The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary from March 5 to 16, 2025. It will showcase contemporary sketch comedy, storytelling, musical comedy, and clowning. Over 70 troupes from North America will perform high-energy acts.

Recently, I held an online conversation with performers Hannan Younis and Rakhee Morzaria. They will perform ‘My Best Friend’s Friend’ on March 12 at Toronto’s The Theatre Centre.

More about their upcoming show shortly.

Comedy is a complex art form. It’s not an easy one to perform live.

What does comedy mean for a twenty-first-century audience? Is there anything that a 21st-century audience should consider when attending comedy?

For Hannan and Rakhee, comedy is always rooted in truth and their experiences. They are both racialized artists, and their experience of the world is filtered through this lens. For them, the most important thing in their comedy is to write what's true for them, what makes them laugh, and what spooks them.

I find it interesting that artists who work in comedy also search for truth and experiences, just as theatre actors constantly search for truth and believability in their performance work.

Performers in comedy aren’t just born. It must start somewhere and be nurtured.

Where did this nurturing begin for the two of them?

When looking at college brochures in high school, Hannan started a descent into comedy. Enrollment in 2004 in the Humber Comedy college programme followed. Rakhee started Second City in 2013 and completed their Conservatory, Bob Curry Fellowship (meeting Hannan followed) and worked on their mainstage in their Education Company, Family Company. Rakhee also made a comedic digital series in 2018, which was an incredible learning experience. The series was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award.

Some comedy performers typically had mentors throughout their career journeys. Who were some of Hannan and Rakhee's mentors in comedy?

Their response was interesting:

“The audience…that sounds like a really weird answer, but our art is contingent on an audience coming out and giving us feedback. We write what's honest and true and funny for us, that’s our voices - and no one can teach us about that except for ourselves (and our core group of comedy friends who encourage and empower us). In terms of honing skills and getting stronger in our craft, it’s about audience response and trying things out over and over to understand the mechanics of why something is working or not…it’s about being true to our message and figuring out the strongest way to communicate it.”

Their show, ‘My Best Friend’s Friend,’ opens March 12. It concerns two comedians trying to forge a friendship through the creation of their new, never-before-seen experimental comedy show. But the two of them whetted the appetite just a bit more.

Hannan said the show came to be because they share the same best friends. They didn't want to do a show with us, so we made the show to spite them. Rakhee playfully added that since the two of them have hung out since 2015, they haven’t created something together since then. They got to know each other through the show.

Rakhee calls it very meta.

Are there any messages the two would like audiences to take away after seeing “My Best Friend’s Friend?”

Both agree:

“To be yourself and have fun.”

What’s next for them when the Comedy Sketch Fest concludes at The Theatre Centre?

They’re planning a tour of “My Best Friend’s Friend.”

But there’s something else they’re keeping in mind regarding the tour:

“Given the way things are going globally, it feels like the right time to dig our feet in and build an arts community that we’ve always wanted. We’re also writing a television show, but it’s under wraps so we can’t get into details at this time. You’ll have to stay tuned.”

To learn more about the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival at The Theatre Centre, go here:
https://theatrecentre.org/event/toronto-sketchfest-2025/