Sketch comedy is like the violin—played well, it’s heaven;
played ill, it’s hell. Fortunately, this year’s SketchFest (the
oldest sketch-comedy festival in the country) is curated by Becky
Poole, half of the Cody Rivers Show, and other people who know from
funny. Tonight’s late show looks especially promising: the All
American Push Up Party (aka Dusty Warren, whose mind is a cyclone
of sad clowns and Tupperware) and Seattle’s collective of quality,
young standup, the People’s Republic of Komedy. (Theatre Off
Jackson, 409 Seventh Ave S, 800-838-3006. See www.sketchfest.org for schedule, $15.
Through Sept 27.)

Brend an Kiley has worked as a child actor in New Orleans, as a member of the junior press corps at the 1988 Republican National Convention, and, for one happy April, as a bootlegger’s assistant in Nicaragua....