As December rolls right in, we are constantly reminded of our material desires as shopping malls are filled with Christmas trees, deals and stores with gift-wrapping services for the gift-wrapping-challenged. Nonetheless, although I can’t personally give presents to every single one of the wonderful readers at blogUT, I shall offer this article, which will hopefully offer fond memories and just maybe, reclaim the soul that you lost when you came to U of T. Think back to your childhood days as you slept in and had free time, do you remember asking for these things (or paraphernalia relating to these things) for Christmas/Hanukkah/name your winter holiday? (Warning: if you were not born in the late-80s or early 90s, these things may not apply to you. If that is the case, I entitle you to shake your head and mutter, “Crazy kids, back in my day…” and then write an entry on your own childhood fads and phases.) (more…)

In part three of blogUT’s continuing coverage of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, we find ourselves once again in the cozy Theatre Passe Muraille catching the tail end of the week-long festival. The three final acts were the native Toronto duo Accidental Company, the energetic New York duo Kanellis & Armstrong (covered here), and former University of Toronto student group Statutory Jape. This evening’s performances rounded out a solid week of hilarious sketch comedy that featured groups from near (Toronto) and far (the æther that supposedly lies beyond Toronto) assembled to bring mirth to our frozen, coal-black city dwelling hearts.

In all honesty, it has been a great pleasure to cover this festival, and this author hopes sincerely that you managed to catch at least a little bit of the first-rate comedy that went on there. But enough of my sentimentality (exactly what I heard before getting shoved into a locker in Grade 8): onto the acts!

Accidental Company is a Toronto-based duo that opened the evening’s performance. They opened with a sketch featuring what could only be described as the bastard child of a children’s television show and Pee Wee Herman’s repressed memories. My favorite line came from the protagonist’s Big Book of Ideas: “Chapter 7: starving children should trick-or-treat more!” Accidental Company opened strong and maintained good chemistry throughout their sketches, despite some lulls in their otherwise impeccable energy and timing. The duo had inventive routines, and their sketches took some unexpected routes eschewing audience expectations. Favorite sketches were the autobiography of forward-to-novels writer Samuel McCloud (“Things I Never Did”) and Badjoon’s World.

Kanellis & Armstrong were in good form again. For a more in-depth look at their act, please see blogUT’s review of their Friday night show. A second review of their act revealed a previously unnoticed degree of improvisation, which was a pleasant surprise.

Statutory Jape brought the evening’s performances to a close. Their act, while solid, was by far the longest out of the three acts. It is possible that this is due not to a preponderance of content, but rather to their timing. Some of their sketches were overwrought and lacked actual punch lines to provide structure. Others had punch lines clumsily tacked on at the end of perfectly good sketches, throwing off the dynamic. My philosophy with comedy has always been that less is more (also, Shakespeare may have said that but he’s dead. Who’s plagiarizing whom now, William?!) and the same holds true for sketches. Saying more jokes with fewer words is always better [ED: more jokes, fewer words. [ED: jokes!]]. Nevertheless, I suspect that some of the timing issues are related to the fact that they were by far the largest group (at five performers) and followed two acts of duos (a configuration that helps to emphasize timing). There were some very funny sketches in this act: personal favorites were a Choose Your Own Adventure Diary of Anne Frank and Orson Welles upstaging his own death in Romeo & Juliette.

Do I hear a video mashup of Citizen Kane and Romeo + Juliette in the works? Answer: no.

To reiterate, it has been a pleasure to cover the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival and I recommend that everybody at U of T check it out when it returns next year.  At $12 a ticket, this event exists at the exact intersection between the twin axes of price and fun. (All econometrics of fun (funometrics) courtesy of the Bank of Canada).

In the second part of blogUT’s continuing coverage of the orgy of laughter (and tears) that is the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, our intrepid blogUT crew ventured into the cozy embrace of the retro-chic venue Theatre Passe Muraille this Friday for a late-night 11pm lineup of three intrepid troupes: The Skinny, Kanellis & Armstrong, and U of T alumni group Skule Night. The small size of the crowd was almost certainly attributable to the lateness of the show (who, besides the cast members’ mothers, do you expect to be at a sketch comedy show at 11pm on a Friday night? Answer: pathetic bloggers), but the atmosphere was cozy and made the inevitable bouts of fourth-wall shattering audience participation more tolerable. But enough esoteric details, onto the show!

The Skinny are a three-person troupe hailing from Vancouver, and opened the show with a clever reverse strip tease. My personal favorite line was “Oh yeah, put it on! Put those clothes on slower!” If I were Ron Howard (and God willing someday I will be) I would tell those people to run with it and make the parody video I have been dreaming of since Grade 7: Nelly’s “It’s Gettin’ Colder in Here (So Put on a Parka).” Superheroes and cartoons featured prominently in their sketches, along with well executed bouts of physical comedy. Their shorter sketches sometimes fell flat: the punch line of one sketch advertising sex as a new form of exercise is that, surprise surprise, they have sex! But never fear: the LOLs kept coming. Personal favorite sketches were: (a) Superman accidentally commits murder and has to reverse the rotation of the earth (because, according to Marvel Comics in the 1970s, that’s how time travel works. Get on this, Science!) again and again, and (b) a def poetry jam between heroin-junkie William S. Burroughs and being-sad-junkie Sylvia Plath.

