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Chicago may hold the current title of the improv center of America, but David Terruso is looking to bring Philadelphia to national prominence.
“[Improv] is really a grassroots thing and trying to connect with the people. This can take off and this can be like Chicago,” Terruso, of 17th Street and Oregon Avenue, said. “We want to do that here, have people think of that the same way they would think of going to a bar on a Friday night. We want it to be on their calendar as something to do.”
As co-founder and co-producer of Philly Sketchfest, a weeklong, annual event celebrating and promoting the art of improv, Terruso is constantly looking for ways to spark people’s interest in his art. This year — it’s third — Philly Sketchfest will be a part of the newly minted “Comedy Month,” taking place in November.
“[Sketchfest] will be one week in the three-week event [Comedy Month] — that’s what we are calling a month and I know a month has four weeks, but — we’re calling it a month. I kept bringing it up when we were coming up with a name,” the 31-year-old said.
To raise funds for the upcoming November debauchery, which will be sandwiched between the opening week of Philly Improv Fest and the closing week of Philadelphia Joke Initiative, the third member of the Comedy Collective, Philly Sketchfest, is putting together a July 28 show at Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Samson St.
“The show is to raise money to have funds for the fest, which is in November — a sketch comedy festival mainly devoted to sketch and to make that branch of comedy more focused in the city,” Terruso, who is one-half of Animosity Pierre, a sketch group with Matt Lally, said. “The city has a real home for stand-up and it’s mainly what people know to go to in the city. We want to make other areas like improv and sketch become more prominent.”
The July 28 lineup will feature Animosity Pierre, Chris & Paul and Emily & Micah McGraw — all groups that will be featured at Sketchfest. The night costs $12 for general admission or $17 for reserved and will be hosted by Carolyn Busa. Half the night’s proceeds will be given to Sketchfest.
“We do sketches and musical comedy. I play guitar and piano and I play the drums,” Terruso said. “[Matt and I] have been together about five-and-a-half years, since November 2005. We’ve been performing around the city and done national comedy festivals.”
As one of about three groups performing sketch comedy in Philadelphia when they formed, Animosity Pierre — composed of Terruso, Lally and manager Ben Maher — is happy to report the upcoming installment of Sketchfest boasts approximately 15 groups.
“In the past it was invitation-only. The first year it was all Philadelphia groups, eight; last year included groups from New York that we had met,” Terruso, who approximates there are 25 distinct Philadelphia sketch groups, said. “It is a very small festival, so we have to be a mix of originality and stage presence and preparedness. Like if you have sound cues or lighting cues, they should be typed up — that is the level of professionalism of what we do.”
The blossoming of Sketchfest is likely a reflection of a growing base of groups in Philadelphia — and Terruso is happy to be riding the wave he helped create.
“I really like [South Philly], we know there is a lot of talent here,” Terruso said. “You could go to LA or New York, but we, the two of us — me, especially — my family is here and I don’t ever see myself moving far away. I am more interested in building the scene here.
“There is no reason why it shouldn’t be a major place to go for sketch comedy.”
Terruso lived at 10th Street and Snyder Avenue and attended Epiphany of Our Lord, 13th and Jackson streets, before moving on to high school at St. John Neumann, formerly at 2600 Moore St.
The avid writer attended La Salle University, where he continued his work as a creative writing major.
“Senior year I did my first show. A friend of mine asked me to try out. He gave me a little part in his show,” Terruso, who graduated in ’01, said. “I realized I enjoyed performance as much as writing. Sketch is the perfect combination: Writing I get to use all the skills I have and then Matt and I co-direct. I get to make the props and the music and sing on stage.”
Starting out as a quintet with members of La Salle’s comedy troupe, Improv 101, Animosity Pierre dwindled as members moved away and became the duo of Terruso and Lally.
“It’s really hard form a writing standpoint to really mix it up [with two people] and we didn’t want it to be a bunch of skits, so we started writing monologues more often. We try to do longer skits and quick interludes and music so you get this sort of tapestry and it doesn’t get boring,” he said.
Working as an editor in a Conshohocken-based manual publisher by day, Terruso gets to let the creative energy flow at night.
“It’s a very technical, boring day job. Then at night I sort of explode into as many creative things as possible,” Terruso, who says he wrote his first novel at age 10, said. “I like to have as many pots boiling at one time as I can.”
The “pots” currently hitting a boil include novel writing, screenplay writing and coming up with as many as 80 minutes of new material for each new show. The duo loves the spotlight and a TV show would be the ideal endpoint for Terruso’s creative aspirations.
“Ideally I’d love to do [writing and performing]. If I had to choose one, I’d choose writing … I wouldn’t want to give up the performing. I have this natural need for the spotlight. I think the two compliment each other: When I can perform something I’ve written I can give it specific emotion because it came from me,” Terruso, who recently performed in the Chicago and San Francisco sketch comedy festivals, said.
The current focus is on gaining speed for the upcoming comedy blowout in November. After July 28 at Helium, another promotion is in the works where the winner of an open-call sketch night wins a spot in Philly Sketchfest 2010.
With personal successes continuing to build and growth in the Philadelphia market, Terruso finds himself right where he belongs.
“We will have 15 groups in the festival. That’s exciting to me that there are so many different pockets of this going around,” Terruso said. “The more the scene builds, the more the talent comes out of the woodwork.”
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