San Francisco Comedy Blog

Every Thursday at 8pm, Justin Scales aka “The Scalesman” presents live comedy @ The Purple Onion.

Watch Sammy Franco interview Justin about Purple Onion Thursdays:
(”The audience knows they’re naughty, and they want you to spank them.”)

8pm every Thursday
@ The Purple Onion
140 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco
$10 cash at the door

Upcoming shows:

February 4th:
Hoogie & Gumps
Featuring Comedy Central’s John Hoogasian, and a medley of Bay Area comedians/Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. servers.

February 11th:
Eddie Ifft
NBC’s Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, worldwide headliner

February 18th:
Brendon Walsh
Montreal Comedy Festival, has a big beard, tours with Doug Stanhope

Februay 25th:
Brent Weinbach
Winner of the prestigious Andy Kaufman Award, conductor of legendary fart orchestra, once delivered a pizza to Brad Pitt

by Jeff Cleary

October 29th, 30th & 31st @ The Rrazz Room
10pm
222 Mason Street, SF

Madame, Madame, Madame! Where do I start? You’ve been a comic icon for decades: Laugh-In in the 60’s, you did the game show circuit in the 70’s (Match Game, Hollywood Squares), numerous variety specials, you hosted Solid Gold in the 80’s, had your own show “Madame’s Place”, had a long-running Vegas show – Madame Goes to Harlem…

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Kevin Camia is one of San Francisco’s rising stars of comedy. In fact, he just won “The Golden Shingle” award as most outstanding rising stand-up star at the 2009 Rooftop Comedy Festival. Around town he’s known as the “comedians’ comedian” with his tightly written material, dry wit, and laid-back “tell it like it is” style. His credits include Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham,” AZN’s “ Asia Street Comedy,” and the SF Sketchfest. On July 17th & 18th, he’ll be headlining the Opening Weekend of “LIVE at the Purple Onion,” a new dinner & stand-up series at the legendary SF nightclub.

July 17th & 18th @ The Purple Onion
8pm, 10pm
140 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco

So, how did you get started in stand-up?

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Bay Area comedian Jesse Fernandez has a film competing in Rooftop Comedy’s National College Funny Film Competition. There are currently 12 films being voted on, and the top 4 will move on to compete at the Rooftop Comedy Festival next month. Click here to vote for Jesse’s film.

What is your film about?

Jesse Fernandez: I guess, if my film has any plot line at all, it’s that I fall asleep onstage and have this very peculiar dream, and everyone gets to see it in the film. That’s a stretch though. The film is essentially a series of odd visual one-liners.

Cool song… is that you or DJ Real doing the singing and guitar playing?

JF: DJ Real is doing the awesome guitar playing, and I’m doing the singing. It was DJ’s idea for me to sing in Spanish-sounding gibberish. I think the song came out very sincere-sounding but silly, which I love. One of my friends listened to that song and actually thought I was singing in fluent Spanish, which is fine with me too.

Rooftop Comedy is based here in SF- do you think that gives you any sort of advantage?

JF: I wish! The voting rounds are out of the Staff’s hands, and the judging round was done by independent judges from other areas of the comedy industry. But I think being in SF is way helpful. The comedy community here is really supportive, and so are the people in the area who just love comedy. Their votes make this thing happen.

One of the films you are up against is by a guy who goes to Scottsdale Community College- isn’t that just one step above the University of Phoenix?

JF: In the interest of diplomacy I will say that Scottsdale Community College and the University of Phoenix probably both have their strong points. A guy from Scottsdale got a film this far though, and the University of Phoenix didn’t. So in UoP’s face. Honestly, a good film can come from anywhere. I just hope everyone thinks mine is better. Also, …vote for my film, everyone!

Every Tuesday night, SFstandup.com presents live comedy at Annie’s Social Club at 5th and Folsom Street. The free show, held in the very intimate back room of one of San Francisco’s best punk rock clubs, offers a chance to see just about everything the San Francisco stand-up comedy scene has to offer. Many of the best local comedians stop by to work on material, people get on stage to try comedy for the first time, and a couple crazies usually end up on stage too (not revealing themselves as lunatics until after they’ve taken the stage).

Drew Harmon hosts the show at Annie’s and also performs regularly all across the Bay Area, with appearances at The Purple Onion, the San Jose Improv, and Club Deluxe.

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Tonight Doug Benson will record a new CD at the San Francisco Punch Line, performing 2 shows at 7pm and 9:30pm on 4/20, every stoner’s favorite day of the year (except maybe the day they give away free Ben & Jerry’s).

Earlier today, we talked with Doug via Twitter, conducting our first “twitterview.” Both of tonight’s shows are sold out, but read on to find out more about the show, and why it might be worth it to go down and wait in the stand-by line.

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by Chad Lehrman

Paula Poundstone developed her legendary improvisational comedy style in San Francisco in the 1980s, moving on to become the first woman to win an ACE Award for Best Standup performance. She appears regularly on the NPR show “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me,” recently released her first CD, “I Heart Jokes,” and also wrote her first book, There’s Nothing In This Book That I Meant To Say.

See Paula live @ Cobb’s Comedy Club
March 20th & 21st
8pm, 10:15pm, $30.50

First of all, I wanted to say I’m glad you’re ok cause I read on your Twitter page that you ate a cinnamon roll off the ground.

Paula Poundstone: I did! Even my kids said to me, “You don’t eat food off the ground!” It wasn’t until they said it to me that I went, “Oooh, yeah.” I’m such a pig that I barely even hesitated. So yeah, it’s a lucky thing that I’m still alive today.

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by Chad Lehrman

Bill Burr’s constant touring, TV and radio appearances, CD and DVD releases, and weekly podcasting have all helped make him one of the top comedians working today. On Monday, he comes to San Francisco for one night only at the Punchline Comedy Club.

July 13th @ The Punchline
7pm, 9:30pm
444 Battery Street, San Francisco

NOTE: This interview is from back in March 2009, when Bill also performed in San Francisco for one night only on a Monday.

So how come you’re only here for one night and on a Monday? Is that the kind of tour you’re doing right now?

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by Chad Lehrman

Rob Cantrell began his comedy career in San Francisco and quickly rose to national prominence as a top 10 finalist on the first season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing. Rob now lives in New York City and tours all over the country. He has headlined the High Times Comedy Festival, toured with the Marijuana-Logues, and has appeared on Comedy Central, the Late Late Show on CBS, and VH-1. On March 17th & 18th, Rob is very excited to record his first comedy album in the city where he got his start.

March 17th & 18th @ The Punchline
8pm, $15
444 Battery Street, San Francisco

What did you know about Last Comic Standing when you auditioned for the first season? Did you have any idea it could give you as much exposure as it did?

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Punchline Magazine and RooftopComedy have been producing a series of 5 minute interviews with stand-up comedians called “A Tight Five.”

These two most recent ones are probably my favorite that they have done…

You can also read SFstandup.com’s interviews with Marc Maron and Eugene Mirman by clicking here and here…