SF Sketchfest 2020
JANUARY 10 - 25, 2019
SF Sketchfest celebrates the 19th annual San Francisco Comedy Festival January 9-27, 2019, with more than 600 comedic talents performing in 20 venues across the city. The 18-day festival features major comedy stars and the best up-and-coming comedians from around the world for non-stop entertainment including sketch, stand-up, alternative comedy, music, improv, films, tributes, live podcasts, storytelling, family shows, workshops, and panels and more.
Brava Theater Center will host the following 25 SF Sketchfest events:
Friday, January 10
7:30pm on Brava’s Main Stage
Kasper Hauser’s 20th Anniversary Show / Charles
Beloved by audiences, lauded by critics, Kasper Hauser's fans include George Saunders and the late David Foster Wallace. They are the sketch comedy group known for their SkyMaul books, This American Life parodies and Nigerian Scammer letters. They almost never perform (like Van Halen). So get it together, get a babysitter and come on down!
Friday, January 10
8:00pm in Brava’s Cabaret
Lakeview: Crowd Working for the Weekend with Kaseem Bentley, Chris Riggins, Chelsea Bearce, Dave Getzoff, Ivan Vegeland, Sureni Weeresekera, and Mark Smalls
Comedian Kaseem Bentley has been a mainstay of the Bay Area comedy scene for years. On the heels of the release of his hilarious debut album, Lakeview, he’s taking his show on the road, bringing his knack for crowd work to rooms beyond the bay.
Friday, January 10
10:00pm on Brava’s Main Stage
Filipino AF with Will Choi, Allyn Pintal, Joy Regullano, Erich Tamola, JR De Guzman, Melanie Anne Padernal, Gilbert Galon, Alfred Aquino II, Vince Yap, Kevin Riviera, Rachel Marsh, Tony Garbanzos, Jed Alcantara, and Kimee Jay Balmilero
Asian AF Presents: Filipino AF is a comedy variety show featuring the best Filipino American talent around. Improv, sketch, standup, and even some music and dance. (It's Filipinos after all!) The show started in LA, and we are STOKED to bring it to the bay!
Friday, January 10
10:15pm in Brava’s Cabaret
Special Release: Andie Main and Torio Van Grol album release show, with guests Emily Catalano, Curtis Cook, and JoAnn Schinderle
Andie Main is a Portland based comedian who just completed moderating and writing the show A Town Hall with Paul Ryan starring Chris Fairbanks, which toured in midwestern swingstates the day after Paul Ryan announced his retirement. There is no possible reason that Paul Ryan retired other than him having seen the tour posters. When she's not delivering satirical democracy to the people, she keeps busy by producing/hosting The Doug Fir Lounge's summer series "The Cool Kids Patio Show," and her monthly series called Revolution Comedy.
Saturday, January 11
7:30pm on Brava’s Main Stage
Asian AF with Will Choi, Jes Tom, Saagar Shaikh and JR De Guzman
Asian AF (Asian As F***) is the hit Asian American variety show held at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in both Los Angeles and New York. Asian AF spotlights the most talented Asian American comedians, actors, improvisers, musicians, dancers, and storytellers.
Saturday, January 11
8:00pm in Brava’s Cabaret
Dark Jeans with JoAnn Schinderle and guests Kristal Adams, Sharon Birzer, Caitlin Cook, Hanna Dickinson, Francesca Fiorentini and Shalewa Sharpe
Periods are really having a moment, yet affordable access to period products are limited or nonexistent across the globe. ‘Period poverty’ is an issue that restricts menstrual humans from going to school, work, and being their beautiful social selves.
Saturday, January 11
10:00pm on Brava’s Main Stage
Theme Park Improv with Rachel Dratch, John Michael Higgins, Michael Hitchcock, Jessica Makinson, Oscar Nunez, Cole Stratton, Janet Varney, and monologist Eric Edelstein
The Theme Park Improv Show's improvisers take a single suggestion of a theme from the audience, and wing an entire set of fast-paced long-form scenes and characters, based on stories from special guest monologist TBA.
Saturday, January 11
10:15pm in Brava’s Cabaret
City vs. City: San Francisco vs. Los Angeles with Emily Russell and guest judges Solange Castro and Tom Whalen and guests Ben Kolina & Alexandria Love (SF), and Hanna Einbinder & Geoff Plitt (LA).
