World's Largest Sketch Event: Halloweeen

By Jeff Kreisler on 10/22/2009

It's coming. Halloween. Great Pumpkins, fun-sized candy, and pretending to be someone else. Everyone plays, lowers his or her inhibitions, and gets candy... in one form or another... rrrow. (Seriously, there's a lot of Halloween action).

The Halloween costumes are what make it special to me, though, frankly I like to think of them as characters, not costumes. I don't ask, "What are you going as?" but rather, "Who are you going as?" (Okay, wow. I just realized that's totally pretentious of me, isn't it? I'll stop. But at least I use bad grammar - should be "As whom are you going?" - so I'm still cool, right?)

(According to subway ads, the chance to wear costumes only leads to sexy things - sexy cops, sexy bumble bees, sexy prostitutes. Don't get me wrong, I like sexy - "What's wrong with being sexy?" - but, come on, tap into something besides what you've repressed [although that does explain all the candy]).

It really is a day long, all-encompassing sketch comedy festival, isn't it? Characters, stories, and teammates (Snickers and M&Ms, Yin and Yan, Tweedledum and Sarah Palin). You pull something from the imagination and developing it with family and friends, then show the world; Release part of you that's been tucked away in a place you don't get to visit enough; Be people of your own invention; Inhabit them; Give them life; Then bring them into real scenes with thousands of other characters. It's not real, it's make believe, and it's a chance to express something about yourself, and about the world, in front of those who understand and accept.

Doesn't that describe sketch comedy, too?

Maybe that's why I've found three typical Halloween reactions by comedic performers.
1. They pass on it, because they get to pretend all the time. Maybe it was the thrill of Halloween that hooked them in the first place, but they don't seem to need this one night - amateur night, to them - as much.
2. They super-duper embrace it, creating a total random character or finding something simple, but adding depth and color and rhythm and life.
3. They lame out.

Okay, I'm being critical here, but, unless you just don't have the time, please try not to lame out, sketch people. This is a chance to perform! Not everyone can plan out a big ol' costume, I get that. But if you must just grab something regular - ghost, fireman, astronaut, Bernie Madoff - at least give it a back story, improvise some details, make it uniquely you. Even if you're just hanging out in your regular clothes, why can't you be an international spy for a few hours?

Costumes themselves are cool to look at - love the Greenwich Village Parade and San Francisco's Castro party - but what makes the night special to me is entering the thousands of little worlds created by each reveler. If those revelers provide no texture, well, it's a missed opportunity. I could've just walked around Halloween Superstore. Really, there's nothing I like less than a room full of sexy nurses, all with the same story, all just wanting to... (Okay, stop. That's a lie. Sexy nurses are a different category for me. They have an exemption... but I think you get the point).

What's that? What are my most memorable costumes?
Oh, I don't want to talk about my own costumes... but since you asked:
- Evil Jester. 'nuff said.
- Cock-Block Man. Wore a superhero outfit with the letters C and B. Had two racket balls (they're blue) on a short string, found people about to hook up, and, well, said things intended to fulfill my name. (Note: Don't try this with strangers). Got my power from an actually-atomic atomic wedgie.
- Chicken Cop. Police hat with a homemade chicken badge, handcuffed chickens, a and photos of suspects with their own nefarious history (my favorite: picture of an egg, the dastardly "Baby Face"). I'm sad to say I did tell folks I was "looking for bad chicks." Oy.
- Just guy in a poncho and a big sombrero. No character name. I just went up to a lot of young women and, with my plastic green gun and very bad Mexican accent said " kiss me senorita, or the world will die" (way to steal the idea, Ricky Gervais). Surprisingly, it worked. A lot. Damn, I miss college.

Hmm, guess I just proved that Halloween is about sex? So, is that what sketch comedy is about, too?

So, uh, as whom are you going this year? What are your favorite characters - or costumes - of the past?

Image: http://www.ownedbypugs.com