San Francisco Comedy Blog

Chris Garcia likes his Snuggie a lot.

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

Why is it that so many performers go forgotten and so few are remembered? Why is it that today’s new generation of comedy fans are just as familiar with the tortured monologues of Richard Pryor, the meta-comedy of Steve Martin, or the absurdity of Andy Kaufman- decades after those performers made their initial debuts?

The answer: Originality.

In this unorthodox comedy workshop held at the legendary Purple Onion nightclub, highly-acclaimed comedian and performance artist, Will Franken, instructs students on how to develop their own unique twist on humor in order to become a more visible presence in the often monotonous world of entertainment.

(more…)

By Drew Harmon

After two months of competition and a field that began with 36 performers vying for the title, on Wednesday night the 2009 San Francisco Women’s Comedy Competition came to a conclusion and named Janine Brito the winner.

The competition began with preliminary rounds at The Brainwash, the popular café/Laundromat/performance space located on Folsom near 7th in San Francisco, where it could be argued every Bay Area comedian must do standup at to be considered part of the club. After multiple rounds the shows moved to Club Deluxe during the popular Monday night comedy shows near the historic Haight/Ashbury intersection.

(more…)

In episode 3 of his new video series Seriously Funny, Joe Klocek sits down with one of our all-time favorite comics, Marc Maron. Taped earlier this month at SF’s Punch Line Comedy Club.

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…

(more…)

Comedians & the Internet have come a long way since 2001…

Dave Attell: “I have a website… I’ve never been on it, but I have a pale cousin working on it.”

Jake Johannsen: “I’ve never actually been to [my website], but I’ve seen it demonstrated to me.”

Also featuring: Kevin Meaney, Don Novello, Carlos Alazraqui, Greg Behrendt, Don McMillan, Larry “Bubbles” Brown & more…

In the first episode of his new series of interviews with stand-up comics, Joe Klocek sits down with Joe Wong at the Punch Line Comedy Club.

Jacob Sirof, Kevin Camia, Brent Weinbach, and Sherry Sirof all performed at the Outside Lands Festival last month, and MF Magazine was there to interview them. Or more like, hand them a microphone and stand back…

Every Tuesday, Mark Pitta continues to turn the 142 Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley into one of the best comedy rooms in the country. Last night, Dick Gregory was on the show, and a couple of his fans also dropped by to watch. (Photo by Rick Pulido)