Kannallis & Armstrong are a New York based duo, and provided a strong follow-up to the first act. Their sketches featured prominently funny accents, physical comedy, energetic audience participation, and poop. The duo had very good comedic chemistry and timing, and very few of their sketches fell flat. Another positive aspect of their comedy was the range and depth of characters they played, even when communicating it through a blown-kiss-cùm-fellatio pantomime sketch. Personal favorites included a fecal tennis match, and two Irish women talking about dating (during the potato famine, I assumed).

Skule Night are a University of Toronto based troupe from the Faculty of Engineering and rounded out the evening’s lineup.  Their work, while good, was the least polished of the three. With the largest cast, it was difficult for them to develop characters adequately within the space allotted. Then again, developing any kind of character within the four minute time-frame that most sketches impose is a feat for anyone. With such a large cast, it was hard for many of the performers to develop chemistry, and there were several line flubs and uncontrollable fits of laughter (thanks, Jimmy Fallon for making this seem OK) that detracted from the sketches’ dynamic. There were also some very strong, promising sketches that should be further developed. Personal favorites were a movie trailer voice over artist narrating his friends’ love triangle and the Microsoft Word Swat Team.

The show was, overall, very enjoyable and is highly recommended for any armchair fan of comedy. (Also for people that like to laugh: this logically excludes emotionless cyborgs that live and thrive among us. Sorry, cyborgs!) Please come and support local comedy and the burgeoning U of T comedy scene! Check back for further blogUT reviews of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival.

Oddly on a Tuesday, the 10th, the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival began its 5th season in three venues across the city. Taking place in the venerable comedic halls of The Second City, at theatre mainstay Passe Muraille, and the almost new, year-old Comedy Bar, 38 sketch crews from across the US and Canada, though heavily skewed by a majority of Toronto crews, began their 5 day (Nov. 10-15) barrage of sexual innuendo, physical humour, awkward situations, offensive lyrics, and generally ridiculous over-the-top humour. Four of the tropes are made up of U of T students and blogUT has made it our, honestly very easy mission, to track them all on stage. The four U of T groups are Statutory Jape, Skule Night (one guess on their faculty affiliation), The Boom and Shoeless.

Our mission started on Wednesday the 11th at Theatre Passe Murraille at the SketchFest Toronto Sampler #2 to see our goal, The Boom and Shoeless, as well as two other Toronto tropes, Flamingo Bandit and Raisin Gang. As I arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see an extremely busy box office. Since I am pretty much a newbie to the Toronto comedy scene it was great to discover that the state of the scene was good and healthy, even for aspiring comics. There was some decent merchandise — your typical buttons with the Sketchfest skewed pacman ($1) and new shirts with the festival marquee ($15) and the previous year’s version ($10), all available if you want to support the event.

The small to medium-ish venue was almost completely sold out with the exception of some balcony seats. Already the audience was lively and jonesing for a show, an atmosphere that was helped along by the fact that there was a cash bar in the theatre ($5 Steamwhistle, red/white wine), presumably so you can get drunk at the show to compensate for perhaps lackluster groups. Some of the balcony seats also were lucky enough to have tables, though no food.

The show started slightly late and began with the fest’s introductory video clip, which could be previously viewed online, although it has since been wisely removed as there was no way of stopping or muting the video, which got extremely annoying after repeated visits. Ironically, at the show the video had a tech glitch and was mute, creating a weird silence — never usually a good omen at a comedy show. However, in this case it did not foreshadow disaster. This led into a short host segment where it was obvious who had Facebooked all their friends to come, as the Raisin Gang and Shoeless both got massive applause.

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Image from Wikipedia

So I went caving, aka “spelunking,” this weekend. I came away with so many bruises but it was all worth it considering how much fun I had. Now for those of you who don’t know what caving is, go here.

I swear that having escaped all of those — what I consider to be — “near death” experiences really changed my perspective on things like how strong our instinctual survival abilities are. I had to climb, crawl, lean against walls and whatever else, whilst holding a tiny flash light in my hand, as I was sure I was close to plunging to my death. Alright I might be exaggerating a bit, considering how much of a wimp I am. I kept having to ask my fellow cavers (yes I made up that word) to help me out, like by telling me how the heck they were able to climb up or down and in or out in the first place.

If you’d like to give caving a try, why not join our very own U of T Outing club (UTOC)? There are several opportunities to go caving with them at their cabin near the Niagara Escarpment. The club also offers other amazing outdoor events and activities.

In my honest opinion, Saints Alive! is one of the best student productions I have ever seen! I laughed almost the entire time and the music was stuck in my head even after the performance. The performers were so talented and, in, addition to acting, sung marvelously as well. Each actor had his or her own unique quirkiness and charm. The piano accompaniment was solid and lively and the musical numbers were choreographed well; not a single note was off tune (to me, anyway, the tone-deaf girl).

The actors were so well versed in their dialogue, as any actor should be, I kept thinking to myself, How could they possibly remember all those lines and lyrics? They pulled off such a grandiose play with ease.

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If you missed out on the Hart House Wide Open House, then you might as well move to Antarctica and have Morgan Freeman narrate your life (bad movie pun). The Open House was beautifully organized chaos. At the heart of its complexity and diverse nature there was a radiating source of beauty and vibrancy.

There was live music, food, free prizes, beautiful people and a BUTTON MAKING CLASS! What else can the human soul long for? Oh and did I mention they had an awesome mini club fair?

For those of you who missed the event, I shall try my hardest to embody its pulsating atmosphere in this article.

MOVE OVER Martha,  Hart House is the new party hostess. With great free stuff,  food, entertainment and activities the Hart House Wide Open House was a success!

Sit back and relax as I take you through the Open House:

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