2024 Performers

A.J. Schraeder Regrets Everything

Greensboro, NC

A.J. started his professional comedy journey with the Idiot Box Comedy club in 2004. Since that time, he has toured sketch comedy shows at colleges across the country, been invited to comedy festivals across North America, and sold commercial ideas and content to brands around the world. A.J. is a previous winner of one of North Carolina’s largest solo comedy competitions, “The Ultimate Comic Challenge” and his shows have been awarded the title of Best in Fest at the Columbus Brew HaHa and Atlanta Sketchfest. His performance at SF Sketchfest was reviewed by Julie Lawless of rhum.org as “ridiculously hilarious”. He is also a 2-time winner of Charlotte’s 48 Hour Film Project and his videos have amassed over a million views on the short-form video platform Rizzle. In the commercial world, he has worked with major brands such as Doritos, Legos, and Anheuser-Busch InBev. His list of festival credits include SF Sketchfest, Toronto Sketchfest, The North Carolina Comedy Festival, Flyover Comedy Festival, Rise Comedy Festival, Atlanta Sketchfest, Chicago Sketchfest, Philly Sketchfest, The New York City Sketch Festival, The Boston Comedy Arts Festival, Geek Week, Snubfest, Montreal Sketchfest, Vancouver Comedy Festival, NC Comedy Arts Festival, North Carolina Sketchfest, Queen City Comedy experience, Hell Yes Fest, Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, Columbus Brew Ha ha, Austin Sketchfest, New South Comedy Festival, Norfolk Comedy Festival, Seattle Sketchfest, Charleston Comedy Festival, Cape Fear Comedy Festival and Gilda’s Laughfest.

Ajahnis Charley

Toronto, CA

Ajahnis Charley (they/them/that b*tch) is a Black, Non-Binary comedian and is one of the 2022 Just For Laughs’ New Faces of Comedy: Canada.


They are an alum of The Second City Touring Company, and they have performed award-winning solo sketch comedy across North America, including at The Stonewall Inn as part of the New York Comedy Festival. Ajahnis was story editor on comedy series Bria Mack Gets A Life, Stay Tooned, Dirts, and they write for news satire platforms This Hour Has 22 Minutes, The Beaverton and Because News. If you hear a pun about butts in Canadian media, they likely had something to do with it.


Their hit solo sketch show ‘THOTS & PRAYERS’ has been performed internationally, and their 2023 sketch show ‘Wanted’ won Best of the Fest at Montreal Sketch Fest. Ajahnis is a co-founder and co-producer of the Untitled Black Sketch Project, Canada's first all-Black sketch ensemble.

Bad Medicine

Washington, DC

Bad Medicine is a high energy sketch comedy troupe with a bent toward the dark, cerebral, and absurd. It's the right amount of stupid fun. We’re a congress of friends from Washington DC doing distinctly non-political humor. We also produce and teach sketch comedy at the historic DC Improv Comedy Club and have performed at Austin Sketch Fest, Sketchfest Seattle, SF Sketchfest, and Philly Sketchfest.

Brick Penguin

Washington, DC

Brick Penguin is a high-octane sketch comedy group based in Washington, DC. The group has been entertaining audiences across the country since 2010. They have written, performed, and produced over fifty unique shows and performed in festivals in New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Philadelphia, North Carolina, and Baltimore.

Bring Your Own Bob

New York, NY

Bring Your Own Bob is a vibrant, beyond bizarre sketch, improv and musical comedy duo living together in NYC. Just when they thought they’d reached their friend quota, Seann Cantatore and Nicole Pascaretta (BYOB) met through improv in 2019 and have been sequined soulmates ever since. BYOB has performed at the NYC SketchFest, New York Musical Improv Festival and the Detroit Improv Festival and has frequented stages such as The PIT, Magnet Theater and The DC Improv. Nicole and Seann are real-life roommates and best friends, adding a unique layer of connection and pure magic on stage.

