Montreal Sketchfest - 10th Anniversary!

Montreal has no shortage of festivals. There are so many in fact that some might not even land on your radar screen. Don't let that be the case with the upcoming Montreal Sketchfest! From May 21st to the 30th, Le Nouveau International is producing the 10th Anniversary of Montreal Sketchfest at Theatre St. Catherine (264 Sainte-Catherine E.) and the Montreal Improv Theatre (3697 Saint-Laurent). For those of you who are not familiar with sketch comedy, think Saturday Night Live or This Hour Has 22 Minutes – short vignettes of crazy characters, designed for maximum laughs in quick succession. Sketch comedy is always zany, high energy, and lots of fun!

A 10th Anniversary is kind of a big deal, and Le Nouveau International seems to have pulled out all the stops to bring Montreal a top-notch line up. This year the festival includes 60 local and out-of-town improv troupes from Toronto, Vancouver, New York, and Philadelphia, spread out over 10 days of laughter. Some highlights to look forward to include the award-winning, Toronto-based Falcon Powder, who count among their achievements a Canadian Comedy Award, as well as Best of the Fest in Toronto Sketchfest and LA Sketchfest. Also on the line-up, Peter n' Chris, a three-time Canadian Comedy Award winning sketch troupe from Vancouver BC who have contributed to The Irrelevant Show, CBC Punchline, and CollegeHumor, plus The Dead Dads Club from the highly-acclaimed UCB Theatre in New York.

This edition of Sketchfest will also include a special Women in Comedy Panel co-presented by Sketchfest, No More Radio, and Women In Comedy Montreal. The panel will be held at 3 p.m. May 23rd, and that evening of Sketchfest will be dedicated to ladies' sketch troupes. The panel will not only be featuring performers such as Chantale Renée, Kristen Bartlett, and Dawn Ford, but also comedy producers such as Sasha Manoli from The Brunch Club and Dave Sawyer, Associate Producer of the Boston Women in Comedy Festival.

All in all, there really promises to be something for everyone at Montreal Sketchfest, including a Franco show on Friday May 22nd. The festivities open on May 21st at Theatre St. Catherine with a dynamite line up hosted by Chris Sandiford and Daniel Carin, also known as Ladies & Gentlemen, and the winners of last year's Sketchfest. Opening night also features not one, but two CJLO hosts performing as a part of Sketchfest! Jacob Greco from Don't Mess This Up Jacob (Thursdays 1 p.m.) will be performing with the his troupe HOT RAW FIRE, and Sarah Stupar from Best of the West (Thursdays 2 p.m.) will be performing with the troupe Swamp Mouth. A festival pass is available for $50, good for unlimited sketch shows for 10 nights. Each night features a few separate blocks of sketch, and double feature tickets can be purchased at the door for $20, or $12 for individual shows.

The final night on the 30th will feature awards, and a Best of the Fest presentation. For tickets and more information visit http://montrealsketchfest.com!