What to do in Colorado this week: The reworked Great American Beer Fest

Denver Sketch Festival returns to RISE Comedy for the third time, bringing sketch comedians into Denver from all around the continent. We’ve also got a revamped Great American Beer Festival, a headfirst dive into fall in Fort Collins and a sensory-friendly ballet.

Oct. 8-14

Denver Sketch Festival. After the first Denver Sketch Festival in 2024, organizers Katie Congrove and Connor Schuck got the word “dumb” tattooed on their arms in Sketch Festival font.

“It was just the best thing we had ever done, it was so much fun, and we kept being like, nothing will ever beat the first one,” Congrove said. “But that hasn’t been true, which is nice.” And now they’ve got the tattoos to tap into — for writing, for performance, for everyday life.

“It’s just about being free, and childish and not overthinking stuff,” Schuck said. “Like what is the single common denominator between everybody?”

Tonight is opening night for the third — now annual — Denver Sketch Festival, promising to be dumb as ever. The irony is that in order to come off so carefree and loose with it, performers have scripted and blocked and staged and reworked their material until it’s just right. That iterative process is part of what draws Schuck and Congrove to sketch comedy, it’s what differentiates it from improv or stand-up, and it’s the reason they needed a whole festival dedicated to it.

“Sketch comedians are very particular, in that we’ve all spent a lot of time grinding, writing, blocking, coming up with cues. We’ve all had people quit. We’ve all had friends that want to be part of the group then stop showing up. It’s these shared experiences,” Schuck said. “So you get a depth a sketch festival because of the level of intentionality that goes into it.”

Just don’t take it too seriously.

The Denver Sketch Festival runs Thursday-Saturday at RISE Comedy in Denver, with New York-based Simple Town headlining Saturday night.

$99 for all access, various prices for individuals shows; Thursday-Saturday; RISE Comedy, 1260 22nd St., Denver

Other events to consider

• Sensory friendly “Don Quixote.” A performance of Colorado Ballet’s “Don Quixote” with reduced special effects and dim house lighting, as well as relaxed audience expectations, to accommodate sensory sensitivities. “Don Quixote” and a matinee “Nutcracker” on Nov. 29 are the ballet’s two sensory-friendly performances this season. $20-$40; 6:30 p.m., Thursday; Ellie Caulkins Opera House, 1385 Curtis St., Denver
• FoCo Fall Fest. A free community bazaar featuring more than 100 local makers, plus two full days (plus a Friday night kickoff concert) of live music, dance performances and pumpkin painting at the Old Town Square in Fort Collins. Free; Friday-Sunday; Old Town Square, 199 Trimble Court, Fort Collins
• Great American Beer Festival. The reworked Great American Beer Festival tests out a new format this year with fewer people, bigger pours and an outdoor venue. The annual expo, competition and festival draws is a beer lovers’ chance to mingle more than 200 brewers from all over the country. Check local breweries for special offsite tap takeovers, meet and greets and weekend discounts. $120; Saturday and Sunday; Levitt Pavillion, 1380 W. Florida Ave., Denver

Note: This is a curated list by the reporter to give readers a sense of arts and culture events happening across Colorado that they may not have otherwise known about. This is not meant to be an exhaustive account of things to do.