Reviews of albums, films, concerts, and more from the Bay Area Music and Movie Nerds
Bob Odenkirk: a cult legend credited with championing and evolving a subversive, acclaimed comedy sentiment. Birthday Boys: a hyped collection of vastly witty, silly sods. Together they formed a rousing precession of jubilant, sophisticated sketches, closing Sketchfest with a bang — bang, scream, yell, “He’s got a gun!”, “My baby!”. You know, comedy. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: 7-Man Sweater (2/5/2012)”
San Francisco has a cloudy yet storied history of nurturing eclectic, eccentric geniuses. The tradition spans from Irwin Corey to Ron Lynch to Brent Weinbach and every sideways side-splitter in between. Many are unsung, underexposed and uncompromised: the inspiration for peers with wider appeal and fans with sharp hearts and heads. Festivals, artistic hodepodge, are optimal for such comedians, an extended focus for latest convolutions and tinkerings in front of fertile or familiar audiences. Will Franken and Drennon Davis, two locally brewed humorists of the aforementioned ilk, evoked the spirit of a sentient armchair: alarmingly absurd, wonderfully witty, warm and comfortable. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Will Franken/Drennon Davis (2/4/2012)”
In the fast-paced, cutthroat, Wild West of Bay Area sketch, few are in league with enterprising comedy tycoon, Killing My Lobster. Barons and Baronesses of the Neo Internetdustrial Revolution, the troupe has made appealing regional satire a booming forte. Powered by live action and recorded skits, and coupled to A.J. Schroder Esq. and the duchess, Jill Bourque, the KML Express set across the Eureka prairie. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Killing My Lobster (2/1/2012)”
SF Sketchfest has a brilliant ability to capture the Bay Area’s attention and imagination. Benefactors of this allotted spotlight are local artists, made bolder and louder by proper production value. In the case of Scott Vermeire, Harmon Leon and Colin Mahan, the added bells and whistles enhanced their rustic independence, demystifying each artist’s vision. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Mahan/Leon/Vermeire @ Eureka (1/25/2012)”
Fact: The Eureka Theater hosts some of the best comedy in the in the world. Fact: The Groundlings are a legendary Los Angeles improv company with alumni including Will Ferrell, Kristen Wigg and more. Fact: “The Black Version” is not a racially specific interpretation of Beverly Winwood Presents: The Actor’s Showcase. Fact: San Francisco’s black population was 6.1% in 2010. Fact: The black population of The Black Version’s cast was 100%. Fact: Comedy is proven to be simultaneously colorful and colorblind. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: The Groundlings “The Black Version” (1/22/2012)”
Reviewing w00stock is a silly concept. I’ve done it once before. Because the event is performed under the Creative Commons non-commercial, attribution, share alike license (as is this website), the entirety of the thing is online in video form for your viewing pleasure. But which videos are the best? That’s the hard part. So rather than a standard review, I’ll instead give you a guided tour to The Best of w00stock Founders’ Night, as found on the Internet. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: w00tstock Founders’ Night at Marines Memorial Theater, 1/29/12”
Will Durst doesn’t shy away from political humor, and with 2012 bringing us one of the most entertaining lineups in Republican presidential primary history, it didn’t matter which one was chocolate and which one was peanut butter. Johnny Steele and four other comics made sure that both got all over each other.
Dripping late from a brisk sprint through San Francisco’s saturated cloudiness, I stepped into an alternate reality. Everything looked copasetic: the expansive and brimming Eureka Theater with Phil LaMarr and Jordan Black beginning a scene. Not quite, the truth: the expansive and brimming Eureka Theater with Lewis J. Poole and Danger beginning a scene.
Polle and Danger are two African American actors separated by age but bonded by prior convictions and thespian rehabilitation. They were bad, objectively horrible, nightmarishly stiff and unflinchingly unaware. It was brilliant. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Beverly Winwood’s “The Actors Showcase” 1/22/2012″
Some of the most talented people on earth hail from right here in the San Francisco Bay Area. In fact, we have so many uber-talented musicians, writers, comics, speakers, artists, chefs, and so on, that it’s easy to take them for granted. Reggie Watts is one of those performers. He seems to be performing all the time, and everyone in the bay area seems to swoon over him. Yet, I have yet to see him. It could be due to the fact that every show sells out, no matter what the venue. Which is also how Sketchfest was able to book him four nights in a row, also giving him the ability to indulge in whatever he pleases.
Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Reggie Watts, Garfunkel & Oates at Mezzanine, 2/1/12”
Before this weekend, I considered myself fairly familiar with the comedy of Greg Behrendt. I knew about his history with Sex and the City, his book that turned into a movie (He’s Just Not That into You), the two books he then co-wrote with his wife, and I’ve seen his standup act multiple times. More importantly, I already subscribe to the Walking the Room podcast. I felt pretty confident that I knew what to expect from Greg (and in this case, Dave Anthony as well). As for the night’s live podcast guest stars, Dave Holmes and Patton Oswalt, I knew both of them from previous work (MTV and United States of Tara, respectively), so I settled into an early weekend with a great seat from the bar at the Punchline and as the show began with Dave and Greg in miscellaneous clown costume pieces, I was in on the joke. For those who were not, though… I can only imagine what the night might have been like for some unsuspecting soul who just happened to be in town on business or something and thought he’d catch a show at a nearby comedy club. I’m sure nothing could have prepared such a person for the foul-mouthed hilarity that took place. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Walking the Room Live Podcast at The Punchline, 2/2/2012”