Brendan BCAF Favorites

The Boston Comedy Arts Festival kicks off tomorrow night and we couldn't be more excited!

This is the fourth year ImprovBoston has produced and hosted this festival and it has gotten bigger, better, and more amazing every year. Formerly the Boston Improv Festival, the Boston Comedy Arts Festival now better emphasizes and celebrates the diversity of comedic talent - improv, sketch, and stand-up - that have always been an integral part of our Theater. This year we have an outstanding schedule of acts, some veteran performers and old friends of ImprovBoston, and others we'll be seeing for the first time. We hope you see as many shows as possible over the next six nights, but if you're overwhelmed by the awesomeness of our schedule and don't know where to start, let me tell you about some shows I can't wait to see...

Trike
Friday 9pm ImprovBoston Main Theater
https://bostoncomedyarts.com/act/trike

I have seen Trike four times and they are incredible. This two-man team of Peter McNerny and Nick Kanellis from NYC's Magnet Theater are not only creative and clever with their characters and scenarios, they are also very good actors who pay great attention to detail. Their accents, personalities, as well as object and environment work, are master classes in improv performance. They weave their characters in and out of their scenes so seamlessly, I easily get lost in the story they tell and am always delighted in how they bring it all together. For anyone who is new to comedy, they are simply a great and entertaining group to see. For improv nerds, they are a tandem to study.

This particular show promises to be one of the best. Also in this slot are Big Bennessy, from LA, and The Feeko Brothers, from Philadelphia.. Big Bennessy brings high-energy, captivating improv, while The Feeko Brothers perform very clever and well-executed sketch comedy.

Brick, Onassis, 10£ Ally
Saturday 7:30pm ImprovBoston Main Theater
https://bostoncomedyarts.com/act/brick

This is a great combination of acts, all from NYC, in one show. Brick is a very talented improv team out of the Magnet Theater. They are sharp, able to create unique situations, and always able to make clever connections with characters and themes - just a very fun team to watch. Onassis is an outstanding sketch troupe, originally from the Upright Citizens Brigade, but now making noise nationally. They are very funny and very polished. And 10£ Ally round off the show with exceptional musical improv. There are only three of them, but they inhabit many characters and even switch off playing them, sometimes with one actor singing as three different people. And through it all, they never miss a detail. On top of that, the songs they create are catchy and witty.

MURDERFIST
Saturday 10pm Brattle Theater
https://bostoncomedyarts.com/act/murderfist

Take every out-of-left-field and/or irreverent sketch you've ever seen from Monty Python, Kids in the Hall, and Mr. Show, blend them together in a mosh pit, and you get MURDERFIST. That's all I really need to say. They performed at last year's Boston Improv Festival and they came the closest I've ever seen to a sketch act burning down the stage without actually setting it on fire. They are loud, they are fast, they are strange, and they do it all perfectly. Don't ask questions. Just get lost in the frantic weirdness and their razor-sharp execution of it. Also, Sketch Writers, be sure to attend their workshop "How to Make a Million Dollars Doing Only Sketch Comedy", Sunday at 10am at ImprovBoston's Main Theater.

Also on this bill: ImprovBoston's Mainstage - our best veteran improvisers perform ImprovBoston's unique free form show that has won acclaim at all sorts of national festivals, including standing ovations at the past two Del Close Marathons - and stand up from Boris Khaykin and Al Park.

Of course, this is just one man's opinion on a small sampling of great acts you can witness at the Boston Comedy Arts Festival. Check out our full schedule, come be a part of our unique and wonderful community of actors, writers, and comedians, and join in our celebration of comedy!

Brendan Mulhern
BCAF Co-Producer