Olde English at Sketchfest
I first heard of Olde English a few years ago after seeing their dead puppy video. Last night I went to Sketchfest to see my friend Adam perform with the group. They roadtripped to San Francisco from New York and wrote, shot, and edited their show in its entirety on the way there. Adam was pretty nervous and undersold the show before I got there, but it ROCKED. HARD.
The road trip involved a series of challenges and dares: everyone would write their own sketch(es) according to a premise dictated by the other members. One guy had to perform in an outfit made entirely out of slips of paper containing phone numbers written down by girls he met on the trip. Another guy had to write a sketch with as many different endings as times he used the word "it". Adam had to shoot a sketch about bank robbers in backward-choronological order, with the ending being shot as soon as the challenge was announced in New York and the beginning shot in San Francisco when they arrived. Someone had to shoot a sketch while blindfolded and spun around 20 times, with every other member also blindfolded and spun around 20 times. Caleb had to perform a rap consisting solely of facts he'd learned on the road trip. Dave had to perform a sketch while wearing clothes purchased with the money left over after gambling for 30 minutes in Las Vegas. Someone had to deliver a monolog in the character of someone they'd met along the way using only words beginning with the same letter, and he chose this guy in Las Vegas who claimed that a nearby resturant kept a 681lb lobster.
It was quite good, and where it wasn't good, the act was held together either by the "stunt factor" of being able to say "we did this while driving" or the obvious camraderie of the group enjoying the trip and each other's company.
The road trip involved a series of challenges and dares: everyone would write their own sketch(es) according to a premise dictated by the other members. One guy had to perform in an outfit made entirely out of slips of paper containing phone numbers written down by girls he met on the trip. Another guy had to write a sketch with as many different endings as times he used the word "it". Adam had to shoot a sketch about bank robbers in backward-choronological order, with the ending being shot as soon as the challenge was announced in New York and the beginning shot in San Francisco when they arrived. Someone had to shoot a sketch while blindfolded and spun around 20 times, with every other member also blindfolded and spun around 20 times. Caleb had to perform a rap consisting solely of facts he'd learned on the road trip. Dave had to perform a sketch while wearing clothes purchased with the money left over after gambling for 30 minutes in Las Vegas. Someone had to deliver a monolog in the character of someone they'd met along the way using only words beginning with the same letter, and he chose this guy in Las Vegas who claimed that a nearby resturant kept a 681lb lobster.
It was quite good, and where it wasn't good, the act was held together either by the "stunt factor" of being able to say "we did this while driving" or the obvious camraderie of the group enjoying the trip and each other's company.