Comedy Dance Chicago

Chicago, IL

Two T-Rexes walked onto a stage and performed a Jurassic parody of Dirty Dancing's Time of Our Lives... and the audience went wild! This T-Rex piece was a part of a Second City Training Center class performance that led to the creation of Comedy Dance Chicago (CDC). The initial cast spent months creating their first show which debuted at the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival in 2016. Before leaving the dressing room, the group was offered a run of shows at the theatre. And they haven’t stopped since! Comedy Dance Chicago takes relatable everyday life experiences and turns them into dances and physical scenes, incorporating various styles of dance and music. The CDC has entertained crowds at venues around Chicagoland including iO Chicago, Stage 773, The Athenauem Theatre, and Laugh Out Loud Theater. Select festival credits include: San Francisco Sketchfest (2023-2024), Queen City Comedy Experience (2022), World Comedy Expo (2022), Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival (2016-2020), Bedeviled Comedy Festival (2019), Chicago Women’s Funny Festival (2019). CDC is also hired to perform at schools, street festivals, dance concerts, New Years Eve shows, etc. Company members bring a range of comedy and dance styles to the show and have trained with the Second City Training Center, iO Chicago, American Theatre Conservatory, Accademia dell'Arte, among others.

Drop the Root Beer and Run

Seattle, WA

Since they formed in the wilds of Olympia, WA in 2011, Drop the Root Beer and Run have been spreading their unique brand of sketch comedy all over North America. They have performed in SketchFest Seattle, ImprOlympia, LA Improv Fest, the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, Bumbershoot, and Vancouver Sketchfest. They think you're really cool and want to be friends, but are intimidated by your extensive jazz record collection.

Erick Acuña

Washington, DC

Erick Acuña is an award-winning Peruvian comedian based in Washington DC. Erick is a two-time winner of ‘Best Comedy Show’ at Capital Fringe, with sold out runs and rave reviews in NYC, Toronto (Canada), and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (UK). He is also a finalist at the Yes, And… Laughter Lab in partnership with Comedy Central.

Field Trip

Boston, MA

Field Trip is a Boston-based sketch comedy trio whose sets have been described as “refreshingly positive,” “surprisingly touching,” “cured my IBS,” and “not for me.” Since 2022, they’ve been delighting audiences with their signature brand of fast-paced, smart-dumb humor.


Field Trip does shows all over cold and miserable New England, and they’ve performed at NYC Sketch Fest, Portland Maine Comedy Festival, and the Portland (Oregon) Sketch Comedy Festival. They’ve also self-produced two hour-long sketch comedy specials.


Hand in your permission slips and buckle up for a journey of goofs, gaffes, gabs, jabs, and most of all, well-timed comedic jokes delivered in a scripted format. We're going on a Field Trip!

Forevermore Sketch Comedy

Baltimore, MD

Forevermore is a Baltimore-based, all women sketch comedy troupe that pokes fun at the highs and lows of modern dating, relationships, and the friendships that get us through it all.


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Grace and The Gang

Arlington, VA

Grace Fennell is an actor, improviser, and writer based in DC. She graduated from the University of South Carolina, where she started their improv group, The OverReactors, in 2011 and received a bachelor's in Media Arts and Theatre. After school, she spent four years in Chicago studying and performing improv, where she started and led the All-female improv group Cease and Desist (Formerly Interrobang?!). She has been writing, performing, and producing her own comedy videos since she was a teenager. Her work can be found on her YouTube channel. Currently, Grace performs sketches through Rails Comedy in DC and on Instagram at @facegrennell. Join Grace and her gang on this whimsical comedy adventure!

Lemon Pepper and Sazón Comedy

Norfolk, VA

Lemon Pepper and Sazón (LPS) Comedy is a collective of diverse performers in the Hampton Roads area founded at the Push Comedy Theatre of Norfolk, VA. LPS was created to showcase POC (People of Color) in improv and sketch comedy. The group includes seasoned and trained actors, models, comedians, sketch writers/performers, improvisers, hosts, singers, bloggers and influencers.


Lemon Pepper and Sazón Comedy was founded on the idea of bringing diversity and inclusion to improv and sketch comedy in the Hampton Roads Area and beyond.


