After that the crowd started chanting "TWO POINTS!" (see? audiences can do callbacks too), Nicole was given two points, and then Vic gave all their points to Nicole as well (surely an official act as Dropout President), and Lily declared that it is now canon in Dirty Laundry that singing "Defying Gravity" is worth two points.

It was an amazing finish; I loved it so much!

https://sfsketchfest2026.sched.com/event/2BQv8/dropout-and-sf-sketchfest-present-dirty-laundry-sold-out

#Dropout #SFSketchfest #DropoutTV

Nicole had performed as Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway and at one point Grant (charmingly) derailed the show with a question about the procedure when the flying harness doesn't work for "Defying Gravity"—Nicole shared details on the procedure and that she had actually done it once! The performers all lie on the floor downstage on the rake with Elphaba upstage and everyone engages their suspension of disbelief.

At the end of the show Vic was in the lead and Nicole had scored only one point—she jokingly suggested that she could sing "Defying Gravity" for an extra point to avoid the shame of a single-point score. This quickly snowballed into the entire cast lying down and Nicole standing above them on a chair singing an excerpt from the song. The crowd went wild and I swear it's the best theater moment I've ever experienced.

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Vic and Griffin were able to riff repeatedly on a John Goodman bit and Eugene's desire for "two points" had an incredible payoff. Lily Du shared that she didn't have Paul Robalino keeping track of players' scores like she does for the in-studio production but she seemed to do really well juggling both point tracking and pacing the show well. I think it was Lily who pointed out that Eugene on studio Dirty Laundry was all about crimes while live Eugene (who had been out until 5am gambling the night before??) had some of the sweetest most heartfelt secrets to share.

But the big deal for this show? You may have seen it on Instagram stories already (unfortunately I can't find anywhere to link to it) — first, some setup:

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Third #Dropout #SFSketchfest review: Dirty Laundry!

I don't know whether it was intentional, but this show was a STELLAR finale for the "Dropout weekend" of shows.

I was rightfully super excited to see Vic Michaelis and Eugene Cordero live in this show (FOUR Star Trek actors in one weekend!)—I had seen Griffin Newman in 2025 SF Sketchfest version of Um, Actually and knew absolutely nothing about Nicole Parker, but they both had utterly won me over by the end.

The theater's bar had limited pre-mixes of the "Pisco Pink" cocktails that Grant "Anthony Anthony" O'Brien had prepared for the performers which was an *excellent* touch (except for the "limited' part—they probably could've made a good deal of revenue if they'd had more available)

I am thankful that they addressed the "two ferns" stage setup, and speaking of set design, the chairs for this show were better than the chairs for Um, Actually.

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3) At a couple points a comedian led the crowd in ironic chants of "U-S-A!" and wow that conjures up some complex feelings these days.

Um, Actually was a joy live, Crowd Control pulled off a show that I wasn't sure would work in a live format; how will Dirty Laundry work live?

https://sfsketchfest2026.sched.com/event/2BQv5/dropout-and-sf-sketchfest-present-crowd-control-sold-out

#Dropout #DropoutTV #SFSketchfest

The Crowd Control performers were all superb—I was only familiar with Paul F. Tompkins but both Aaron Branch and Natasha Vinik were quite adept at the format. However, there were other aspects of the production that have really stuck with me:

1) I didn't notice it at Um, Actually the night before, but Crowd Control had multiple ASL interpreters available at the show and ended up doing crowdwork with some of the ASL table. I'm unsure whether that was specifically a Dropout thing but I really liked that they did that.

2) The person who ran around with the mic to ensure that all the audience members could be heard was a key part of the production, and Jacquis was right to give that person a shout-out at the end of the show (sorry I can't remember the name; the flu demands a price!)

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#Dropout #DropoutTV #SFSketchfest

Second #Dropout #SFSketchfest review: Crowd Control!

I'd argue that good improv (and crowd work!) is typically balancing on a razor's edge between crushing disaster and raucous success, and I thought live Crowd Control landed on the successful side of the blade.

I was really curious how they would pull off a live version of Crowd Control—in the #DropoutTV show, audience members wear t-shirts with pithy blurbs about their quirky topics; were they going to hand out t-shirts to everyone in advance?

Instead they provided cardstock paddles that the "front row" tables could fill out with interesting stories they were willing to share with the audience. I thought it was an excellent way to adapt the concept for live performance, and Jacquis Neal commented how Dropout is too cheap to hand out t-shirts to everyone, a fun concession to the challenges involved.

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First #Dropout #SFSketchfest review: Um, Actually!

I love voice actors so the contestant roster was right up my alley. Going in I was hoping for something like the voice acting samples in s9e12 (also with Janet Varney!), and they did indeed have a Shiny Question on the topic.

Ify made a big deal at one point how the show wasn't being recorded which allowed him to say things off-the-record. I'm guessing he doesn't want me resharing that story so I'll just take the secret to the grave.

The cast was wonderful and though there were some highly entertaining digressions, they were able to keep the pacing engaging throughout. I had never seen Tawny Newsome live before, so that was a special treat, and Marc Evan Jackson was somehow able to pull off an entire character arc for himself which had me impressed. Janet Varney is an SF Sketchfest pro so she felt like an adept ambassador joining the two worlds.

Thankfully Brian David Gilbert's laptop battery survived the show!

https://sfsketchfest2026.sched.com/event/2BQvB/dropout-and-sf-sketchfest-present-um-actually-sold-out

#DropoutTV