Frontmezzjunkies reports on: The 20th Annual Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival

By Ross

I didn’t really realize it until I was inside The Theatre Center on Queen Street West in Toronto that I had no clue what I was attending. Nor what was in store for me. So on this cold winter’s eve, I found myself sitting with my buddy at the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival (TOsketchfest), and, to great fanfare, they announced that Toronto’s longest-running comedy festival was celebrating its 20th anniversary from March 5-16, 2025. With a spectacular line-up of over 70 sketch comedy troupes from around North America, TOsketchfest‘s milestone anniversary edition boasts over 50 high-energy showcases of contemporary sketch comedy, drag, storytelling, musical comedy, and clown acts, along with the 8th annual TOsketchfest Film Festival, featuring hilarious shorts and micro-shorts from all over the world, and my buddy and I were not prepared.

On the night we went, four troupes performed their storytelling and sketch comedy routines to different levels of success. Some of it was hilarious, inventive, captivating, and funny, while other moments stumbled, as expected with any kind of sketch comedy. Just as SNL. It doesn’t always hit home, but when it does, this festival is funny and original, and the laughs are out loud and real. Death and the engagement with spirits, of the non-drinking variety, was the lead-in (although we were happy to have a few ciders in our hands), followed by a nervous first date going horribly wrong and a top ten that was not in my top ten. A dance entry into a match game that tried its hardest to find the perfect match was third with a struggle, and the final act was a non-solo solo group that hit some pretty solidly high notes that left us feeling pretty well taken care of.

Throughout the festival, TOsketchfest will feature headliner performances from local Toronto sensations including viral TikTok impressionist Tom Hearn with a special guest appearance by Canada’s Drag Racewinner Priyanka; Canadian Screen Award winners TallBoyz; solo sketch artist Julie Nolke (Dying on the Outside); a live podcast recording from Firecracker Department, spearheaded by Second City alumna Naomi Snieckus; a presentation of the acclaimed 13 Plays About ADHD All At the Same Time, Outstanding New Work nominee at the 2024 MyEntertainmentWorld Critics’ Pick Awards; I’m with Stewwwww Pitt, created by Hannan Younis (Crave’s Bria Mack Gets a Life) and Rakhee Morzaria (Hulu/CBC’s Run the Burbs); beloved Toronto event Rapp Battlez; and more.

The TOsketchfest25 Lineup features:

13 Plays About ADHD All At The Same Time, 24 Double B, Amanda Xeller (Brooklyn), Anders Yates, Andy Assaf, Anesti Danelis, Bad Medicine (DC), Beggar’s Canyon, Best By Far, BDB Comedy Club, Big Apartment (NYC), Big Chick Energy, Cam Wyllie, Carson & Taylor, Cheap Wine, Colonial Circus, Comedy Dance Chicago (Chicago), Dave Barclay, DumpTruck (NYC), Emily Jeffers, Erica Gellert, Firecracker Department, Pat Gourdeau, Ghost Girl (NYC), Gillian Bartolucci, Good News Toronto, Griffin Toplitsky and Rhys Naylor, Hillary Yaas, Jackie and Allison (NYC/Los Angeles), Janelle McGuinness, Johnnie McNamara Walker, Jon Blair, Joy Provision, Julie Nolke, Legally Brown, Leslie Cserepy, Lou Laurence (Montreal), Manic Depressive Thrillness: A Mad Musical Comedy, MILK!, MK Morris, My Best Friend’s Friend, Never Sad: Hard Comedy (NYC), Nkasi Ogbonnah, Potato Potato, Rabble Rabble (Los Angeles), Red Hot Sili Peppers, Seth K. Thomas (Los Angeles), Shannon Lahaie, Sketch to the Death, Small Fish (Ottawa), Small Friend Tall Friend, Solo Act, Srutika Sabu, Success 5000 (Edmonton), Summer Dad, TallBoyz, The Templeton Philharmonic, The Incredible Shrinking Matt & Jacquie (Philadelphia), The Understudies, Tita Collective, Tom Hearn with special guest Priyanka, Tony Ho, Trash Panda, TSTMRKT (Las Vegas), Vest of Friends, Vivek Srikanthan, We’re All In This Forever, West 2 West, and Woody Fu (Los Angeles).

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is Canada’s premier festival celebrating scripted, ensemble comedy boasting multiple days of comedy on professional stages, each year featuring approximately 200 comedians. Since 2005, the Festival has brought sketch comedy to wider audiences with ticketed and free performances showcasing hundreds of emerging comedians alongside a slate of top-flight headliner acts such as Tallboyz, Kate McKinnon, Ramy Youssef and Jonathan Bryalock of Inside Jokes Films, The Kids in the Hall, Ninja Sex Party, Sasheer Zamata, Michael Ian Black, and Gavin Crawford. 

TOsketchfest is a registered charity and supports Canadian comedic writer-performers through showcases, professional development, and direct funding through the Sketch Comedy Project Fund in partnership with the Pat & Tony Adams Freedom Fund for The Arts. For 20 years, TOsketchfest has been a home for Canada’s comedy creators, complementing its excellent onstage offerings with longstanding advocacy for the Canadian comedy industry, fighting tirelessly for comedy to be a recognized art form among the country’s government funding bodies. You should totally check it out, grab a few drinks, and have a few laughs. It’s definitely something special to take in on a cold winter’s night in Toronto.