Lemon Pepper and Sazón have performed in the Virginia Beach and Norfolk Comedy Festivals, Philly Sketchfest, Baltimore Improv Festival, the North Carolina Comedy Festival, the Charm City Comedy Project (Baltimore), the Newark Improv Festival (NJ) and the Magnet Theater (NYC). LPS also performs at private and corporate events and is skilled in engaging crowds of all shapes and sizes.

Maple Daddies

Seattle, WA

The Maple Daddies have been a staple of the Seattle, Washington sketch scene since 2017. Clad in Hawaiian shirts, the Maple Daddies bring with them the trappings of the Seattle scene, including minimal props, fluid transitions, and incorporating live music. They seek to delight with a wholesome yet bizarre comedy style, mixing absurdist ideas with ultra specific details, and a playful exuberance to create a “vaudeville summer camp” vibe. They’ve headlined Sketchfest Seattle every year since their founding, Toronto Sketchfest in 2023, and Portland Sketchfest in 2019 and 2023, and have had sketches “Sweet Baby Darrin” and “I Know about Books” selected for “Best of the Fest” showcases. For an added bit of fun, try to guess which one of them has met Obama!

Mike Bock

Washington, DC

Get ready to have your mind melted--in a good way--by Mike Bock, a comedy creator, storyteller, and sketch performer. You might've seen him around the Washington, D.C. area, where he performs something he'll insist is called "interactive comedy," an adventurous and chaotic style of comedy where the audience controls the outcome. Whether he's guiding you through stories about witch hunters in Salem, nightmarish online dating attempts, or the sex lives of aquatic rodents, Mike's rowdy and rewatchable performances will be sure to leave you thinking, "how the hell did he do that?"



In addition to comedy venues around DC, he has performed at Nerd Nite and DC Zine Fest events, and has been featured in Seattle Sketchfest, Philly Sketchfest, All The Laughs Comedy Festival, Poor Life Choices Comedy Film Fest and more. He also writes, produces and performs for the sketch comedy groups Brick Penguin and Cured by Pain.

Milwaukee!

New York, NY

Contrary to their name, Milwaukee! is a beloved, long-running sketch comedy team based in New York City, baby. They’ve been bringing silly, witty, and sometimes frisky, performances to the stage since 2018.


You’ve probably seen Milwaukee! performers on Saturday Night Live, Comedy Central, 30 Rock, Inside Amy Schumer, and commercials that definitely convinced you to buy something.


And you’ve probably read Milwaukee! writers in The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, The Onion, Reductress, and all over Elon Musk’s Twitter™.


Milwaukee! has had the pleasure of performing in SF Sketchfest, Austin Sketchfest, Montréal Sketchfest, The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, and The Portland Sketch Comedy Festival, to name a few.


Give us a follow on the ol’ gram @milwaukeesketchcomedy to see where we’re performing next!

Newt Work Comedy

Raleigh, NC

Newt Work Comedy is an award winning Comedy Collective from Raleigh, NC. They have performed Sketch and Improv all over the East Coast in cities such as NYC, Baltimore, DC, and Greensboro, NC. Members of Newt Work have written for Triangle Sketch, Points in Case, End of the Bench Sports, The Broadway Beat, and Robot Butt.

Party Trick

New York, NY

Party Trick is a sketch comedy team based out of the Magnet Theater in New York, NY. While only birthed in 2023, its members have long haunted the stage performing sketch, improv, musical improv, stand-up, plain old regular theatre, and dance, too. Off stage, their writing has appeared on satire and humor websites like McSweeney’s, Hard Drive, and The Onion, as well as actual news websites with journalistic standards and stuff.


This diverse team of writers and performers delights in creating ridiculous yet thought-provoking comedy to find the humor in today’s stories and social norms. Sometimes, the team produces a sketch that says something profound about society. Other times, it produces a sketch that says something profound about the author. Either way, audiences will leave laughing.

