Get the best of Vancouver in your inbox, every Tuesday and Thursday. Sign up for our free newsletter.

Less than a minute after I welcome Jessey Nelson and Malka Martz-Oberlander into the lobby of the Straight’s offices, the duo starts crafting the makings of a sketch comedy bit. All it takes is an offhand comment from me about how the chairs in the lobby are quite nice (they are).

“I’ve been wearing a wire actually,” Martz-Oberlander says.

“We got him, boys—he’s trying to put the chairs in his car!” Nelson says. 

They have reasons to joke, beyond their general disposition as comedians. If Vancouver SketchFest were a stock, an investor would be delighted with its returns right about now.

The festival, which was started in 2024 by Nelson and his brother Cody, has seen its applications increase in significant fashion. The 23 entries in the inaugural edition have gone up year over year and were around 70 for the 2026 event.

“I’m kind of worried that I’m creating this monster that I won’t have time for,” says Nelson, who is also co-founder of the Smashed Potato Kids, a Vancouver sketch comedy group with a booming YouTube channel.

He’s half-joking, because the responsibility is real, and it’s growing. That’s one of the reasons he’s roped in Martz-Oberlander, a fellow comedian and actor who is an active participant in the festival, into helping out with some of its operations.

SketchFest co-founder Jessey Nelson stretches his hosting muscles. Corey Malone

Only three years in, Nelson has already overseen a steady increase in star power since founding the one-day event that runs on May 13 at the Rio Theatre. That begins, of course, with the festival’s homegrown star, Hudson Williams of the Crave super hit Heated Rivalry, who has been something of a regular both on the Smashed Potato Kids’ YouTube channel and at SketchFest.

“That’s the beauty of having somebody like that that’s popping off—it elevates the whole scene,” Nelson says. “And the Vancouver scene is doing really well—there are so many talented people here. I want to help raise it up. Sketch comedy is just an easy thing to make. It can be you and one other person and a funny script. That’s all it takes to start.”

Martz-Oberlander concurs, pointing out the power that local events can have.

“We’re such a Toronto-centred country, and like Jesse said, we’ve got so much talent here in Vancouver, so much comedy,” she says. “But we’re not really on the map as much as Toronto. So it’s really important for festivals like this to reach a wide audience and put Vancouver back on the map, because we’ve had so many funny people from Vancouver, but Vancouver itself isn’t known as a hub of comedy.”

Williams isn’t the only recognizable name associated with the festival. This year’s edition will be judged by a number of well-known comedy names, including popular L.A. comedian and actor Mitsy Sanderson, This Hour Has 22 Minutes regular Chris Wilson, and producer Scott Mosier, who is known for his collaborations with director Kevin Smith.

But even with the huge uptick in submissions, there are only so many actual slots for sketches at the festival. Last year, Nelson and crew screened around 30 sketches at the Rio. It will likely be around that same number again, but the submissions have started coming from a more diverse group.

“Last year, we had some people from the U.K., some from L.A.,” Nelson says. “The goal is to expand the thing. As much as I want to highlight people in Vancouver and create a platform for them, I also want people outside to know that we’re a force to be reckoned with in the sketch scene.”

Case in point: last year, a wildly popular L.A. sketch group (known, confusingly, as that’s a bad idea) submitted something for the festival. Earlier this year, the group filmed a major feature film—Anything But Ghosts, starring Aaron Paul and Bryce Dallas Howard—in Vancouver.

Perhaps the connection there is completely unrelated. Whatever the case, Nelson plans to keep growing both the local sketch scene and Vancouver SketchFest, however he can.

“I think sketch comedy is a really big stepping stone to create and get into the world of making stuff for film,” he says.

He just may need a few more chairs. 

Vancouver SketchFest runs May 13 at the Rio Theatre. Tickets here.