Montréal Sketchfest 2017

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5 time winner of The Giant Piece of Bark (AKA Best of Fest) back in the hands of Elephant Empire! Photo: Lesley Stoch

We’d say that our 2017 festival was a dream but we’ve spoken to friends and family and everyone agrees it was real and it happened! Thanks to all the dreamers that came together to make sketch comedy magic a sweet reality! 

Award Winners

GIANT PIECE OF BARK AKA THE BEST OF THE FEST: Elephant Empire

JUST FOR LAUGHS AWARD: Kirsten Rasmussen

MEILLEURE TROUPE FRANCO: Doggybag

BAG O’ BEER AWARD (BEST NEWCOMER): Tallboyz II Men & Jon Blair

BEST LOCAL TROUPE: HOT RAW FIRE

PRIX GRINDER: Sketch Machina

Kirsten Rasmussen accepting the Just for Laughs Award from JFL Producer Sophia Salador

Meilleure Troupe Franco 2017… Doggybag!

Tallboyz II Men and Jon Blair with that Giant Bag of Beer Best Newcomer award!

SATURDAY MAY 13 BEST OF THE FEST SHOW! 

HOT RAW FIRE, Tallboyz II Men, Doggybag, Backstreet’s Back, Jon Blair, Elephant Empire, Flo & Joan, Pickle Party, Cousins, Soul Decision & Kirsten Rasmussen

Festival Art by Steve Patrick Adams

BIG THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS & PARTNERS FOR THE SUPPORT. WE LOVE YOU FOREVER!

BEAU’S ALL NATURAL – BEST BEER SPONSOR EVER. THANK YOU FOR THE TASTY BREWS!

JUST FOR LAUGHS SUPPORTS OUR FEST YEAR AFTER YEAR AND WE LOVE THEM! 

2017 FESTIVAL VENUES

Theatre Sainte-Catherine has been our home for many years. Sketch, Improv and all other forms of comedy + art, coffee and homemade food all year round! Let the good times roll!

Montreal Improv is a force in Montreal, pumping out hilariously talented improvisers and sketch comedians. We are stoked to have hosted the fest here again for the 3rd year in a row. Long live Montreal Improv!

For the first time ever we hosted Sketchfest shows at Mainline Theatre and it was a good times jamboree! Kudos to the whole team over there for being so accommodating and letting us get sketchy in their space!

A Montreal institution, sketch has made its way to Comedyworks. Our first ever solo sketch showcase (hosted by the loves of our life Ladies & Gentlemen) was a blast!

Festival Artists

Our 2017 lineup featured over 70 troupes from Montreal, Toronto, New York, Philadelphia, Ottawa, Vancouver, Halifax, Chicago & Washington D.C.!

A Shoddy Magician (Toronto) • Anesti Danelis (Toronto) • Ape Island (Toronto) • Backstreet’s Back (Montreal) • Bad Medicine (Washington, DC) • Barbara Bush (Philadelphia) • Beans on Toast (Montreal) • Big Britches (New York) • Big Mall (Montreal) • Blood & Thunder (Montreal) • Box of Bees (Montreal) • Boys Club! (Toronto) • Bridge & Tunnel (New York) • Brunch (Vancouver) • Carson Daly’s Last Request (New York) • Chris Middleton (Toronto) • Clip Show (New York) • Cousins (Montreal) • Dame Judy Dench (Toronto) • Deb Ring (Ottawa) • Definition Of Knowledge (Toronto) • Dink Floyd (Montreal) • Doggybag (Montréal) • Elephant Empire (Toronto) • Employees of the Year (Montreal) • Erreur 404 (Montréal) • Évelyne Laniel (Montréal) • Figgy Pudding (Halifax) • Flo & Joan (Toronto) • Fusion (Toronto) •  Goddamn Bear (Montreal) • Great Toe (Montreal) • GROSS! (Montreal) • HOT RAW FIRE (Montreal) • Jon and Ian Have Something to Tell You (Philadelphia) • Jon Blair (Toronto) • Just Asking (Montreal) • Kill It Scott! (New York) • Kirsten Rasmussen : Full Time Idiot (Toronto) • L’il RasGALS (Toronto) • Ladies & Gentlemen (Montreal) • (Montréal) • Les Femmelettes (Montréal) • Les Pic-Bois (Montréal) •  Les SketchTapes (Montréal) • Ma Tante Jeannine (Montréal) • Marine et Marie (Montréal) • Martin Nolan (New York) • Marty Topps (Toronto) • Michael Becker LIVE (Montreal) • Moniquea Marion (Toronto) • Mothreal (Montreal) • O Dat Dum (Toronto) • O.C. (Toronto) • Okie-Dokie (Montreal) • Palcoholics (Toronto) • Pickle Party (Montreal) • Proud of You (Vancouver) • Rapp Battlez (Toronto) • Sketch Machina (Montréal) • Sketchy As Fuck (Toronto) • Smart Alec Baldwins (Montreal) • Soul Decision (Toronto) • Stockton (New York) • Tall Sigh (Toronto) • Tallboyz II Men (Toronto) • The Executives (New York) • The Firing Squad (Montreal) • The Flat Earth (Philadelphia) • The Flirty Boys (Toronto) • The Incredible Shrinking Matt & Jacquie (Philadelphia) • The Junkyard Dukes (Toronto) • The Storefront (Chicago) • The Templeton Philharmonic (Toronto) • The Two Draculas (Toronto) •  Tom & Erica (Toronto) • Too Blondes (New York) • Tracy + Alison [Friends] (Montreal) • TwoSon (Toronto) • Ugly x Crying (New York) • Vest of Friends (Toronto) • White Running Back (Montreal)

EXTRAS!

Sketch Comedy Workshops 2017!

Sketch Comedy writing with Peter Stevens

Bring your pen or laptop to write your own sketch (a short, comedic scene). This workshop is based on clear, practical advice so that you will leave this experience with something that you have created and love. Peter believes that advice should be concrete and quantifiable -so you can see exactly how your writing has improved. Peter is a teacher, improv instructor, and award-winning writer for sketch comedy troupe Elephant Empire and The Irrelevant Show on CBC Radio.
Saturday May 13th, 2017
*THIS WORKSHOP OCCURRED IN THE PAST* 
Peter Stevens has been writing and performing comedy for over fifteen years. He is the head writer of Elephant Empire, a four-time champion of Montreal Sketchfest. In Toronto, he counts himself lucky to collaborate with the top comedy talent of our generation including Dan Beirne, Mark Little, and Kayla Lorette. Peter is also a Canadian Comedy Award winning writer (for CBC’s Irrelevant Show), improvisor, and a traveling high school teacher for the MEI Academy.

Thanks to every single one of you beautiful people that participated in the fest for making it the best ever!

Volunteers 2017

Mariana Vial, Suzanne Tee, Ariella Garmaise, Seth Galina, Lesley Stoch, Yohane Cassabois, Manon Delbello, Catherine Patry, Marie-Christine Dufresne, Matt Enos, Saima Ahmed, Dimitri Kyres, Andy Assaf, Danny Belair, Emily Bilton, Ross Wegscheider, Emelia Hellman, Coco Belliveau, Maissoun Alkhalidey, Xavier Tolentino, Justin Blair, Romain Moraud & Alon Azimov