Gavin Crawford’s colon will once again spew forth comedy gems as he performs his solo show Sh**ting Rainbows at the ninth annual Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival.
Crawford often performs at standup clubs and festivals, where he’s usually the odd man out with his trademark sketches and character monologues — he’s basically a one-man comedy troupe. “It’s always a little weird to be a lone sketcher in a field of standups, and so it will be nice to be part of something that’s just about sketch,” Crawford says.
The festival is an 11-day smorgasbord of performances and parties focused on sketch comedy, which the festival website defines as “any funny performance that is written, rehearsed and performed by a cast of comedians. It’s like Saturday Night Live … and no, it’s not funny pencil drawings.”
Sh**ting Rainbows has evolved since Crawford performed it at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre for Pride 2013. He’s been to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe — handing out flyers while “dressed like a chunky Australian girl” — and a lot of wacky things have happened in the world, providing him with plenty of fodder for new material. “One thing I’m working on has to do with these people who are co-opting bullying — like when religious people say they’re being bullied by atheists. There’s something inherently funny in that to me,” he says. “Oh, and there will be hot dancing boys in this show.”
The festival will also include a live staged reading of the 1996 film Brain Candy performed by all five members of the Kids in the Hall; a panel discussion of the TV show Slings & Arrows, featuring its creators, Susan Coyne, Mark McKinney and Bob Martin; and a performance by British Teeth, the duo that comprises Allana Reoch and Filip Jeremic.
The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival runs Thurs, March 6–Sun, March 16.
torontosketchfest.com
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