On the scene: Sketchfest (Sat-Sun)

After the madness of opening weekend at Sketchfest, I'm finally mulling over my notes from the first few days. A few thoughts:

Local troupe Salsation was at Sketchfest Saturday night peddling its latest show, The Brown Supremacy, and it's a mixed bag. The company is at its best when firing sharp political barbs. A recurring sketch about the confirmation hearings of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, for example, offers plenty of pointed jabs at racist senators and the lunacy surrounding the "wise Latina" remark. Likewise, a very funny sketch likens an undocumented Superman to the immigration dilemma. Sorry, Superman! I also enjoyed a sketch in which Willy Wonka moves his factory to Mexico, thanks in part to NAFTA. But a vampire sketch tries too hard to mine the Twilight zeitgeist, and a recurring sketch featuring an overbearing mother missed as often as it hit. For Latin-influenced sketch, I much more enjoyed the meticulous, character-driven scene work from Dominizuelan, a local, two-person sketch group consisting of Wendy Mateo and Lorena Diaz that played on Sunday. Even when indulging in broad stereotypes (drunken Lincoln Park Trixies out on the town, a tranny prostitute working the corner of Clark and Belmont), Mateo and Diaz managed to show affection and empathy for their characters, while simultaneously poking fun at them.

Two groups—Asheville, North Carolina–based Feral Chihuahuas and local jokers Robot Vs. Dinosaur—did a fine job shelling out the ridiculous. The former impressed me with its wig-donning, glitter-throwing theatrics.

In one sketch, the troupe pays homage to the awkwardness of acquaintanceship with a fully choreographed dance number inspired by '70s variety shows. I also loved a video clip in which a member of the Blue Man Group gets a blow job, a sketch that peddled hip-hop for the deaf and an imagining of what it would've been like if Facebook had been around during medieval times. On the other hand, a choreographed tribute to pop divas (in this case "Cherdonna") was just plain boring. But I'll be keeping my eye on these guys.

Meanwhile, Robot vs. Dinosaur's full-length show, Mrs. Gruber's Ding Dong School (which debuted last year), offered a twisted take on children's programming (think Romper Room from hell). Using puppets, arts and crafts and events like story time to tell some pretty sick tales, the show was at its best when poking sly fun at the unrealistic crap we teach children. In one scene, the Reality Fairy sings, "While there's unlimited dreams just for you, there's limited money to make them come true." And in another, a couple of sprightly puppets struggle to understand a guy dying of bone cancer (even going so far as to eat out of his bedpan). But a couple of sketches were clunkers. I didn't care for the wife-hating Professor Smart (too hammy), or an oddball sketch about a homeless man, but the show finale, in which Mrs. Gruber is revealed to be a fraud, was a gut-buster.

If you wandered through the record section

of an antique store, you might dust off an old LP called Aemilia & Ed's One Man Show. That's the conceit from sketch duo Aemilia and Ed, who ape classic couples like May and Nichols and Burns and Allen. Set entirely in 1960, the show had a great attention to detail (like a subtle reference to the days when the Oriental Theater was a first-run movie house), even during times when it wasn't particularly funny. I thoroughly enjoyed having the Cuban Missile Crisis explained by Carmen Miranda and a recurring sketch that imagined romantic couplings between famous authors. Like the decade proceeding it, some of the sketches were a bit stuffy, but overall, Ed & Aemilia offered a welcome Sketchfest diversion.