comedy is forever secure.
* Both the author and Lawrin do not mean this story to be a dis on Improv. They both likes Improv. (Though the author sees the fact that the Improv show in question was long enough to merit an Intermission as being quite a bad sign.)
