Montreal Sketchfest dispatch # 2 (Holy Fuck Comedy Hour, O Dat Dum, Chocolate Feelings, Joketown)

Read Xavier’s previous reviews from Montreal Sketchfest here.

The host of the 9pm show, local alt comedian Leeland Beckman, had his bass guitar already amped up when he latched onto an audience member’s story from earlier in the evening about their colonoscopy, then riffed something hilarious about hurtful hemorrhoids, but not before awkwardly apologizing for what he was about to sing. A true human among comedians.

Finally, some local Montreal blood to sweeten the night of sketch comedy, Chocolate Feelings are mostly Matt Enos, Anton Golikov, Alex Botros. They’re such masters at revisionist historical sketch comedy, if I had them as history teachers in HS, I would’ve aced those classes. What cool/funny positions shall the statesmen of Pompeii and their citizens take before the big disaster? What happens when mob talk is taken literally: there’s a real rat in the organization — toss ‘em in a fish tank and now they’re sleeping with the fishes… I guess you just had to be there.

O Dat Dum, 2015 winners of the sketchiest sketch troupe (whatever that means) at the Toronto sketch Fest, were up next. As the name implies, they tackle subject matter too dumb for most. And there’s no safer space than the alt comedy scene. Good, since they brought together performers from other well-known troupes already at the fest. Deadpan gazes as they repeat phrases, each one pronounced a bit differently for heightened comedic effect. You think you know dumb, until they take you to their level. Dum. That’s not a typo. Just efficient & economical, don’t try to overthink it. These folks are scary good and even had the New York performers eating from our laughter trough as well. With scenes like blind daters who upon meeting find out they’re hot dog empire rivals, these folks are my new spirit animal.

Instead of having to drive to NYC to discover funny talent before they’re stars in our TV’s/laptops, the tables were turned as the Annoyance Theatre sic’ed their cabal of performers from the big apple on us townsfolk to put on the Holy Fuck Comedy Hour. Like a pack of trained wolves, they took to the stage, hungry to make us laugh at solid sketch gold, spun from fast-paced, silly ideas. Two of their performers also gave workshops on separate days, each providing different insights into the Annoyance Theatre’s way of cranking out the knee-slappers quickly & efficiently. During HFCH, performers did a series of sketches intermixed with absurdist standup: a bachelorette show with Paul Giamatti as one of the hopefuls; sex doctor to the stars reveals his famous clients’ deviant bodily additions, “cool guys” in a nondescript location (because sometimes the “where” is not important) singing in unison, then taking turns shouting about not having it so good, despite their “cool guy” body language.

Any lover of the comedy scene would have easily gotten their fill by then if they had sat through the 7 & 9 pm shows and could have easily gone home. But given the fact that recently-born weekly in-house sketch show Joketown is running during Sketchfest, I didn’t want to miss it, and neither did the people around me, as they remained in their seats for the long haul.

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Still in its infancy, the monthly Joketown coincided last Saturday with the 11th annual Sketchfest at Theatre Ste Catherine, both two great things Montreal has right now in terms of sketch comedy one can look forward to, it’s like 2 “goldilocks” planets in perfect alignment. Is it the sign of the laughocalypse? NO! It’s the battle for mayoral duties over Joketown for the week, this time within a larger cadre of the Montreal Sketchfest.

If you don’t know what the heck Joketown is, it’s instantly become my new fave monthly night of freshly written sketch comedy; it’s not unlike being in the writer’s bullpen at SNL. Eight writers are randomly paired off with one another (so no favorite cliques or anything) to make four teams, then are given less than a week to write, assemble their cast, have it read aloud around the table, rehearse, then finally perform it in front of the paying crowd. It’s put on & hosted by one of my favorite performers/comedians/writers/air guitarist/improvisers D.J Mausner, and joined by TSC co-founder Alain Mercieca, both usually costumed as cops, coaches or anything that represents authority taken from the theatre’s “tickle trunk,” and keeping the “Key to Joketown” safe until a new hero is called upon.

For two months, Sehar Manji served back-to-back terms as Mayor as she got the unanimous vote for her strong stories & performances. Did she win a third term with another hilarious sketch? Or was a coup staged to overthrow her grasp on power by one of her rivals from within her writer’s circle?

Well, as defending Mayor, Sehar’s skit “The Beauty & The Beat” had the King & Queen of Joketown (Yes, add Joketown to the list of places still run by royalty. Or is it only symbolic? Hopefully someone could tackle this question in a future sketch) be cursed by the local wizard with insomnia for days until two rivaling troubadours finally break the spell.

Alex Brown’s “At the Drive In” sets up the neighbours kids, one inexperienced & dorky, the other expressive & active; throw in some overtones a la Graduate with the daughter’s mother, and you’ve got a smartly written piece that is hilarious & physical, while pointing out the social constructs within a patriarchal society.

Vance Gillis’ “Grimley’s Choice” employed some of the talented performers from Team Greco to give us a tale of weird fucked up ungrateful kids vying for their daddy’s love.If I saw these children at the end of a dark hallow at a dilapidated mansion while stripping it for copper wiring (diversify your remuneration streams y’all), I’d freak the fuck out.

Attempting to stop the slaughter at The Annual Clambake

Another Joketown writer favourite is Lise Vigneault, who served us the “Annual Clam Bake” with a girl from the Joketown cove who is in love with clams and needs to save them all. “Clams are like people,” she professes as she holds folded cardboard props in each hand, “they’re clams for your pockets.” Secrets are revealed. Expectations were reversed at the final gathering before all of the clams could be executed.

At the end of the show, the crowd cheered the loudest for their fave team/writer. Things got pretty close in decibels between Alex Brown and despot ruler Sehar Manji, but in the end one must emerge victorious, and so the golden key to Joketown was proudly passed on from Sehar, to the new Mayor of the month, Alex Brown, for her Drive In skit.

Tune in to Joketown Radio  for more news concerning its citizens and visitors. Like the Joketown page on Facebook for info on the next one: Joketown X (or 10 for you non-roman statespeople).

Montreal Sketchfest runs through May 14. For the complete schedule and tickets, visit montrealsketchfest.com. You can follow Xavier on Twitter.