If this were a typical 2020, by now, you would have read my 10,000-word “Nerd’s Guide to the 20th SF Sketchfest,” half a dozen interviews of performers, and a few dozen reviews of shows. I would also be exhausted laughing and taking in 2-3 shows a night for three weeks. Instead, I’m exhausted because my days are spent chasing a child that’s nearly two around the apartment, as well as being emotionally spent from the pressures of life during a pandemic. I also got to enjoy SF Sketchfest on my couch and took in as many performers as they usually book over three weeks in a single 3 ½ hour block.
“Festpocalypse! A Virtual Variety Show Fundraiser for SF Sketchfest” was the full name of the event. Since this blog is for nerds, and nerds are a fussy breed that pays far too much attention to rules, this wasn’t a “variety show” in the typical sense. There wasn’t a single host introducing anyone or bridging the different performances together, which is a somewhat important characteristic of a variety show. If anything, it was a tribute to SF Sketchfest. It was a series of different filmed pieces covering what Sketchfest does: sketch comedy, improv, “Tributes” where a master of comedy talks with another master of comedy about their career, stand-up, cinema tributes, and more. There were also short remarks about how wonderful the event is made by performers from the last 19 iterations of the event.
The show was great, although there were some imperfections. Every submission was filmed at home, so the performers were forced to make do with whatever they had. This meant some people sounded and looked great, and others were choppy and had volume issues. (Parv & Pudi had this most jarringly, as Pudi’s voice would often get drowned out by Parv. A shame because this was a fantastic bit.) It also was, well, almost too much of a good thing. As Eugene Mirman said ahead of his intermission bit where he cut his hair with a Flowbee that it was going to take him a full week to finish watching the whole thing. And, since much of the cast is based in LA, the epicentre of COVID in the US, all of these performances were done via video conference.
Again, those things were fleeting. These were created by some of the greatest comedic minds alive, and they more often than not rose above the limitations. This was a joyful night with many highlights. Legendary sketch troupe The State presented a conference call between many of the original series characters, culminating in a “We Didn’t Start The Fire”-esque read-through of how things have changed since the ’90s, only replace the fire with dipping your balls in them. Ron Funches and Joel Kim Booster debated Breakfast vs Dinner with such ferocity I was legit scared. Christopher Guest and Jane Lynch chatted like old friends, and it was hysterical. Triumph, The Insult Comic Dog tried his best to insult Weird Al Yankovic, the nicest human alive, and it failed in all the right ways, culminating in a lovely duet of “Mr Belvedere” to the tune of “Chandelier” by SIA.
Despite not being able to present an in-person event, the good folks at SF Sketchfest gave us a memorable night of joy to weather these dark times and hopefully made enough money to come back with a vengeance next year. That’s the 21st year, so hopefully, it’s messy in all the right ways. Until then, although “Festpocalypse” is over, you can still rent it at SFSketchfest.com! There are also plenty of excellent events from their archives available for rent. It feels good to blast an audience through your computer speakers… It makes it feel almost like you are alive and with others again.
