Cobb’s Comedy Club – Spinning Platters

Spinning Platters Interview: Rick Springfield

Although it’s widely touted as a comedy festival, SF Sketchfest has a wide ranging program that meanders into film, television, literature and music as well. How fitting it is, then, that Rock Solid With Pat Francis is welcoming a guest with a long career doing all three. From his beginnings with mega-hit “Jesse’s Girl” to his years as Noah Drake on General Hospital to his critically acclaimed memoir of depression, Late, Late Night all the way to co-starring with Meryl Streep in Jonathan Demme’s final film, Rikki and the Flash, Rick Springfield has a career as interesting and varied as the rest of the programming at SF Sketchfest. When given the opportunity to talk to him about his Sketchfest appearance and his new blues centered album The Snake King, and told I would only have an hour to prepare, I jumped at the chance.

Rick Springfield was in his car on the way to Joshua Tree when he called. Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Rick Springfield”

SF Sketchfest Review: Put Your Hands Together at Cobb’s, 1/8/16

Put Your Hands Together turned out to be the perfect start to my 2016 Sketchfest experience. It was a room full of friendly people and a lot of great stand up comedy. I had become a fan of the hosts, Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher after seeing them at You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes last year and was excited to get the chance to see them again. Now I am so happy I did. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Put Your Hands Together at Cobb’s, 1/8/16”

SF Sketchfest Review: Set List: Comedy Without a Net on 2/8/2014

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Set List: Comedy Without a Net was my last show of Sketchfest and my hopes were high. The show is an improve stand-up show where the comedians have to do a stand up routine based on random and weird topics that are projected on a screen behind them. I decided to go because it sounded like an opportunity to witness greatness and tragedy. Which worked out perfectly because that’s exactly what we got. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Set List: Comedy Without a Net on 2/8/2014”

SF Sketchfest Review: The Greatest Event in Festival History on 2/01/2014

It would be impossible to fill out a standard account of the events of The Greatest Event in Festival History, a panel for the shockingly popular Adult Swim series where Adam Scott (Party Down, Parks and Recreation) painstakingly recreates the opening sequences of 80’s tv shows. The panel featured star/creator/co-director Scott, co-director Lance Bangs (acclaimed music video director for acts such as Green Day, Belle and Sebastian and The Shins) and co-star/professional Ted Knight impersonator Jon Glaser (Parks and Recreation, Late Night with Conan O’Brien) and was moderated by Kumail Nanjiani (Franklin & Bash, The Meltdown With Jonah and Kumail).

However, what happened during the 90 minutes that these stars were on stage defies all sense of narrative cause and effect. So, in order to give you an idea of what occurred that day, I present to you a list of real actual things that for real happened during The Greatest Event in Festival History.

Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: The Greatest Event in Festival History on 2/01/2014”

SF Sketchfest Review: Iron Comic with Nato Green and Moshe Kasher on 1/24/2014

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This was my second time watching Iron Comic with Nato Green at Sketchfest, and I was surprised at how different this time was. Some of it made it better (more well-known comedians) and some was worse (lukewarm audience). Overall though this is a fun show that I seem to leave thinking, “I need to go to this more often” then not doing that. But maybe I’ll go again this year. The concept is pretty simple. The audience suggests topics for the comics to write three minutes worth of stand-up material on. They get about 10 minutes to work out the material while someone else does some of their more scripted work with the audience. At the end the top two have a face off and one comic is crowned the Iron Comic, which really just means they get bragging rights and a big round of applause. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Iron Comic with Nato Green and Moshe Kasher on 1/24/2014”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 1/23/14-1/29/14

Wake up and go to shows this week! So many shows... — Wake up and go to shows this week! So many shows…

The thirteenth annual SF Sketchfest is upon us, littering San Francisco with night after night of too many good things at once.

To help with these sorts of problems, please consult “A Nerd’s Guide To Sketchfest 2014.” Yes, Dakin’s full-on once-over of this year’s fest is just the right guide to help you make those wrenching nerd decisions about which one-of-a-kind Sketchfest show to choose from on each jam-packed night. Too much good stuff is a good/ANNOYING problem to have. You are fortunate. We are fortunate.

This week! We have Canadiens! Sleepwalkers! Metal! Tim! Punk rock benefit shows! And science! O you lucky person, you — to have all of these awesome things to choose from.

Here’s what’s coming up this week.

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 1/23/14-1/29/14”

Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 4/11/13-4/17/13

FEAR THE BEARD — Where have you gone, (baseball’s) Brian Wilson? You weren’t there for the San Francisco Giants’ 2012 ring ceremony.

Concerts! Shows! Performances! And this week in the Bay Area, they’re extra-beardy!

Continue reading “Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 4/11/13-4/17/13”

SF Sketchfest Review: Billy Eichner and Friends at Cobb’s, 2/2/2013

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Confrontation comic Billy Eichner, the screamingest queen to ever brandish a microphone in a bewildered stranger’s face, curated a comedy showcase called Billy Eichner and Friends at Cobb’s on Saturday night as part of SF Sketchfest 2013. Eichner has been a rising star on the New York comedy scene for several years, building his uniquely abrasive brand through popular YouTube clips that gradually led to getting his own show, the Funny or Die production Billy on the Street, currently airing its second season on Fuse. The vast majority of the show’s content features Eichner and a cameraman running up to strangers on the streets of New York and screaming at them; sometimes it’s pop culture opinion/trivia, and occasionally it’s something absurdly basic that somehow proves challenging given the intense nature of the situation (he once famously stymied Rachel Dratch by asking her to name 20 white people; a clip he showed on Saturday showed a young woman failing to meet Eichner’s command to “name any woman”). He has become a talk show staple, and is turning into a regular on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, on which his gay-leaning cultural obsessions seem to find the most receptive audience. So given all this, what kind of performance did Eichner have in mind for Sketchfest?

Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Billy Eichner and Friends at Cobb’s, 2/2/2013”

Sketchfest Review: The Meltdown with Kumail Nanjiani, Jonah Ray and many more at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 1/28/2012

jonahandkumailonstageagain — This one was taken in the actual world famous comic book store.

On Wednesdays, in Los Angeles, you can go to Meltdown Comics and see comedy in the back of a comic book store. On Saturday night in San Francisco, hosts Kumail Nanjiani and Jonah Ray brought the comics but left the store behind. What this meant is that we were treated to a long and varied night of stand-up from a number of Meltdown regulars without a single back issue in sight. A small group of Spinning Platters writers were there, and Marie Carney and I are going to take on the task of telling you as much as possible about each comedian while saying as little as possible, and of course not burning material. That’s right: capsule reviews! Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: The Meltdown with Kumail Nanjiani, Jonah Ray and many more at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 1/28/2012”

Sketchfest Review: Maximum Volume! with Greg Behrendt and Matt Nathanson at Cobb’s, 1/21/2011

Bobcat — Not top billed, but definitely the star of the show.

At Cobb’s on Friday night was a show called Maximum Volume!, a definite misnomer. For while the volume was never turned up — the electric guitar and amplifier sat on the stage like a tease — the one thing turned to the maximum was the length of the show. This was definitely the longest comedy show I’ve ever been to, and in comedy, like a lot of things, longer isn’t necessarily better. Lots of people, myself included, surely came expecting something similar to last year’s Bring the Rock! show, and got something completely different. So how did it all go? Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Maximum Volume! with Greg Behrendt and Matt Nathanson at Cobb’s, 1/21/2011”