TOSketchFestBlog
TOsketchfest is thrilled to publicly acknowledge the contributions of our 2026 live festival Programming Committee. This dedicated group of comedy professionals, Guled Abdi, Nadine Djoury, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Isaac Kessler, and Maricris Rivera, generously lent their time and expertise to help shape our 21st annual festival. Watching over 160 festival submissions, they provided thoughtful recommendations and engaged in lively discussions to curate a festival that truly showcases the best in sketch comedy. We’re so grateful for their contributions!
Guled Abdi
Guled Abdi is a comedian, actor, writer and 1/4 of the multi award-winning sketch troupe TallBoyz II Men. He’s also one of the co-creators and stars of the sketch show TallBoyz (CBC). All three seasons of which can be found on CBC Gem and FUSE TV. Guled has performed at OFF-JFL, Montreal Sketchfest and the Toronto Fringe Festival just to name a few. You can catch Guled in the reboot of The Kids in The Hall (Amazon) or at random bars you didn’t know had a comedy show.
Nadine Djoury
Nadine is an alumna of the Second City Mainstage where she wrote and performed in three critically-acclaimed revues. She currently writes for CBC’s The Great Canadian Baking Show and co-created, wrote and starred in ABC.com/CBC Comedy’s web series, Newborn Moms. Recent television credits include What We Do in the Shadows (FX), Ghosts (CBS), and Children Ruin Everything (Netflix/CTV).
Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll
Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll is an actor and comedian. He’s appeared in over 100 different tv shows and films on Netflix, Amazon, A24. A CSA winner and two time Canadian Screen Award nominee, Canadian Comedy Award winner and National Screen Institute comedy award winner. His comedy sketches have even gained national press, in print and news broadcasts.
Isaac Kessler
Isaac Kessler has been “in” comedy for 20 years. He’s a 4-time Canadian Comedy Award nominee, and one half of the award-winning ClownProv juggernaut 2-MAN NO-SHOW alongside Ken Hall. He’s the director of five award-winning Clown/Bouffon shows, and his solo show, 1-MAN NO-SHOW, directed by Sweet Action Theatre’s Gordon Neill, has won these awards: Artists’ Pick Award – Edmonton International Fringe Festival / Artists’ Encore Award – Cincinnati Fringe Festival / 2025 Orlando Fringe Festival – Best of Fest by both the Orlando Weekly and Orlando Sentinel and Critic’s Choice Award winner for Best Specialty Solo Show.
“You can’t make Art without #awards.” – Oscar Wilde
Maricris Rivera
Maricris Rivera (she/her) is a Filipina-Canadian performer, producer, and creator. She is a member of the multi-award-winning multidisciplinary ensemble, the Tita Collective, and has been part of Toronto Sketchfest, Montreal Sketchfest and Newfoundland Sketchfest. As an administrator and producer, she has worked with different theatre companies, such as Soulpepper, Tarragon, and the SummerWorks Festival. She is also a music arranger for Little Rebels Music & Development. Previous Credits: Ms. Titaverse (Tita Collective, 2023 Toronto Fringe Festival), My Big Fat Immigrant Christmas (Tita Collective, Bad Dog Theatre), Tita Jokes (Tita Collective, 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival), Tale of a Town (FiXT Point), The Renaissance Woman (BOSS Dance Company).
Find the 2026 TOsketchfest Festival Lineup here!
Each year, TOsketchfest assembles a committee of industry professionals, often festival alumni or those with deep-rooted experience in the comedy community, to help shape our lineup. As the festival continues to grow, we remain committed to reviewing and evolving our programming principles to reflect the needs of our community. We actively seek to include diverse voices and perspectives to ensure a festival that is vibrant, inclusive, and representative of today’s comedy landscape.
To all past and present committee members: thank you for your time, insight, and dedication. Our festival wouldn’t be the same without you!
