Author: Dakin Hardwick

Sketchfest Review: Viva Variety! at Eureka Theater, 1/29/11

At The Eureka Theater last Saturday night, there was a definite air of nostalgia. I often consider Viva Variety! to be the forgotten middle child. It wasn’t nearly as popular as it’s predecessor, The State, nor did it have the longevity of Reno 911. It was a fun program, the fictitious variety show from Europe featuring Thomas Lennon as Mr Meredith Laupin, Kerri Kenney (Silver) as The Former Mrs. Agatha Laupin, and Michael Ian Black as Johnny Blue Jeans, their announcer. But, it never comes up. When you search for the program on YouTube, you will find all of about 4 clips. Where you can find almost anything ever on the internet, the 13 episodes of this show are merely a fading memory.

I don’t think anybody ever expected this reunion. It may be because of the success Sketchfest had with The State in 2009 and Reno 911 in 2010, but the masses snatched up tickets to this show faster than any other gig this year, including Murphy Brown and Saturday Night Live reunions that were far more popular in it’s day, and have lasted in syndication.

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Sketchfest Review: Risk! with Kevin Allison at The Purple Onion, 1/28/11

Onion with a side of Phirm

One of my favorite pastimes is looking up whatever happened to some of my favorite 90’s icons. I mean, almost everyone knows what happened to some of the lesser known folks in 90’s TV programs. Like Six from Blossom is apparently a struggling country singer, and Rayanne from My So Called Life is married to a lord.  But, my absolute favorite show from the 90’s was The State. It was simply the only TV program of it’s time that I felt emulated my brain functions. With the program now streaming on Netflix, I was reminded of two of my favorite sketches: the mailman that only delivered tacos and the Jew, the Italian, and the Red-Headed Gay. Hence me feeling the need to learn about Kevin Allison, one of the “forgotten” members of The State. Much to my surprise, he has a genius podcast called Risk!, where famous people talk about embarrassing situations they’ve been in. And it’s pretty awesome to say the least. Even better was getting to see it done live at the legendary Purple Onion as part of Sketchfest this year!

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 1/27/11-2/2/11

Usually the months of January and February are pretty sleepy for live shows, but this week is brutal. A lot of nights with a lot of tough decisions. Time to load up on Red Bull and not sleep for a week.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 1/20/11-1/26/11

There are a lot of really surprising, and really funny shows within. This is an extra special week of fun silliness, and I think that you should check it out:

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Sketchfest Review: The Dave Hill Explosion at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 1/16/11

Moby, the famous pacifist, finally breaks and attacks Dave Hill

The attendance at this show was a little light. It might be because the show happened on a Sunday night. It might also be that few people in the west coast are aware of the genius of Dave Hill. Maybe people were just thrown off by the notion of Moby being involved in comedy. No matter how you slice or dice it, for the 2nd year straight, people really missed out on one of the best shows in Sketchfest.

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Sketchfest Review: Delocated Witness Protection Program Variety Hour at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 1/15/11

AC Newman. In hiding.

Delocated is a show on Adult Swim about a family in the witness protection program that is moved to New York to appear on a reality show where they have their faces covered the entire time. Simple premise, but a difficult one to transfer to the stage. Also, the Sketchfest version of the show, which has been dubbed Delocated Witness Protection Program Variety Hour we are missing, well, most of the cast. So, the real question is, what happened on that stage?

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 1/13/11-1/19/11

His pre show meal. Catch him this Tuesday at The Fillmore!

Another week of gigs to keep your ears sated. This is typically a quiet period around these parts, but there are a lot of interesting things going on this week if you are willing to give your ears a challenge.

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A Music Nerd’s Guide To SF Sketchfest 2011

This is a picture of Chris Hardwick. He's not related to me, but he will be in San Francisco for Sketchfest. I will be hitting him up for birthday money, anyways. Hopefully I can fool him.

To the uninitiated, San Francisco’s Sketchfest is probably the most overwhelming 2 1/2 weeks out of the entire year, in terms of live entertainment booking. Its closest cousin is probably Austin’s SXSW festival, where you have a wide array of up-and-coming talent mixed with veterans, all playing some very intimate spots.

As a person that considers himself to be an expert of sorts on taste, I am going to sift through this year’s line-up, and let you know what you should be going to at this year’s Sketchfest. I will guide you through which Emmy winners or CSI corpses (both of which are well represented by this event), in my humble opinion, is most worthy of your hard earned dollar.

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Spinning Platters Guide To New Year’s Eve 2011 In The San Francisco Bay Area

It’s scary how quickly New Year’s Eve is approaching. It’s almost 2011, and if you are like me, you haven’t figured out what you are going to do. Well, here are a few tips shows that you can still decide to head out to!

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 12/23/10-12/29/10

The Tenderlions are at Popscene tonight.

Hey folks… Sorry, but this is a short list this week. Even musicians and club owners need to take a holiday! But, if you really can’t deal with it anymore, here are a few outings you can make:

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