Picnicface appear Nov 21, 11pm at Second City Theatre (51 Mercer, 416-343-0011) and Nov 22, 9pm at Comedy Bar (945 Bloor W, 647-898-5324). $12.
www.torontosketchfest.com.
Picnicface are best known as the group behind Internet viral video sensation Powerthirst, a clip-art ode to energy drink marketing. But as director of the Halifax-based octet’s online clips Andrew Bush explains, they are sketch-comedy group first and Internet stars second — as their two shows this weekend as part of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival are certain to make abundantly clear.
Picnicface try to perform as much new material as possible at their Halifax shows. What are your Toronto shows like?
This is the “best of” those [Halifax] shows. We have a huge amount of material so we try and make sure that we’re doing something new for the audience. We’re not showing any of our Internet videos.
You’re trying to make the leap to TV. Any new developments?
We’re actually in the midst of writing a book. I don’t know if we can say too much about it, but it’s certainly going to have Picnicface’s style of humour.
Did you approach them or did they approach you?
They approached us. We’ve got this weird Internet presence…. Being popular on the Internet is funny because you’re very popular in pockets. Some people will be like “Who the hell are you?” while other people are rabid fans.
It’s surprising to hear that you’re writing a book.
We’re very eclectic in our style. What’s on the Internet is only a very small fraction of what we do. With this book we can do whatever we want. Basically it’s a history of Canada but it’s nonsensical.
A lot of people say TV is on the way out. You’re already doing so well on the Internet.
There’s not a lot of money on the Internet. I love the Internet…but I think anyone would be lying if they said that they just want to work exclusively on the Internet. We’d all love to move on to a more professional medium and TV, although its numbers are certainly dwindling, is still more professional. That being said, there are a lot of people who have to sign off on what you create when you put things on television.