Here comes the freight train they call FRINGE!

The Toronto Fringe Festival begins today all around downtown Toronto until July 16th. There's a ridiculous range of acts & performances to see over the week + few days. Not sure what to see? Be sure to keep a keen eye on this page for Fringe previews and reviews over the next while. Benefits? If you read a review of a good show, you can always go see it again and the majority of the Fringe performances aren't ONE NIGHT ONLY billings. Also, there are too many performances to choose from. Fringe gives you that kid-in-a-candy-store feeling, especially if you're a theate freak (note: "freak" is not, in this case, considered to be a bad thing).

One preview I can definitely vouch for are a fairly well-known group of misfits known as The Sketchersons who perform their 'Sunday Night Live' sketch comedy at The Brunswick House (Brunswick/Bloor). The show is a weekly event which usually featues a guest-host/star and, sometimes, a band. In the past, they've had a show with Henri Faberge & The Adorables as the guest-hosts and musical guest-hosts. The show also has local comedians, comedians from across the country and so forth. The troup recently came back from performing at the Montreal Fringe Festival.

For the next two Sundays, The Sketchersons will have some famous faces gracing the backroom stage. On July 9th, Don Ferguson and Kevin Hern will be guest-hosting. On the following Sunday the 16th, WWE wrestling canuck Chris Jericho will head up the hijinx. Tickets are $10 for each show.

To recap:

Who: Sunday Night Live with The Sketchersons (with guest-stars Don Ferguson & Kevin Hern and Chris Jericho)
When: Sunday, June 9th and Sunday, June 16th
Where: The Brunswick House (481 Bloor St. West - Brunswick and Bloor)
How Much: $10 for each show (paid at the door).

To view the entire grid of indoor venues, performances with dates and everything else, go here.

(image: Garry Tsaconas)