Friday, January 17
7:30pm on Brava’s Main Stage
Hello From Magic Tavern
With Arnie Niekamp, Matt Young, Adal Rifai, and special guest Trace Beaulieu
Hello! I’m Arnie. I fell through a magical dimensional portal behind a Burger King in Chicago and found myself in a strange magical land called “Foon.” I’m still somehow getting a weak wi-fi signal from the Burger King so I host a weekly podcast from the tavern the Vermilion Minotaur, interviewing monsters, wizards and adventurers. There are worlds other than our own!
Friday, January 17
8:00pm in Brava’s Cabaret
Morgan Jay, with Janine Hogan
Morgan Jay is a first generation American performer based out of Los Angeles. Originally from New Jersey, he started his career in NYC where he attended the Tisch School of the Arts. With over six years of stand up experience and five years of music comedy experience Morgan has managed to create a unique performance that touches comedy and music fans alike with his melodic tunes derived from his love for classic RnB and Bossanova.
Friday, January 17
10:00pm on Brava’s Main Stage
Riffapalooza with Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy, Mary Jo Pehl and Jonah Ray
Join some of riff-history's best and brightest when MST3K alum Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy, Mary Jo Pehl and Jonah Ray completely improvise movie riffs together for the very first time!
Friday, January 17
10:15pm in Brava’s Cabaret
Queerdos: An LGBTQIA Showcase with Chey Bell & Max Eddy and guests Brandon Ash-Mohammed, Alexandria Love, and Caitlin Gill
Queerdos celebrates diversity and inclusion, featuring San Francisco’s best queer-aligned comedians. For this special Sketchfest show, Queerdos shines the spotlight on some of their favorite LGBTQIA comics from the festival!
Saturday, January 18
4:00pm on Brava’s Main Stage
The Art of Process with Aimee Mann & Ted Leo, with guests Rhett Miller and Scott Thompson
The Art of Process with Aimee Mann and Ted Leo is the newest artistic collaboration from legendary singer-songwriters Aimee Mann and Ted Leo. Every other week, Aimee and Ted talk to friends across the creative spectrum to find out how they work. And sure, they're friends with a lot of musicians, but weirdly not as many as you'd expect. So you'll hear from comedians, directors, novelists, show creators - ok, yes, some musicians - writers, producers and more, as they discuss the process of turning an idea into art.
Saturday, January 18
7:30pm on Brava’s Main Stage
Rhea Butcher, with Brandon Ash-Mohammed
Rhea Butcher is a Los Angeles-based standup comic, actor and writer. Originally from the Midwest, Rhea grew up skateboarding the mean streets of Akron, Ohio. Their blue collar brand of cool has endeared audiences nationwide, as they have performed standup and appeared on shows such as HBO's 2 DOPE QUEENS, The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail, @Midnight and Conan.
Saturday, January 18
8:00pm in Brava’s Cabaret
Eddie Pepitone, with Steve Furey
Eddie Pepitone is a badass that works on television regularly. Eddie is Jackie Gleason crossed with the Dali Lama crossed with Don Rickles crossed with your mother. Eddie was a recurring character on "The Sarah Silverman Show" as Eddie the chef at Romanski's, and on the final season of "Monk." Eddie has been on "Flight of the Concords" (season 1), "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia","ER," "Malcolm in the Middle," "King of Queens" and that horrible abortion of a show, "Last Comic Standing." Eddie can most recently be seen on "The Life and Times of Tim" on HBO and performs all over Los Angeles and New York when he is in town!
Saturday, January 18
10:00pm on Brava’s Main Stage
The Valleyfolk and The Chris & Paul Show with Morgan Jay
It's a night of sketch comedy and musical stand-up from three staples of NBC's "Bring the Funny" -- The Valleyfolk, The Chris & Paul Show and Morgan Jay!
Saturday, January 18
10:15pm in Brava’s Cabaret
Amazonians with Jackie Keliiaa and Dara M. Wilson and guests Dominique Gelin, Chloe Hilliard, Geneva Rust-Orta and Valerie Vernale
Hosted by comics Dara M Wilson (Sketchfest 2018, 2019) and Jackie Keliiaa, Amazonians is a monthly comedy experience featuring the best woman comedians from the Bay and beyond. Dara and Jackie carefully curate a high-quality event that showcases the diverse female experience, featuring the voices women of color and members of the LGBTQIA community.
Friday, January 24
7:30pm on Brava’s Main Stage
Astronomy Club: Let's Talk About Race, Baby!
