Denver Sketch Festival

The first ever Denver Sketch Festival will take place October and we will feature sketch comedy from all around North America, we are also accepting video sketches to play at the festival. The Festival is produced by Rise Comedy, Connor Schuck, and Katie Congrove and all shows will take place at Rise Comedy.

Schedule:

7:00 p.m - 8:00 p.m: SaraJo Geiger (Seattle), "Fastball Pitcher" Bob Gutierrez (Philly), and Siento’s Little Scaries (LA)

Sarajo Geiger:
Born and raised in Olympia, WA, SaraJo is now a Seattle-based improv and sketch comedian. Credits include: Netflix shows American Vandal and Trinkets, her solo show An Afternoon of Guided Meditation w/ Interim Pastor Chastity Joy, and most notably, the occasional blurry background smudge for various car commercials. Local to Seattle, SaraJo works with Bandit Theater, CSZ Seattle, and Jet City Improv. SaraJo writes and performs with local sketch troupe, Good Crash. She loves swimming in lakes even though she’s still kinda scared there’s a shark in there.

"Fastball Pitcher" Bob Gutierrez:
Philadelphia sketch comedian Brian Craig (Secret Pants, Sweetish, Crying Alone In The Shower) inhabits "Fastball Pitcher" Bob Gutierrez, a former middle-relief pitcher for the 1980s Chicago Cubs. After trying his hand at motivational speaking with his philosophy of "You can probably do it, if you keep your expectations low", Fastball Bob is now attempting to take that message and re-invent himself as a country singer, welcoming audiences of all ages to "Fastball Country". "Fastball Pitcher" Bob Gutierrez has appeared on pitchers mounds in most National League baseball stadiums, as well as stages, back rooms, and fire halls across America.  Brian Craig has performed in Chicago, Toronto, Baltimore, Montreal, New York, Washington DC, and Philadelphia, which incidentally are many of the world’s great baseball cities.

Siento’s Little Scaries:
Sarah Lento is a character comedian and also several squirrels stacked on top of one another. She hails from New England and resides in LA, performing her character sets all around the city. She started training at ImprovBoston in 2016 (RIP!) and moved to LA RIGHT before the pandemic (oops!). She is currently training with Groundlings and UCB. She is on several sketch and improv teams that perform monthly.

Price: $18/advance and $20/door, ticketing fee

8:00 p.m - 9:00 p.m: Public Breakup (LA) and Big Apartment (NYC)

Public Breakup:
Public Breakup has been bringing a uniquely charming and relentless style of sketch to sold-out audiences throughout Los Angeles since 2019. Together they write and perform a bi-monthly show in the Broadwater Black Box Theater, and host the monthly Sketch Cagematch show at UCB. In 2023 they performed at the Laugh Riot Grrrl Fest, Portland Maine Comedy Festival, and with SketchFest Seattle; and in 2024 they appeared at MILF, Montreal Sketch Fest, Philly Sketch Fest, iOFest, Pack Fest and featured on the Best of Fest showcase at the Burbank Comedy Festival! They’ve had video sketches featured at Toronto Sketch Fest and Philly Sketch Fest.

Individually, Public Breakup members have appeared in TV shows and national commercials, can be seen on house improv teams at UCB and WGIS, and have taken home top prizes at the Austin Film Festival.

But they are most proud of being best friends with each other.

Big Apartment:
Big Apartment is a comedy experience as rare and delightful as finding a New York City apartment without a toilet in the kitchen! We invite you to a sketch comedy showcase where deranged characters, musical parodies, and surreal scenarios collide in the most unexpected ways. Having performed from NYC to Toronto Sketch Festival and Montreal Sketchfest, Big Apartment offers the perfect blend of laughs, sharp presentation, and undeniable quality. With a show that guarantees big laughs and an assurance that, yes, the toilet is not in the kitchen, this is one show you won’t want to miss.

Price: $18/advance and $20/door, ticketing fee

9:00 p.m - 10:00 p.m: Interloper (LA) and Forevermore (Baltimore)

Interloper:
Jordan Moeller is a comedian and large bird based out of Los Angeles. His irreverent, satirical, and rollicking solo comedic work has been seen on Characters Welcome, SketchFest Seattle, San Francisco Sketchfest, The People’s Improv Theater, Toronto Sketchfest, Magnet Theater, Philly Sketchfest, Portland Sketchfest, Central Florida Sketchfest, and countless other screens and stages across the continent. He has been a member of sketch house teams at BoogieManja Sketch Collective and The Peoples Improv Theater in NYC, and his work has been described on youtube as "political satire drenched in ultra-specific weirdness," and "thick bisque humor." Jordan draws on a rich background in clown, dramatic performance, and physical theater to bring his characters to life. Jordan’s Interloper is a heart-forward exploration of vulnerability, ego, joy, and what it means to be constantly out of place. Presumptuous frogs, straight husbands, and overzealous jazz singers abound in this menagerie of gentlemen buffoons. Laugh at him, not with him!

Forevermore:
Forevermore is Baltimore’s all women sketch comedy troupe that takes a silly, satirical look at being a woman in the world. Forevermore is made up of a talented group of six local performers and comedians, who came together in December 2022 with the intention of writing and producing a 90 min Galentine’s Day Comedy Show. Since then, the troupe has been entertaining audiences with parody sketches, original songs, elaborate dance numbers all portraying the ups and downs of life and the friendships that get us through it all. The troupe has performed sketch comedy from coast to coast with appearances in NYC, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and more.

Price: $18/advance and $20/door, ticketing fee

10:00 p.m - 11:00 p.m: Sarah Knittel/Marina Abramovic (Philly)

Sarah Knittel/Marina Abramovic:
Sarah Knittel is a theater artist, festival co-founder, event producer, and clown.
She helped found Free Fringe Philly festival, which creates accessibility to Fringe work in Philadelphia by eliminating costs and ticket prices while supporting the artists.

Free Fringe Philly won a coveted arts spot on the Best Of 2021 list from Philly Magazine. Sarah on a stage has been described as "totally engaging" and "the work of a pro, fearlessly engaging the audience from start to finish, until we are all practically co-stars, or at least co-conspirators." (Broad St Review) Hailed "Philly Actors Who Are Better Than You (at acting)…" (Phindie) The creator of Ben Franklin Sex Party, Make a F*cking Show, You P.O.S., and Nightmare FueL, a brutal clown show, which won the "Spirit of the Fringe" award in 2019 at Cincinnati Fringe. It was also one of the recipients of 1812’s Jilline Ringle Fund. It garnered four stars in Edinburgh Fringe and was lauded as "a quintessential niche fringe experience" by the Wee Review. Sarah produces a multitude of events throughout Philadelphia including a monthly variety experience called Hellride.Sarah now lives and (is trying to find meaning) in Los Angeles.

Price: $18/advance and $20/door, ticketing fee