The comedy festival SketchFest is coming to Greenwood’s Pocket Theater, with performers from all over the country as well as Canada. SketchFest is the world’s first sketch comedy festival, founded in 1999.

This year’s event will bring talent from around the country, with a special showing of acts from Canada. Audiences can look forward to the wit of Ladies & Gentleman, recently seen on Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal and at the Montreal Fringe Fest, as well as Winnipeg’s H.U.N.K.S., who have been tearing up the fringe circuit, garnering tons of acclaim (including a 4 star review from the CBC, who called them “among Winnipeg’s finest sketch brands”), in addition to over 25 other groups.

SketchFest has continued to make it a priority to attract diverse acts–and this year boasts the widest variety of performers yet. Los Angeles-based Blade Brown (which includes former Seattleite Myrone Sumner) recently won the 2016 L.A. Scripted Festival Sketch Cage Match Tournament and include members who are writers and performers from the CBS Diversity Showcase. Blade Brown calls themselves “a diverse group of performers that bring that urban slice of life theme to any sketch stage.” Deep Lez is an all queer-identifying group who have performed at Bumbershoot, Seattle SketchFest, and lesbian living rooms all over the Pacific Northwest.