sketch comedy: short, scripted scenes or "sketches" typically featuring anywhere from 1-12 people whose intention is to amuse
The Portland Sketch Comedy Festival debuted in July 2017, and is the brainchild of producers Ted Douglass (founding member of sketch troupes The 3rd Floor and Nacho Gold and former director of Portland’s Best of the Best Sketchfest which ran from 2003-2009) and Shelley McLendon (Owner/Artistic Director of The Siren Theater and Bad Reputation Productions, founding member of sketch comedy troupes The Aces, The Sisters of Mercy, Lone Wolves and Sweat).
Shelley and Ted both have a deep love and appreciation for sketch comedy. In addition to them being longstanding members of the sketch comedy scene in Portland, both have travelled extensively with their respective sketch troupes to perform in festivals in other cities like the San Francisco Sketchfest, Chicago Sketchfest, Boston's Women in Comedy Festival and the NYC Sketchfest. Wanting to develop their own destination festival for Portland, Ted texted Shelley in 2016 and said, "Let's put on a festival!" And it was made so.
The festival ran from 2017-2019 at the original location of The Siren Theater in Portland's Chinatown, and then 2020 happened (sad trombone)which meant no festival until 2022! 2025 marks the 7th year of the festival and Ted and Shelley are ready to make it the best one yet!