PRESSED

New York, NY

Carmen Carigan and Jake Huff are New York-based comedians who began writing together in 2016 as members of the same sketch comedy troupe at Indiana University. Carigan works for Comedy Central and at Lauren Mandel’s Disco Nap Productions. She also has a stand-up residency at the Greenwich Village Comedy Club.


Jake Huff has been a production assistant on Desus & Mero (SHOWTIME) and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS), as well as the assistant director for indie comedies Pepper & Mickey (web series) and The Cryptid Tapes (short). His previous sketch comedy shows, co-written with his group Coward Scouts, were featured at iO Chicago and Chicago SketchFest.


Director Maggie Scudder is currently the Editor, Content Lead, and Sketch Instructor at GOLD Comedy, the online comedy destination for women and nonbinary folks. She has an award-winning pilot in development with Ryan Cunningham (Search Party, Broad City).


After living in separate cities through lockdown, Carmen and Jake reunited in 2021 to write the two-person show that became PRESSED. Their debut performance sold out Brooklyn Comedy Collective and earned them a spot in the 2023 NYC SketchFest at The PIT Theater. Currently, they are working to produce an extended run in NYC and Chicago for early 2024.


PRESSED combines the deadpan chaos of Veep, the goofy world-building of Portlandia, and the character-driven partnership of Key & Peele. No matter the circumstances, these characters will take in the insanity of the world, say “roger that,” and pull the ripcord on their own escape route.

Rails Comedy

Washington, DC

Rails Comedy is a Washington DC-based sketch comedy troupe that has made a name for itself on the national comedy scene. With a blend of clever writing, dynamic performances, and a commitment to pushing boundaries, Rails Comedy has been entertaining audiences for years.


The troupe has performed at some of the most prestigious comedy festivals in America, including the Austin Sketch Fest, Montréal Sketchfest, North Carolina Comedy Festival, New South Comedy Festival, and Sketchfest Seattle. Their ability to consistently bring fresh, innovative material to the stage has earned them a reputation as one of the most exciting sketch comedy groups in the country.


Whether they're skewering pop culture, poking fun at politics, or simply making you laugh with silly sketches, Rails Comedy is dedicated to bringing you the best in live comedy. So if you're looking for a night of laughs, come see Rails Comedy and experience why they're one of the most sought-after sketch comedy groups in the country.

Showburger

Washington, DC

Showburger is a sketch comedy troupe serving up grass fed, locally-sourced sketch comedy with multimedia fixin’s piled high on two sesame seed buns, guaranteed to bust your gut. Our core members are seasoned joke chefs, having been professionally funny for the likes of Second City, National Lampoon, Reader's Digest and McSweeneys. You can watch our sketches, find all our socials, and learn more about our whole deal at allmylinks.com/showburgercomedy.

Sundae Scaries

Austin, TX

Sundae Scaries is sketch comedy for people who take karaoke too seriously. Giddy on up with us as we explore the scariest parts of being on the millennial-gen z cusp all while wondering, “wait, can I pay rent with Kohl’s Cash?” Sundae Scaries, directed by the will-they-won’t-they Texas comedy duo Mimi Meier and Holly Hart, will make you laugh, sing, and remember to take your fish oil.

The Better Binness Bros.

Washington, DC

The Better Binness Bros. are business-bettering brothers from different mothers. Their madcap antics, outrageous characters, and absurd video sketches are known for sweeping audiences into a phantasmagoric swirl of vaudevillian quips, uninhibited satire, and devastating ennui. They have bettered business across the country, including at Sketchfest Seattle, Philly Sketchfest, at the DC Improv.

The Right Stuff

New York, NY

The Right Stuff is a NY-based sketch troupe formed in BoogieManja and performs at The PIT. Their shows are known to feature dinner parties ending in disaster, reality shows with horrifying stakes, and Dave Matthews Band. They have a family-friendly vibe except when they don't. Having all paid their taxes in 2019, they are ""a match made in heaven"" - The IRS. The Right Stuff will be bringing their best stuff to DC, where you can expect to laugh, cry, and begin to understand the academic and spiritual significance of dirt.