About the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival (TOsketchfest) is Toronto’s longest running comedy festival. Born in West Queen West, it was created to celebrate Toronto’s storied, and continued excellence in the theatrical tradition of sketch comedy. TOsketchfest truly is Toronto’s comedy festival – of Toronto, by Toronto and for Toronto.

The “main event” is the annual Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival each March which features over 10 hilarious days of the best live, scripted comedy in North America and beyond. Founded in 2005 by a group of Toronto comedians the festival has since grown by leaps and bounds, and is a highlight in the Toronto comedy calendar.

Throughout the year we offer special presentations of celebrity talent, homegrown comedy heroes, and our annual Toronto Sketch Comedy Showcases. We also produce Comedy Country, Prince Edward County’s summer comedy series. Each year, thousands of people enjoy TOsketchfest events, and our stages are home to the work of hundreds of comedic writer-performers from across North America and beyond.

Our Mission

To support the career development of Canadian comedic writer performers by producing, presenting, promoting and supporting exceptional live, scripted comedy making Toronto a funnier place to be.

Our Mandate

The mandate of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is three-fold:

• To grow audiences for Canadian scripted ensemble work by providing big, public performance showcases,
• To deliver relevant professional development to artists, and
• To create opportunities for positive networking and exchange among comedic writer-performers.

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is a not-for-profit, charitable organization.

What is sketch comedy, you ask?

Generally speaking, sketch comedy is any funny performance that is written, rehearsed and performed by a cast of comedians. It’s like Saturday Night Live, Baroness von Sketch Show, Key & Peele or Tallboyz. But sketch can also be solo character work, or musical comedy, clown, drag, or hilarious things that defy categorization.

But no, it’s not funny pencil drawings on the wall. Seriously, someone asked us that once.