Philadelphia Comedy Month Announces Improv Festival And Sketch Festival Schedules

 In the aftermath of the 2012 Presidential Election, the Philadelphia Comedy Collective is giving the city an opportunity to laugh out its collective frustration as Philadelphia Comedy Month hosts the Eighth Annual Philadelphia Improv Festival from Wednesday November 7-Sunday, November 11 and the Fifth Annual Philly Sketchfest from Monday, November 12-Saturday November 17.  Tickets for the Improv Festival cost $10 per single block of performances, or passes are available nightly for $15-$20 as well as $60 for all five nights. The Improv Festival and Sketch Fest will be held in Independence Foundation Black Box at the Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut Street. More information can be found at www.phlcomedy.com or by calling 267-441-4780.

Annually, the Philadelphia Improv Festival showcases the city’s robust and thriving improv scene while paring it with some of the top rising improv acts in the country. Headlining the festival this year is Live Nude Improv, from Austin Texas. They are set to perform at 10 p.m. on Saturday November 10. Live Nude Improv is an experiment and an unscripted exploration of modern theater in all its glory, commitment and ridiculousness. 

Using games, scenes and radical storytelling techniques, eight of Austin’s most accomplished improvisers will create a never-before-seen-and-never-to-be-seen-again play. Audiences can expect playfulness, vulnerability, inspiration and the infinite possibility of improvisation. The show is modern American drama at its most thrilling and unpredictable, there will be a little more skin than than normally witnessed at a run-of-the-mill improv show.

The wildly entertaining duo from Los Angeles Billyhawk returns for yet another year. The festival is presenting an all-star cast of improvisors from ImprovBoston and they are welcoming back Junior Varsity from the Magnet Theater in New York. Beauty School Dropouts from Toronto is set to perform. The two-person, fully sung, improvised musical Vox Pop is also returning to the festival. 

Local teams are highly represented in the line-up. Philly Improv Theater’s house teams Davenger, King Friday, Mayor Karen, Hot Dish, Hey Rube, and ZaoGao are set to perform. Three independent featuring prominent current and former members of ComedySportz Philadelphia are also set to take the stage. A team called Wisdom Teeth featuring former ComedySportz player Alexis Simpson and current players Alli Soowal and Kristen Finger, and Philadelphia improvisor Maggie Keegan is set to make its debut. Soowal is also appearing with Liz Scott in their wildly hilarious and popular duo BWP. ComedySportz players Mary Carpenter and Steve Rooney are also presenting their duo, Till Death Do Us Part, which improvised based on a1960’s Catholic marriage handbook. Several independent local improv teams are on the line-up as are Philadelphia’s short-form specialists, The N Crowd.

 

The 5^th Annual Philly Sketchfest is welcoming headliner John Ennis from Mr. Show with Bob & David. Ennis, who appeared on the famed HBO sketch show for all four seasons. Ennis is set to appear Saturday, November 17 at 10 p.m. The festival also includes a solid line-up of local sketch acts including Animosity Pierre, Camp Woods, The Feeko Brothers, and Mani Pedi. On Tuesday, November 13, Sketchfest is also hosting the annual Dirtiest Sketch in Philadelphia competition.

 

The festival also brings in talent from up and down in the East Coast including Friends of Gertrude and Sawyer and Hurley from Boston and Boosh Kla-Klau, Onassis, Marina & Nicco and Missing Earl from New York City.

Improv Festival Schedule
8th Annual Philadelphia Improv Festival
Wednesday, Nov. 7
7:30PM
Rintersplit – Philadelphia
Nielsen – Philadelphia
Hot Dish – Philadelphia

9:00PM
Gross Butler – Philadelphia
Chaperone – Philadelphia
Beauty School Dropouts – Toronto
Davenger – Philadelphia

Thursday, Nov. 8
7:30PM
N Crowd – Philadelphia
Firth&Arjet – Austin
Soiree – Philadelphia

9:00PM
Iron Lung – Philadelphia
Photobomb – Baltimore
King Friday – Philadelphia
Briami Sound Machine – Chicago

Friday, Nov. 9
7:00PM
Mister Licorice – Baltimore
Popular Science – Los Angeles
ZaoGao – Philadelphia

8:30PM
Adrift – Various
Wisdom Teeth – Philadelphia / Los Angeles
Til Death Do Us Part – Philadelphia

10:00PM
The Imposters – New York City
BWP – Philadelphia
Rich Uncle – Boston
Chet Watkins – New York City

Saturday, Nov. 10
7:00PM
Birthday Milk – Boston
Lekker – Baltimore
Junior Varsity – New York City

8:30PM
Hey Rube – Philadelphia
ImprovBoston – Boston
BillyHawk – Los Angeles

10:00PM
Live Nude Improv – Austin

11:00PM
PHIF All-Stars – Various
Rare Bird Show – Philadelphia / Los Angeles
Vox Pop – Brooklyn / DC

Sunday, Nov. 11
7:00PM
Population: Six – Baltimore
Double Date – New York City
Suggestical – Philadelphia

8:30PM
Mayor Karen – Philadelphia
Scoresby – New York City
Amie & Kristen Show / Kristen & Amie Show – Philadelphia
ShawnMikael(s) – DC

Philadelphia Sketch Fest Schedule
5th Annual Philly Sketchfest
Monday, Nov. 12
8:00PM
Sketch Shots – Philadelphia
Judo Range – Philadelphia
Local Holiday Miracle – Philadelphia
Tales from a Body Cast – Philadelphia
Hillary Rea Crush Comedy – Philadelphia
Clay & Calhoun – South Jersey

Tuesday, Nov. 13
8:00PM
Dirtiest Sketch in Philadelphia Competition

Wednesday, Nov. 14
8:00PM
The Specific Jawns – Philadelphia
Mani Pedi – Philadelphia
MacCloskey & Myers – New York City
The Mask & Wig Club – Philadelphia

Thursday, Nov. 15
8:00PM
High Dramma – Philadelphia
The Monthly Hour – Philadelphia
Desperate Times – New York City

Friday, Nov. 16
8:00PM
Boosh Kla-Klau – New York City
Animosity Pierre – Philadelphia

9:15PM
Onassis – New York City
Camp Woods – Philadelphia

10:30PM
Brick Penguin – DC
The Feeko Brothers – Philadelphia

Saturday, Nov. 17
7:00PM
Marina & Nicco – New York City
Friends of Gertrude – Boston

8:30PM
Missing Earl – New York City
Sawyer & Hurley – Boston

10:00PM
John Ennis – from Mr Show with Bob & David

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