SF Sketchfest Review: Bracing The Elements: Avatar The Last Airbender Podcast Live at The Great Star Theater, 1/28/24

There is something about the cartoon series Avatar: The Last Airbender, almost twenty years old now, that was always unusual. Aside from being coined the first American Anime, it was nothing like any other cartoon on Nickelodeon or any other station for that matter. Taking place in a completely fictional world made up of societies and lands corresponding to the four main elements: Earth, Fire, Air, and Water, the story was a continuous adventure full of growth that built to a huge climax at the end of three seasons. But the most startling aspect of this story, for something supposedly targeted at kids, was that it was rampant with extremely adult themes, such as war, genocide, loss, and conflict. But at no point was the plot relegated to hopelessness. There was an idea of balance woven into the fabric of the story’s DNA. Countering all the negative hardships the characters have to live through, there was a cornucopia of warm moments popping up and bursting in the episodes, full of love, hope, friendship, laughter, caring for your fellow person, and fighting for what is right. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Bracing The Elements: Avatar The Last Airbender Podcast Live at The Great Star Theater, 1/28/24”

SF Sketchfest Review: Kids In The Hall “Unplugged” at Palace Of Fine Arts, 1/23/24

Photos by Jakub Mosur

I’m not sure what the “unplugged” in Kids In The Hall Unplugged is referring to. Non-electric comedians? Acoustic comedians? The first thing that happened was a sound issue with one of the mics running foul and each member of the cast hopping up and down and tapping and teasing each other to figure out whose it was. They were wireless mics, so there’s that. As will likely become apparent, I am not a comedy reviewer. I’m not even much of a live comedy consumer. Perhaps “unplugged” is vernacularly smuggled in from live music that has assumed its own valence. At any rate, the mic problem, rather than hindering the performance, seemed to loosen everybody up and give them a chance to stretch their ad-lib muscles in these predefined but still vigorous skits.

Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Kids In The Hall “Unplugged” at Palace Of Fine Arts, 1/23/24″

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” Episode 10 with David Owen, Co-Founder of Sketchfest

Spinning Platters presents “How Did I Get Here?” is available most everywhere you enjoy podcasts. You can find us and subscribe here!

In this installment, I got to speak to SF Sketchfest co-founder David Owen about, well, how to put on an underground comedy festival, and what do you do when it’s no longer underground. We talked about his first production, his first festival, how he met Cole Stratton and Janet Varney, the other two founders of the festival (SPOILER: It’s Talking Heads related, just like the name of this podcast), and how they are handling things when it’s entirely unknown when the festival will be safe to play out again. 

SF Sketchfest is doing a virtual live read of Plan 9 From Outer Space just in time for Halloween with Kat Aagesen, Maria Bamford, Bobcat Goldthwait, Dana Gould, Jean Grae, David Koechner, Tim Meadows, Laraine Newman, Oscar Nunez, Bob Odenkirk, Jonah Ray, Paul F. Tompkins, Janet Varney, Baron Vaughn, plus musical accompaniment by Eban Schletter. Well, just before Halloween. October 29th to be precise. Tickets can be purchased here!

SF Sketchfest’s archives have also been opened up for rental, and those shows can be found here!

If you have any feedback about this episode, feel free to email me at dakin@spinningplatters.com. If you like what you heard and want to help support this thing, feel free to Venmo me whatever tip you feel is adequate @Dakin-Hardwick.  And, most importantly, please go to SaveOurStages.com to find out what you can do to help independent promoters and venues weather this COVID crisis so we have shows to go back to when this pandemic is over. Thanks for listening!

SF Sketchfest 2021 *UPDATE*

I’m going to start with the bad news. SF Sketchfest, also known as the most insane three weeks of live comedy programming in San Francisco, was due to celebrate it’s 20th year next January in an epic fashion. Well, you may have heard that at little thing called COVID-19 has ravaged the live entertainment world, due to the fact that having fun in large groups is about the fastest way to get it, alongside side church, gyms, and working in an office. So, it looks like we are going to have to wait a bit longer to enjoy whatever the good folks at SF Sketchfest will bring us. And, whenever that happens, we will DEFINITELY need to get together and laugh.  Continue reading “SF Sketchfest 2021 *UPDATE*”

Sketchfest Review: Wheels Off with Rhett Miller at Swedish American Hall, 1/20/19

(All Photos © 2019 by Jakub Mosur)

There are a bunch of shows that seem to happen every year or almost every year at SF Sketchfest. Many of these things are nightclub acts that happen regularly in other markets, or are live podcast recordings. Almost all of them exist somewhere outside of Sketchfest. One of the few shows that don’t fit this mold is “Wheels Off with Rhett Miller.” Rhett Miller is the lead singer of The Old 97’s, and generally does about 200 shows a year if you combine his full band gigs and solo shows. However, with all of that criss-crossing the country, SF is the only place where we get this very unique show.

