Austin Sketch Fest: SNL stars and rising comedy

Austin's sketch comedy scene has a habit of catching people just before they go huge, and the Austin Sketch Fest is the place that has been doing it. Now in its 18th year, the festival has built a reputation for booking comedians on the cusp of breaking into the mainstream, and the 2026 edition leaned into that with a lineup that paired a household name with some of the best sketch performers working today. For the first time ever, the festival stretched across two weekends rather than one, running August 14-16 and August 21-23 at ColdTowne Theater.

The headliner was a hometown return: Andrew Dismukes, the Saturday Night Live writer, actor, and comedian who grew up in Houston and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2017 with a degree in Radio-Television-Film. He joined SNL as a writer in 2017, became a featured player in 2020, and moved to repertory status in 2022, so seeing him back in the city where he went to school was a nice full-circle moment for the festival. Sharing the bill was Assssketch, the New York City troupe that performs weekly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, along with a mix of rising Texas comedians and some of the country's strongest sketch acts.

The second weekend leaned into solo work. Aly Dixon brought her show 'Funeral Pro,' a comedic take on death and loss that chronicles her life after losing her parents and sister between 2022 and 2024, and Texas performer Mimi Meier presented 'Me? Me!', in which she plays a delusional Hollywood starlet. Meier is a writer, comedian, and performer whose work spans stage, screen, and sea, and she also hosted the festival's Sketch Cover Night, an evening of bona fide classics performed by comedians with all ticket sales going to the ASF Travel Fund, which keeps the festival equitable and accessible.

None of this happens by accident. ColdTowne Theater, at 1700 East 2nd Street, has been Austin's home for alternative comedy since 2006 and produces, books, and organizes the festival. It runs improv, sketch, and stand-up nightly and keeps classes going for aspiring actors, and its Conservatory has a national reputation for training long-form improv talent. The theater changed hands in May 2025 when UCB acquired it, and UCB classes have been running alongside the existing operations since August 2025.

If you missed this year, it's worth keeping the festival on your radar for the next one. The alumni list reads like a who's who of recent comedy: Tim Robinson, Amber Ruffin, Ego Nwodim, Meg Stalter, Paul F. Tompkins, Jamie Loftus, James Adomian, and troupes like Reductress LIVE, Asian AF, and UCB Characters Welcome, with groups flying in from NYC, Chicago, Toronto, L.A., Seattle, Portland, Dallas, and Austin. It's the kind of festival where you can catch someone in a small room before they're headlining theaters across the country.