Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Aqua Teen Hunger Force is one of those shows that has managed to stay pretty far under the radar. It’s heading into it’s 15th season on Adult Swim, making it the longest running show in Adult Swim history. I, personally, believe that it’s the most inventive of the adult cartoons. Tonight, we had the very rare opportunity to get to listen to the show’s creators, Dana Snyder and Dave Willis, talk about this long running program.
I have a hard time believing that there is a soul alive that isn’t aware of Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction. If you don’t know about it, it’s an amazing show where comedians compete by telling titillating erotic tales based on pre-existing works. It is also the great equalizer, where big name comedians compete alongside up and comers, and anyone can win. Tonight’s performance was no exception, as we were treated with stories told by stars of stage and screen Harland Williams, Matt Braunger, Dave Hill, and Erin Foley alongside lesser known comics Jesse Elias, TJ Chambers, Andy Haynes, Barbara Holm, Matt Lieb, and JoAnne Schinderle.
At one point in time, Natasha Lyonne was a cult icon that did quirky, low budget indie films. Then, something strange happened. A little TV show about life in a women’s prison became one of the most popular shows on TV, bringing Lyonne up from cult icon to bonafide star. Sketchfest, by some force of magic, was able to get this big star to come to SF and slum it with us for an evening, discussing a film that’s nearly 20 years old.
Sometimes these reviews just flow out of my fingers like some kind of magic, and sometimes writing them is like pulling teeth, a sentence here, a sentence there, delete, delete, delete, and try again. For some reason, the most painful ones to write are almost always the best shows to watch. That couldn’t be more true than for this one. An Afternoon with Animaniacs was so good I have been staring at sentences I hate for days, unable to move forward. How do you put an experience like this in words? How do you explain the transcendent feeling I felt watching these amazing performers not only show off their talent, but to doing it with such joy? I’ve never seen anything like it. Voice actors really are a special breed, something much purer and glowing than the comedian or actor I normally watch at Sketchfest. Maybe what I really want to say is sorry if you weren’t at Marines Memorial Theater Sunday afternoon. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: An Afternoon with Animaniacs at Marines Memorial Theater, 1/25/15”
Sketchfest really killed it this year, as usual. A lot of shows sold out quickly. However, the quickest sell out was Jenny Slate & Friends at The Brava Theater. Jenny Slate’s star seems to be on the rise swiftly. She starred in Obvious Child, my favorite film of 2014. Her web series Marcel The Shell With Shoes On and Catherine are both works of epic genius. It seems that everything she touches turns to gold. However, I’ve never seen her do stand up. Even a cursory YouTube search proved difficult in terms of finding any clips of her doing live comedy. It seems tonight was a very special and somewhat rare experience.
Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Jenny Slate & Friends at The Brava Theater, 1/23/15”
Every year when the SF Sketchfest schedule comes out I spend a long time going through, making a list of everything that has someone I like in it, or is a show/concept I like, then painstakingly narrow it down to one show per time slot per day. At least, that’s the goal. These are the best two and a half weeks in San Francisco and I’m not going to waste them! So in this process, when I saw the name Julie Brown, the late 80’s kid in me had a fangirl spaz and decided this was the show that deserved my attention for the first Saturday night of Sketchfest. Did I know anything Julie Brown did since “Just Say Julie” on MTV and Earth Girls are Easy? No. Of course not! (Well, other than her small role as the Gym Teacher in Clueless) But this is what Sketchfest is about, seeing that great thing you might have lost track of. So off I trekked into the wilds of the Mission District, to the Brava Theater, with no idea what I was in for. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Julie Brown’s “The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Musical” at The Brava Theater, 1/24/15″
You Made it Weird is a podcast where comedian host Pete Holmes talks at great length with his guest about love, sex and god, mixing in a lot about life in general. It can often get spiritual and deep which makes it a little more interesting and introspective than other comedian led interview style podcasts. But the live format is a little different, focusing more on the weird bits of life side than the deep talks about sex, love and spirituality. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. With five guests to get through in two hours and a theater full of people it is hard to get to the intimate places the podcast can get to, but it does allow for a lot more amazing jokes. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes at Marines Memorial Theater, 1/23/2015”
W Kamau Bell is one of the most brilliant and controversial names in comedy. He recently moved back to the Bay Area, after a stint in New York hosting the dearly departed Totally Biased with W Kamau Bell. To celebrate his return, he did a “secret residency” at Cinecave in Lost Weekend Video. He’s playing Uptown Showdown: Are We Getting Dumber vs Are We Getting Smarter with Maria Bamford, Dave Hill, TJ Miller, Aparna Nancherla, Greg Poops and Jared Logan on January 31st. Tickets are available here!
Every year, the good folks at SF Sketchfest program three weeks of live comedy in the Bay Area. They program it so well that it can get exhausting to determine which shows to go to. Well, here at Spinning Platters, a forum for Bay Area music, film, and comedy nerds, we’ll be helping you determine which shows you should be going to. It wasn’t easy, but I think you’ll get sufficient enough chuckles for handling the post-holiday blues if you follow these guidelines.
Don’t like my suggestions? You can always pick for yourself! You can find the schedule here!
George Chen is one of the founders of Cinecave, one of San Francisco’s best kept secrets. It’s a comedy club in the basement of Lost Weekend Video. It’s also one of the best rooms for comedy in this town. Cinecave is teaming up with Sketchfest for several shows during the festival, as well as shows every Friday and Saturday night! Chen is also one of the funniest comics in his own right, and you can catch him throughout the festival. His schedule is here.
Spinning Platters had the pleasure of speaking to George ahead of Sketchfest. Just click on the word “more.” Continue reading “Sketchfest Interview: George Chen of Cinecave”