San Francisco – Page 17 – Spinning Platters

SF Sketchfest Review: Megan Mullally in Concert with her band Nancy and Beth on 1/31/2014

Stephanie Hunt and Megan Mullally are Nancy and Beth.

One of the best things about SF Sketchfest is that it brings fantastic comedic talent we might not otherwise have a lot of opportunity to see right here to the Bay Area. For example, Megan Mullally. The woman is equal parts brilliantly funny and beautiful. I’ve been a fan of hers since Will & Grace, though admittedly haven’t followed her career as closely as perhaps I should have. That’s why I’d never heard of her musical act (a duo with funny girl Stephanie Hunt, who I know from How to Live with Your Parents…, Californication, and Friday Night Lights), Nancy and Beth.Anyway, thanks to Sketchfest’s awesome musical offerings, I was able to catch their set last Friday night at SF’s JCC with the utterly wonderful and hilarious opener The Lampshades, and one night was all it took to make a fan out of me! Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Megan Mullally in Concert with her band Nancy and Beth on 1/31/2014”

SF Sketchfest Review: Stardumb! on 2/1/2014

Bill Dwyer and Erica Rhodes, hosts of Stardumb!

Stardumb! is a fake game show hosted by Bill Dwyer where actors and comedians are asked to answer varying levels of personal questions for points. When I read the description on the SF Sketchfest site I knew I had to see what this was all about. That and two of my celebrity crushes were scheduled to be there. How could I resist that? I’m so glad I didn’t. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Stardumb! on 2/1/2014”

SF Sketchfest Review: Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction on 1/31/2014

competitive-erotic-fan-fiction2

Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction with Bryan Cook is the funniest, dirtiest, podcast I’ve ever seen live. Five comedians are asked to write a fan fiction piece on anything they want before the show and present it while five other comedians get suggestions from the audience and have to write a fan fiction piece on the spot. Each group has a winner crowned by the audience and everyone leaves, amused, maybe slightly disturbed, and possibly sore from laughing. At least that’s how I felt last night. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction on 1/31/2014”

SF Sketchfest Review: BriTANick on 1/29/2014

The coincidently nautical showcase of BOAT and BriTANick (rhymes with Titanic) capsized before the show even started. Eureka Theater’s projector mutinied, died at a time most inopportune. It left behind a lobby drowned with humanity—a sold out show. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: BriTANick on 1/29/2014”

SF Sketchfest Review: Don’t Watch This Show Live! and Femikaze on 1/27/2014

Who will speak for sketch? When it’s all over, when the theaters are empty, when the stand-ups scatter, the celebrities fly away and the improvisers jam out, who will speak for the hardest discipline to sustain in San Francisco? It was important to find a line-up of pure, uncut, Mario-Savio-meets-Frank-Chu Bay Area Grease, and, with a gun to my head, I chose Don’t Watch This Show LIVE! and Femikaze at the Eureka Theater. Both are two sterling paragons of regional ethos, although diametrically opposite: social ills vs. social thrills; subverting media vs. subverting medium; pounding pop culture vs. pounding Pop’s culture. One hits the nail on the head; the other hits it in the balls. How many analogies must I make to convey that these groups are as different as night and day? Wait, damn it! Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Don’t Watch This Show Live! and Femikaze on 1/27/2014”

SF Sketchfest Reviews: Thrilling Adventure Hour with the Workjuice Players and very special guests on 1/25/2014

One of my favorite events annually. — I look forward to this show every year.

Every year, Thrilling Adventure Hour is one of the events I most look forward to at SF Sketchfest. While this year was no exception, I did hit a most unfortunate snag that nearly ruined the event for me: Bay Area traffic. The early performance of the show started promptly at 7:00pm Saturday night at Marines’ Memorial Theatre, and usually it runs for about ninety minutes. Sadly, while I left with plenty of time to spare, an accident on I-80 backed up traffic from Berkeley all the way across the Bay Bridge, so by the time I parked, schlepped to the theatre, got my ticket and found my seat, I was a whopping forty-five minutes late. The first note I made: “I missed half!” Even worse, I was wrong. This year, for whatever reason, the show was shorter than normal. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Reviews: Thrilling Adventure Hour with the Workjuice Players and very special guests on 1/25/2014”

SF Sketchfest Review: Shitty Jobs on 1/25/2014

Well, four of these guys were there. I guess you only get the others in LA.

Shitty Jobs is a regular UCB show in LA with Sean Clements, Dominic Dierkes, DC Pierson and Charlie Sanders. It is another great example of the stuff people get in LA all the time, and we are thankful to get to watch during SF Sketchfest. This is an improv show where they interview the audience about their shittiest job then do an extended improv sketch about a particularly insane day at said job. This opens the show up for many brilliant possibilities and many awkwardly wonderful conversations with the audience. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Shitty Jobs on 1/25/2014”

SF Sketchfest Review: Comedy Film Nerds Podcast on 1/25/2014

comedy film nerds

While preparing to go to the live Comedy Films Nerds show at Punchline today I came to the strange realization that I’ve been listening to the podcast for three years. Almost every episode. So you can say that I feel like I know the podcast hosts Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini and I was a bit apprehensive about how it would feel watching instead of listening to the action. Podcasts feel so personal, making you feel like the comedians are talking straight to you. But could it still feel like that in a theater full of people? I was about to find out. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Comedy Film Nerds Podcast on 1/25/2014”

SF Sketchfest Review: “Napoleon Dynamite” 10th Anniversary with Jon Heder on 1/23/2014

I wonder if Deb took this portrait... — I wonder if Deb took this portrait of Napoleon…

Ahhhh, Sketchfest. Because it’s how I first was introduced to Spinning Platters (albeit in a roundabout sort of way), it’s always a bit nostalgic for me. More importantly, I’m always impressed at the amazing mass of talented, funny people that flock to San Francisco to help us laugh our way through what semblance of winter we’re graced with each year. 2014 is no exception, and as Sketchfest enters its teen years, we celebrate milestone anniversaries of several funny films. On opening night (last Thursday), our first chance: Napoleon Dynamite turned ten, and a celebratory screening at the Castro Theatre packed the house with quirky-comedy-lovers. (Though I suspect the promise of an appearance by Napoleon himself, Jon Heder, didn’t hurt.) Though originally cast members Jon Gries (Uncle Rico) and Efren Ramirez (Pedro) were promised to appear, circumstances beyond the control of the Sketchfest powers-that-be arose, leaving Mr. Heder to fly solo. Thankfully, though, he is more than capable of cracking up a crowded theatre… Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: “Napoleon Dynamite” 10th Anniversary with Jon Heder on 1/23/2014″

SF Skecthfest Review: Tribute to Tenacious D – An Evening of Conversation, Clips and Songs on 1/23/2014

Tenacious D celebrated more than 20 years of existence at The Castro Theatre last night as part of the opening night of Sketchfest. Due to start at 9:30, the Napoleon Dynamite screening went on a little long, and there was some trouble with the ticketing that caused an additional delay. So we’re on rock n’ roll time here, which seems appropriate for the greatest band in history. Or at least for a tribute. Continue reading “SF Skecthfest Review: Tribute to Tenacious D — An Evening of Conversation, Clips and Songs on 1/23/2014”