(Editor’s Note: At the time of publication we didn’t know that Miller was going to start doing Wheels Off as a podcast. Now you can enjoy this from the comfort of your own headphones)

Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Wheels Off with Rhett Miller at Swedish American Hall, 1/20/19”

A Nerd’s Guide To SF Sketchfest 2019

It’s that time of year again! Time to scour through pages and pages of SF Sketchfest listings, trying to decide what shows to buy tickets for, and never actually going to anything because it’s all too intimidating. Well, fear not! Instead of thinking for yourself, just go to everything I tell you to. Because I have fantastic taste, and you’ll love all of these.  

Don’t trust me? Well, you can always go straight here to pick out shows and buy tickets.

Thursday, January 10th Continue reading “A Nerd’s Guide To SF Sketchfest 2019”

Outside Lands Journal: Day 2, 8/12/17

METALLICA! And nothing else matters…

Photo by Ben Irwin

Day 2 of any festival is a little rough. Your energy is a little bit zapped from the day before. You can’t seem to drink enough water or coffee. Your legs are sore. So when you finally get there, you need something to kick yourself into gear. And I managed to stumble across that band at 12:00 on the dot. Continue reading “Outside Lands Journal: Day 2, 8/12/17”

SF Sketchfest Review: The JV Club w/Janet Varney and guests Rachel Dratch, Jon Hamm, and musical guest Matt Nathanson at Brava Theater Center, 1/28/17

Sketchfest co-founder & all-around funny girl Janet Varney

I’ve always liked Janet Varney, who I knew almost exclusively from her work with Thrilling Adventure Hour, but once someone made the connection for me that she was one of the co-founders of SF Sketchfest, my admiration for her ratcheted up quite a few notches. So, she’s super funny, and likeable, and charming, and kind of a badass producer too? So cool! So this year, when I was perusing the schedule, and saw that she was doing a live podcast (The JV Club, it’s called) with Matt Nathanson, Rachel Dratch, and Jon Hamm? Hell yeah! I’d been trying to get to a Rachel Dratch appearance at Sketchfest for at least a year or two, and Jon Hamm is so fun when he’s in comedy mode (which I’d not yet seen live, either). I immediately put in my request and hoped I’d get to cover the show. Next thing I knew, there I was, at Brava Theater Center, last Saturday afternoon, with a great seat, just in time for the house lights to go down. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: The JV Club w/Janet Varney and guests Rachel Dratch, Jon Hamm, and musical guest Matt Nathanson at Brava Theater Center, 1/28/17”

A Nerd’s Guide to Sketchfest 2017

Sketchfest is really rough. There is literally too much to do over the course of the three weeks the festival runs. We have 18 days of anywhere between 3-10 shows, all special events with performers that rarely come to San Francisco to perform. I’m here to help you decide what to do. Below  are some of the events that I find the most interesting over the course of the entire event. You can use my handy guide, or you can just go rogue and take a look at the full schedule here! Continue reading “A Nerd’s Guide to Sketchfest 2017”

SF Sketchfest Review: Bring the Rock with Greg Behrendt and guests Dana Gould, Andy Kindler, Kate Micucci and Janet Varney, 1/23/16 at Swedish American Hall

tommy lau2
Bring the Rock ALWAYS brings the fun(ny). (Photo thanks to Tommy Lau.)

Sketchfest is always fun. It’s even better, though, when I get to see Greg Behrendt, and most of all when it’s for Bring the Rock, as was the case for the final weekend of Sketchfest 2016 at Swedish American Hall. It’s even sweeter than usual, though, because it marks my fifth anniversary with Spinning Platters: I first met editor-in-chief Gordon Elgart at a similar event in 2011. It was called Maximum Volume, but the premise was the same, and any chance I have to be there when an event like this takes place, I’m not gonna miss it. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Bring the Rock with Greg Behrendt and guests Dana Gould, Andy Kindler, Kate Micucci and Janet Varney, 1/23/16 at Swedish American Hall”