What is sketch comedy, and which festivals put it on?

What Is Sketch Comedy? | Comedy Festival Guide

The short answer

DC Sketchfest describes a sketch as a brief comedy scene with every line written in advance, and the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival adds that it is written and rehearsed, usually by a cast, though solo character work counts. Toronto, DC Sketchfest and Seattle Sketchfest are built around it; Montclair, Flyover, Nottingham, PlayGround and the NZ International Comedy Festival list it too.

What the festivals call sketch

DC Sketchfest describes a sketch as a brief comedy scene with every line written in advance and points to Saturday Night Live as the familiar example. The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival describes sketch as any funny performance that a cast of comedians writes, rehearses and performs, and says solo character work, musical comedy, clown and drag count too. Writing every line first is what sets it apart from improv: to Toronto, sketch is live comedy written down and rehearsed until it is polished, and its programme takes in any live comedy that is not stand-up or improv.

Festivals built around sketch

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, founded in 2005, returns from 3 to 14 March 2027. Seattle Sketchfest, established in 1999, calls itself the nation's longest running sketch comedy festival; its 2026 festival ran from 24 to 27 September. DC Sketchfest brings dozens of troupes from the US and Canada for four days each spring, and says its 2027 dates will be announced in the autumn of 2026. Philly Sketchfest says it will be back in 2027, and Montreal Sketchfest bills itself as the city's only sketch comedy festival.

Mixed bills that include sketch

Several comedy festivals put sketch beside stand-up and improv. The Montclair Comedy Festival runs eight days of stand-up, improv, sketch and variety in downtown Montclair, New Jersey, from 14 to 21 November 2026. Flyover Comedy Festival brings stand-up, improv, sketch and variety to St. Louis from 11 to 15 November 2026. The Nottingham Comedy Festival, 30 October to 8 November 2026, has grown to include stand-up, improvisation and sketch. PlayGround's comedy festival at Potrero Stage, 12 March to 4 April 2027, includes sketch and comedic plays, and the NZ International Comedy Festival, 30 April to 23 May 2027, lets you filter its shows by sketch.

What is sketch comedy, and which festivals put it on?

What the festivals call sketch

Festivals built around sketch

Mixed bills that include sketch

Sources

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