Search

Since comedy clubs across the Bay Area went dark last spring, there hasn't been much to chuckle over. Fortunately, as local residents continue to get vaccinated at an impressive clip, the opportunity to laugh out loud at a local comedy show is once more on the horizon. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Improv artist Bill Bonham had a stage presence that stood out for the very reason that he did not stand out. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Even before the pandemic hit, comedy show producers were among the real workhorses of the live entertainment industry. Take for example San Francisco comedian Lisa Geduldig, whose annual Kung Pao Kosher comedy show is set to celebrate its 29th year in 2021. She has kept the humor flowing all year long with a virtual pivot to monthly "Lockdown Comedy" broadcasts (the next one set for Thursday, April 15) live from Florida, where she has been spending quarantine with her mother, and featuring other guest comedians. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Women are very funny, as everyone but a few boorish male comics has known since . forever. Women who tell jokes on stage for a living also are extremely committed to their craft, as the illuminating and uplifting FX documentary "Hysterical" informs us. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As is often the case with Muni, the joke was on the riders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Bob Odenkirk owns a Martin acoustic guitar, a copy of the one that Dana Carvey gave him after they worked on 1993's "Wayne's World 2." A thief broke into Odenkirk's house a few years ago and took the original. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

City-funded relief to San Francisco's nightlife and entertainment venues is poised to double from $1.5 million to $3 million, Supervisor Matt Haney announced Wednesday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the new film "Coming 2 America," African American cast members from three eras of "Saturday Night Live" - Eddie Murphy, Tracy Morgan and Leslie Jones - appear onscreen together. And naturally, the trio occasionally chopped it up about their experiences on the long-running sketch show. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

When stay-at-home orders first took effect in March, the concept of comedy was not among the things declared "essential" by the city of San Francisco. That's why, only two months removed from pulling off the 19th installment of SF Sketchfest, co-founders Janet Varney, Cole Stratton and David Owens knew they would need a new plan for 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One of San Francisco's iconic stand-up comics is also one of its most unabashed advocates. Born in San Francisco and raised in San Jose, Kevin Pollak is as much a part of the fabric of the fading, opaque cultural landscape of San Francisco as the characteristic Karl the Fog that frequently occupies the city - though not nearly as old. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Jon Allen noticed a commotion as he walked to the doors of his San Francisco comedy theater, Cheaper Than Therapy, which has been shuttered since March. Some police officers were arresting a suspect at the nearby 7-Eleven. Allen paused to watch, and one of the officers called over to ask when the theater would open again. Allen remembers the look on his face and the tone of his voice, suggesting he could really use a dose of comedy just then. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The same week that the federal government authorized $15 billion for venues as part of the $900 billion COVID stimulus bill, San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney proposed more help on the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

About 60% of the jokes land in "Yearly Departed," an Amazon special premiering Wednesday, Dec. 30, that gathers top female comics (plus the actress who plays Mrs. Maisel) to eulogize 2020, a year that mercifully ends this week. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The 28th annual "Kung Pao Kosher Comedy" show is ready to bring laughter back into this holiday season, in spite of the pandemic. But for the first time ever, the annual event is happening in what organizers are describing as a "virtual" Chinese restaurant, hosted on Zoom and YouTube Live. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With hopes quashed for celebrating its 20th anniversary in person in January, the organizers of the multiday SF Sketchfest comedy festival will instead mark the milestone online with Festpocalypse!, a one-day virtual variety show and fundraiser featuring new performances, chats, game shows and more. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Broke-Ass Stuart, the eternally "young, broke and beautiful" voice of a certain set of San Franciscans due to his website, brokeassstuart.com, is turning 40. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sarah Cooper is one of the few good things to come out of the pandemic. She vaulted to public attention by lip-syncing Donald Trump in a series of funny and eerily perceptive videos. Now, with a comedy special, "Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine," streaming on Netflix, she launches her big national career. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The forty-sixth season of "Saturday Night Live" got off to a rocky start, but before we criticize, consider the difficulty of the task: The past few months have left Americans feeling like trauma victims, and victims of multiple, recent traumas don't make the best audience for comedy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We've lost a lot during the first six months of pandemic life: going out, uncovered faces, beloved businesses and venues. Now, even my sense of humor feels compromised. I'm no longer laughing as easily at the kind of pointed jabs, withering personal reads and air of ironic bemusement that I usually enjoy. Even dependable snark and sarcasm of the eye-rolling Tina Fey variety have lost their power to amuse, something I didn't think possible after being raised on a comedy diet rich with them. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The organizers of SF Sketchfest have scrapped plans for what would have been the 20th annual festival in January, citing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This year's been full of unwanted surprises, but 2020 also saw the comeback of "Reno 911," so it's not a total bust. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Robin Williams' death in 2014 was a wrenching loss to his fans across the world, but nowhere was that grief more profound than in the Bay Area, the home of the comic genius. In the ensuing days, a tragic narrative developed here and elsewhere about the sad clown who couldn't overcome the demons of depression and the onset of Parkinson's disease. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

