Arts Editor Jose Amador's weekly tour of the Theater companies who are beginning their production's run during the week ahead. This week features new solo work from an experimental performance artist, a sketch show from one of Seattle's newer groups, and the world's quickest theater festival, 14/48, who have decided to make this summer's offering a battle of the sexes. more ›

Watching the Pork Filled Players and their Canadian guests Assaulted Fish in their new show, Workin' Swine to Five is a study in contrasts. On the surface they share many similarities. Both groups are hilarious. Both are a mix of men and women. Both have no respect for stereotypes. Both indulge in delightful crudity to various degrees. Beyond the obvious, though, is an interesting cultural difference. more ›

ONE WORLD, TWELVE FINALISTS: Central Cinema will be featuring some of the twelve best short films submitted to the 2009 Manhattan Shorts Festival tonight--the first night of the three-day event. Manhattan's goal is to show the finalists in venues on every continent, uniting audiences around the world, for this one week only. We must admit that they have a point when they ask, "For up-and-coming filmmakers, what greater test for your film is there than to be judged in cinemas by a global audience?" So go join in on the judging fun, and let your inner-critic shine. more ›

HILARIOUS TOMFOOLERY: Andrew Connor of The Cody Rivers Show, a brilliant physical comedy group out of Bellingham, has brought MissoulaOblongata's newest show, The Last Hurrah of the Clementines, to Theatre Off Jackson. Connor, who has great taste, and is rumored to be the newest curator of Seattle Sketchfest, is pretty much guaranteed to bring in a winner. If you're not convinced, check out the synopsis: more ›

Nothing ages as poorly as sketch comedy television. You remember it being it hilarious, but when you sit someone down in front of a "Mr. Show" or "Kids in the Hall" or "Ben Stiller Show" DVD, invariably, the first episode passes in uncomfortable silence before you have to admit that, at the time, it was hilarious, but maybe it would have made more sense to watch a few clips on YouTube instead of buying the boxed set collector's edition DVDs. more ›

Sketch comedy isn't rocket science. Get some funny jokes, present them in a scene, and get off the stage. more ›

Well, this piece certainly is interesting. We recognize it as satire because we know the cultural context that is Dan Savage. We only wish that Mr. Savage would have done the same about a month or four ago when he royally skewered Garrison Keillor, who wrote his own bit of satire in this Salon piece. more ›

When it was announced that NBC would be airing a new show from Aaron Sorkin we were filled with much joy. more ›

Jesse Thorn, member of sketch comedy group Prank the Dean, produces his public radio show from his own living room in Los Angeles. At first, Seattlest thought that was code for "I am unemployed and play a lot of XBox" but it turns out he actually does have a radio show (this is still ambiguous on the "unemployed" detail), and even more to the point: it is very good. more ›

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. more ›

Great comedy minds regulary rave about sketch comedy group Kasper Hauser so we felt we were in good hands going in to Thursday's night's show at Re-bar. more ›

Books: Isabel Allende reads from her new novel, Ines of My Soul. The Ines in question here is...ah...a real person...who, well, she's got something to do with Chile, historically. It's all there in the book. And what difference does it make? Allende is so damn charming to listen to. more ›

Kaspar Hauser, the San Francisco sketch group that performs Thursday at Rebar, is smarter, faster, more creative, and miles ahead of any intentionally funny sketch comedy group performing today. more ›

It's been forever since we've heard from local sketch comedy troupe Train of Thought. Alright, so it hasn't even been a month since they kicked off their participation in JibJab's Great Sketch Experiment (you can still vote on that for another week here), and they're already performing again at the Northwest Actor's Studio. While their new show is overall middling, it's peppered with moments of sheer brilliance. more ›

A few days ago, we said that MOMIX is "the thinking person's Cirque Du Soleil" and we'd like to take that back now. That's not to say that their new work "Opus Cactus" wasn't beautiful, color-drenched, packed with impressive technique, and expertly executed, because it was all those things. It just wasn't anything more. "Opus Cactus" was like ordering an iPod and opening the perfect, sleek packaging only to discover someone screwed up at the factory and your new gadget wasn't there: gorgeous to look at, but nothing substantive under the surface. more ›

SketchFest Seattle, the country's first sketch comedy festival and the only one in North America to take place at Capital Hill's Erickson Theatre, is entering its final weekend of shows. more ›

The problem with most fringe sketch comedy shows is that they are not very funny or original. If you've ever sat through a painfully humorless show, we feel your pain. more ›

We're alone at the Northwest Actors Studio on a Saturday night for a sketch comedy show by husband and wife team Jerry and Lori Haener on the subject of, well, being husband and wife. Our own wedding is fast approaching, and in fact our usual Plus One is currently out of town making final preparations. Will this be funny or will it freak our shit out? more ›

John Osebold has been a fixture within Seattle’s fringe community since coming out of the University Of Washington’s School of Drama ten years ago. His many acting/ writing/ singing/ performing/ composing/ directing projects include Player King’s ‘Ballyhoo,’ the sketch comedy group ‘The Habit,’ and he is currently a member of the band “Awesome”, who released their first album, ‘Deleware,’ last fall. His latest project symphony finishes it’s run tonight (10pm) and tomorrow (8pm) at Trinity Parish Church on First Hill. more ›

With SketchFest Seattle chugging into its final weekend, we had a sit-down with Dusty Warren. Seattlest figured he'd be a good guy to talk to, as he's been performing sketch comedy in Seattle since 2000 and is a member of two groups performing this weekend. First there's Flaming Box of Stuff---they just returned from New York where they were a part of a HBO showcase at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre---and then there's the two-man group Champagne. more ›

There are some things in life that are so sad they are funny, and there are other things that are so funny they are funny. Luckily, Sketch Fest Seattle falls into the latter category. more ›