San Francisco Comedy Blog

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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The very funny David Feldman, Emmy award-winning TV writer and former SF comic, appeared on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson last Thursday. (After what was probably one of the most awkward intros ever given to a comedian on a late night show.)

Christian Finnegan is perhaps best known as one of the original cast members of VH1’s “Best Week Ever.” “Chappelle’s Show” fans will recognize him as ‘Chad’, the only white roommate in the infamous “Mad Real World” sketch.

This Wednesday, June 24th, Christian will be performing at the historic Purple Onion in North Beach for one show only. He usually plays at much bigger clubs when he stops in the Bay Area, so this is a rare opportunity to see him in such an intimate venue as The Purple Onion, and this will be his debut performance at the legendary club.

Wednesday, June 24th
8pm (doors open at 7:30)

Last night, Bill Burr became The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien’s very first stand-up guest. Click here to check out our interview with Bill from back in March.

On Saturday, June 6th, our illustrious hosts of Comedy Speakeasy at The Purple Onion made a visit to the KRON-4 studios in San Francisco to chat about comedy, the upcoming Bay Area Laugh Leader competition and even more comedy coming to North Beach - weekend shows at The Purple Onion starting in July!

Beginning July 1st, 84 comedians will compete over 10 weeks at the historic Purple Onion. The championship round will be held on September 2nd, and one winner will be crowned the SFstandup.com Bay Area Laugh Leader (B.A.L.L.). Scoring will be based on a combination of audience vote and judges’ vote.

Visit the competition’s official site at SFstandup.com/ball.

To be considered for this competition, please email purpleonion@SFstandup.com by Monday, June 14th.

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by Adrian Palenchar and Jimmy Lillard

The Adrian Palenchar TV Show for the Internet, by Adrian Palenchar and Michael Sanchez, with appearances by Jeff Andrews, Duat Mai, Squeeks Morales, and Kevin O’Shea.

Do you have any advice for the budding humor writer?

“There are two things I would say are the key to comedy. One is character. All good comedy comes from character. In my mind, jokes are one thing, but without a convincing protagonist and somebody you care about, your comedy is on a path to nothing. All my favorite comedies are character-based, whether it’s George Costanza in Seinfeld, David Brent in The Office, or Woody Allen. Character, character, character.

Number two is to have a voice. Have an opinion. Try and say something. I don’t think it’s enough to just write trifling jokes. You should have a point of view. Have the confidence in what you think. Don’t let the executives or your own self-doubt dilute what you want to say.”

-Dan Mazer, co-writer and former classmate of Sacha Baron Cohen, in Vanity Fair magazine.

In their new web series “Elevator To Space,” comedians Alex Koll, Louis Katz, Chris Garcia, and Sean Keane ride in a… yes, you guessed it, elevator to space.

Below are the first 2 episodes. Click here to watch all of the released episodes and keep up with the new ones.