ABOUT THE HABIT

The Habit is a sketch comedy group that collectively writes and directs its own productions. Their sketches are most noted for personifying inanimate objects (a box of Peeps, vending machines, household furniture), playing with conventions of structure (outtakes, callbacks, timeline), and of course, being generally inappropriate.

The Habit began performing sketch comedy together in 1995 as undergraduates at the University of Washington in Seattle. Unfortunately, David Swidler joined in 1996. At that time they were called Humphrey’s Habit, and the members created a brand new one-to-two hour show every other week, which… depending on how you look at it, is either amazing, or a complete waste of one-to-two-hours.

Upon graduating in 1998, they changed their name to the Habit, and ventured out from their cozy enclave in the U-District into the big, scary world of downtown Seattle. Their first official show under “The Habit” moniker was at the 1999 Seattle Fringe Festival — which was no more than a cheap, regurgitation of their past four years of sketches.

Following this, they began a relationship with Annex Theatre, often performing on their stage in the late-night slot. In 2001, following Annex’s move out of the lustrous downtown location on 4th Avenue, The Habit moved its shows to the Bathhouse Theater on Greenlake.

Having gained a sizable following and a number of shows under their belt since 1995, The Habit lazily rested on their laurels… yet again… and delivered an Anthology show in 2002 at the Bathhouse. The Anthology, which was to be their final Seattle show, contained all the best sketches of the past seven years (translation: another regurgitation, but a much better one this time).

In the Summer of 2002 the group bought a used van from a church (license plate: “YEA GOD”) drove to Montreal and and performed West across Canada in the Canadian Fringe circuit, also dipping down to New York City for a 3-week run at the Pantheon Theater.

In 2003, most of the group transplanted down to Los Angeles because they enjoyed the smell of smog and failure. The Habit performed several shows in Los Angeles, most of them at the renowned Improv Olympic West. Throughout the years 2003 – 2006, The group performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago Sketch Festivals.

In 2006, The Habit neatly folded up their Peeps costumes and put them in the hallway closet to take a few year hiatus after performing together for the past 11 years. The Habit boys — who loved/hated each other like brothers — continued to reunite annually in Vegas, where most of the members didn’t have to take a loan out from the casino in order to stay at the strip club until 7am. Most of them.

In the fall of 2010, the Habit boys decided it was time to end their hiatus and return to their roots in Seattle. In January of 2011 the boys holed themselves up in a lodge near Portland, Oregon — away from friends, family and iPhones… and embarked on the task of creating an all-new show from scratch, their first completely original show in 10 years. (See previous shows about resting on laurels.)

In September of 2011, the fruits of their writing retreat come to fruition as The Habit returns to their Bathhouse home for an all new show of (mild to above mild) laughter.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011 at 8:43 pm. It is filed under ABOUT. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.