Astronomy Club believes that the best way to overcome racial oppression is to identify it and satirize it. With the help of a special guest Monologist, along with short interviews from audience members, we're taking stories- from a person of any race- where race played a factor. It could be the first moment you realized someone was being racist to you. Or that moment in the office when you mistook someone for someone else because they're the same race. Or even that time when you yourself used your white privilege or played the "black card"- you get the idea! Come share your stories on race, and watch as we create a hilarious improvised set *and* solve racism once and for all! Scheduled to perform are Jonathan Braylock, Caroline Martin, Jerah Milligan, Monique Moses and James III.
Friday, January 24
8:00pm in Brava’s Cabaret
Greetings from Queer Mountain with Micheal Foulk and guests Chey Bell, Mary Jane French, Ky Krebs, Alexandria Love, Caitlin Reese and Sureni Weerasekera
"Greetings, from Queer Mountain" is the queen mother of queer storytelling series. Every episode features a diverse collection of work from LGBTQ+ performers across the country. Running for over 5 years in Austin, New Orleans, New York, and now Oakland, we've produced over 100 unique and original live shows featuring performers such as Daniel Rugg Webb, Bowen Yang, Gabby Rivera, and Janine Brito. It’s like hanging out with all the queer friends you wish you had!
Friday, January 24
10:15pm in Brava’s Cabaret
Interruption Show with Dalia Malek and guests Graham Kay, Jill Maragos, Ryan Schumaker, Joshua Stokes and Ronn Vigh
Interruption Show is a stand-up comedy show where stand-up comedian Dalia Malek and rotating co-hosts interrupt a showcase of stand-up comedians mid-performance to ask burning questions and dig for backstories related to their jokes. It's stand-up comedy meets choose-your-own-adventure.
Saturday, January 25
4:00pm on Brava’s Main Stage
Chris Gethard: "Beautiful/Anonymous" Live Podcast Taping
1 phone call. 1 hour. No names. No holds barred. That’s the premise behind Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People, hosted by comedian Chris Gethard (the Chris Gethard Show, Broad City, This American Life). Every week, Chris opens the phone line to one anonymous caller, and he can’t hang up first, no matter what. From shocking confessions and family secrets to philosophical discussions and shameless self-promotion, anything can and will happen!
Saturday, January 25
7:30pm on Brava’s Main Stage
Facebook Improv with Owen Burke, Chad Carter, Phil Jackson, Jason Mantzoukas, Seth Morris, Charlie Sanders, and Paul Scheer
Running for more than 10 years in Los Angeles, The Facebook show plucks two random people from the audience to get their Facebook page examined and then turned into long form improvised comedy scenes based entirely on their profile, pictures, comments and status.
Saturday, January 25
8:00pm in Brava’s Cabaret
I Think I'd Be Good At That with Drew Harmon
Lots of comics have audience members come up after shows and tell them that their friends or coworkers have always told them they’d make a good comedian. But starting standup involves writing jokes, going to open mikes and being terrible for a while. So most intelligent people don’t even bother trying. To give those sane people a chance to feel the thrill of doing comedy, I created a show where they get to experience being a comic with the help of veteran comedians who write jokes and coach them in taking the stage. We remove all the stuff that can make that first set awful and give them the tips and tricks to succeed. “I Think I’d Be Good At That” is one of the most unique, crazy and fun comedy shows in the Bay Area. And so far, all our Newcomers have crushed it at the show and we’ve been helping people get a taste for what keeps comedians coming back to the stage.
Saturday, January 25
10:00pm on Brava’s Main Stage
The Birthday Boys
The Birthday Boys are bringing their bizarrely brilliant sketch comedy to SF Sketchfest with a jam packed show! One of the most accomplished groups to come out of the Upright Citizens Brigade, the Boys have credits ranging from writing for the MTV Movie Awards to starring on Portlandia and everything in between. Their eponymous sketch series, executive produced by Bob Odenkirk, aired for two seasons on IFC and is now available to stream online.
Saturday, January 25
10:15pm in Brava’s Cabaret
Troubled Comedy with Alexandria Love and Jim McVeigh and guests Samantha Gilweit, MANDAL, Dauood Naimyar, Alex Price and Mikey Walz
Troubled Comedy at Amnesia is one of the longest running stand-up comedy shows in San Francisco. We book the best comedians in the bay area and beyond. Our showcases usually feature hosts Jim McVeigh and Alexandria Love, three to five other featured comedians, and one great headliner.
Please email boxoffice@sfsketchfest.com with any ticketing questions.