"Get Duked!" is based on a real youth character-building program started by Queen Elizabeth's husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, 64 years ago. So, appropriately, the movie this noble initiative has inspired delivers dumb Cheech & Chong-Broken Lizard-Trailer Park Boys comedy in Scottish burrs so thick most Americans will understand only about half of it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For many comedians and promoters, a 2020 calendar is a painful reminder of what should've been. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Brava Theater is relaunching its popular "Who's Your Mami Comedy" night on Zoom every third Thursday of the month. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The scenario sounds bleakly familiar. Holed up in his home, depressed and binge-watching Netflix while the apocalypse slowly gathers steam outside his door, Jim Carrey is spiraling. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Comedy [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

I don't know about you, but I really need to laugh. A big belly laugh, complete with gasping for breath and tears running down my face, would be nice. But I'd settle for a little chuckle. Even a slight upturn of the corners of my mouth. The last several months have been distinctly unfunny, to say the least. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In his latest Netflix special, "Jo Koy: In His Elements," Filipino American comedian Jo Koy takes his fans to a place that shaped his identity and his comedy: the Philippines. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Two things get Brian Pritchard fired up in the morning before he heads into the cavern of death, fear and despair that the coronavirus has transformed his work into. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Katie Rubin [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One-hour comedy specials from major talents have been big parts of Netflix's key investments of the past years, and they're paying off - the service now has a significant library of new comedy specials from the greats. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Mal Sharpe, an inventive radio comic, pitchman and jazzman best known for his genius and geniality in the ribald KGO duo Coyle & Sharpe, died Tuesday, March 10, at his home in the Elmwood neighborhood of Berkeley. The cause of death was the lingering effects of heart surgery, said his daughter, Jennifer Sharpe. He was 83. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim have been cracking each other up for more than 20 years. Their ever-growing audience has been in on the joke for a shorter duration, mostly through the Adult Swim series "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" But the fact that Tim and Eric bring a new comedy show to San Francisco on Wednesday, March 4, suggests their fan base has grown significantly for two comedians whose core work was inspired by sad late-night public access television. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The show "Insecure" made Yvonne Orji a star, but she's not letting it define her. By the time the fourth season of the HBO comedy series begins this spring, Orji will have completed her monthlong Lagos to Laurel stand-up comedy tour. On top of that she's writing an advice book titled "Bamboozled by Jesus: How God Tricked Me Into the Life of My Dreams," set to be released this year. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On paper, Fred Armisen and Brad Paisley wouldn't seem to have much in common. One affectionately skewered urban hipster is best known as a star on "Portlandia," and the other packs arenas with witty rural anthems like "Mud on the Tires" and "Ticks." [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

SF Sketchfest is scheduled to host Fred Armisen in a unique three-night series called Comedy for Guitar Players at the Chapel on Friday-Sunday, Jan. 24-26. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The stars of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants" left Bikini Bottom for the Castro Theatre to continue celebrating two decades of serving those wishing for nautical nonsense. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dave Chappelle kicked off his first weekend of the new year with a rare, riotous, nearly three-hour stand-up set at the Chapel in San Francisco, a city to which he admittedly owes a great deal. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

If a stand-up comedian can create just one new joke every week for a year, then the comic will have a full hour's worth of material in about 12 months, says comedian George Wallace. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

San Francisco is a comedy city, and for the past 19 years Janet Varney, David Owen and Cole Stratton have tried to ensure that legacy carries on in the form of SF Sketchfest. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

If you hear peals of laughter ricocheting off Millennium Tower later this month, odds are you're in close proximity to one of the more than 250 shows taking place as part of the 19th annual San Francisco Sketchfest, running Thursday, Jan. 9-Jan. 26. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It's indisputable: San Francisco is a comedy hub. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Paula Poundstone got her start as a stand-up comedian on the East Coast, but she found her comedy home in San Francisco. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

You might expect sad faces from Debi Durst and Johnny Steele. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In "Jewish Comedy: A Serious History," author Jeremy Dauber identifies seven pillars that characterize his subject matter. "Jewish comedy is bookish, witty, intellectual allusive play," goes one. Then, the next: "Jewish comedy is vulgar, raunchy and body-obsessed." [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Bay Area comedians Joey Avery and Andrew Orolfo sat down for a 30-minute podcast at The San Francisco Chronicle, and hardly a minute passed when they both didn't burst into laughter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Comedian and curator Marga Gomez's hot monthly "Who's Your Mami Comedy" night is back at Brava Cabaret for its third show on Thursday, Nov. 14. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]