As expected, the Bastion spent the better part of yesterday recovering from a whirlwind weekend of the snubbed and the sketchy. Friday had us front-and-center at Snubfest, where during the stand-up portion we reveled in the hosting duties of Time Out Chicago's comedy editor Steve Heisler. Steve has become a regular comedy champion and supporter since taking over the position for the late Mark Sinclair (a deeply missed part of the comedy fabric); you can expect to see him at many show openings, a few parties, and, apparently, on stage for the 2007 Snubfest. He had taken a break this evening from the across-town Sketchfest, where we heard he was bopping around ALL EIGHT NIGHTS of the festival. Snubfest was a tight ship, with improv groups from all over the country playing, and we aren't exaggerating when we say pellet guns WERE shot directly at performers, fake blood was sprayed all over the walls, audience members were accosted by buxom blondes, and performers were literally flogged with leather whips by a couple very willing (and attractive!) audience members. Especially hilarious to the Bastion was the witnessing of Name Change Pending, a group we had met last year off-site and who had bought us drinks and tried to butter us up with the ol' "I'm in Snubfest" line. Nice, guys. It was great to finally see them perform and laugh, we did.

The Bastion split forces and checked out shows on opening night of Sketchfest, then again this past Saturday and Sunday. Saturday had us supporting hometown boys Heavyweight, who put on a decidedly less raucous show than their Friday night show of new legend, in which they broke $1000 worth of breakaway bottles and we also heard something about 150 peeled bananas. Everyone we talked to says you had to be there. We were also told that a Montreal scout got a recommendation on good authority to check them out; we're waiting to hear what that might mean for this powerhouse foursome.

Directly after their set we went in to see the Cody Rivers Show with one solid recommendation given to us about the duo. Frankly, we can't stop talking about them. Still can't three days later, in fact. It is absurd to try and explain them, so we won't. Two words: See them. A video clip which does not do them justice can be found below.

After an hour break for margaritas with 3/4ths of Heavyweight, we got back to the Theatre Building for the 11 p.m. performance of Kasper Hauser out of San Francisco. They are the clever purveyors of "SkyMaul", the parody book of everyone's favorite flight literature, SkyMall. We enjoyed Kasper Hauser, but the temperature in the theater and our position in the very back row in the corner caused us to be a little detached from the performance. We did get a free SkyMaul book, so score for that. It's hilarious and can be purchased on their Web site.

At midnight, drinks became free and everyone got properly soused for Sketchubator, a rollicking blast of five minute sketches from twelve groups. Some groups tried horribly offensive (awesome) stuff, some groups cranked prop chainsaws and filled the place with the smell of gasoline, some groups brought in the Chipotle-sponsored craft services table to use in their sketch... more free beer was given out and the place stayed jumpin' until 4 a.m. Special thanks to the show's executive producer Brian Posen for not only throwing a world-class festival right in our little town, but for taking the time to stop during his insane schedule and chat with us about a myriad of topics. Talented, AND charming. Thank you for the wonderful memories.

Photo of Marz Timms (above) by Krystle Gemnich.

- Kristy Mangel