SF Sketchfest – Page 5 – Spinning Platters

SF Sketchfest Review: Bring the Rock with Greg Behrendt and guests Dana Gould, Andy Kindler, Kate Micucci and Janet Varney, 1/23/16 at Swedish American Hall

tommy lau2 — Bring the Rock ALWAYS brings the fun(ny). (Photo thanks to Tommy Lau.)

Sketchfest is always fun. It’s even better, though, when I get to see Greg Behrendt, and most of all when it’s for Bring the Rock, as was the case for the final weekend of Sketchfest 2016 at Swedish American Hall. It’s even sweeter than usual, though, because it marks my fifth anniversary with Spinning Platters: I first met editor-in-chief Gordon Elgart at a similar event in 2011. It was called Maximum Volume, but the premise was the same, and any chance I have to be there when an event like this takes place, I’m not gonna miss it. Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Bring the Rock with Greg Behrendt and guests Dana Gould, Andy Kindler, Kate Micucci and Janet Varney, 1/23/16 at Swedish American Hall”

SF Sketchfest Review: Tribute to Sally Field, ‘Hello, My Name is Doris’ Screening and Q&A with Sally Field and Michael Showalter, 1/22/16 at Alamo Drafthouse

12509650_10153829363552667_6511806589562874559_n — How can you not enjoy these two? (Photo thanks to Tommy Lau.)

Okay, it’s taken me almost a week and I still haven’t been able to decide: do I want to call Sally Field “radiant,” or is “luminous” the right word? I swear, that’s a big part of the reason it’s taken me five days to publish my review. (It also doesn’t help that I’ve been as lazy as my crazed-grad-school lifestyle will allow…) And here I am, I still haven’t decided. Suffice it to say, Ms. Field is all that and more. Anyway, so when SF Sketchfest announced this year’s schedule, I immediately zeroed in on this chance to attend the tribute to Sally Field and screening of her quirky new comedy, Hello, My Name is Doris last Friday night at the amazing Alamo Drafthouse. (Bonus: the Q&A after the film also featured the film’s director/co-writer, Michael Showalter!) Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Tribute to Sally Field, ‘Hello, My Name is Doris’ Screening and Q&A with Sally Field and Michael Showalter, 1/22/16 at Alamo Drafthouse”

SF Sketchfest Review: A Tribute to Patton Oswalt: In Conversation with Boots Riley at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre, 1/16/16

Boots Riley and Patton Oswalt (photo by Steve Agee)

Patton Oswalt, comedian and actor extraordinaire, isn’t sure why he’s getting a “tribute” from SF Sketchfest. Sure, he’s been touring the comedy circuit since ’88, has amassed millions of fans, exudes a remarkably conscious presence on social media, and generally is utterly recognizable in voice, manner, and his own creative palate — but is that really the sort of thing to have a “tribute” for? This, more or less, was the way he asked the question that kicked off the afternoon show, which saw Oswalt discussing his history, perception of comedy in decades gone by and in the modern age, and the vastly-deepening social awareness that exists to meld the worlds of comedy and reality together in (hopefully) wonderful ways. Despite the fact that the tribute was for him, and Boots Riley — the frontman of Oakland’s own hip-hop masterminds The Coup — was the one he was “in conversation” with, Oswalt was the first onstage, and introduced both the show and his guest, and remained the driving force for the conversation for the rest of the afternoon.

Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: A Tribute to Patton Oswalt: In Conversation with Boots Riley at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre, 1/16/16”

SF Sketchfest Review: We Got This With Mark and Hal

MarkHal

The podcast, “We Got This With Mark and Hal,” has a very simple concept. Mark Gagliardi (Drunk History, Thrilling Adventure Hour) and Hal Lublin (Welcome to Night Vale, Thrilling Adventure Hour) get on the microphone and settle the most important disputes of our times, and some other ones. Episodes include “Sweet or Sour pickles,” “Worst Christmas Song” and most importantly, “Socks: Fold or Roll?” While I hardly ever agree with their conclusions, listening is always a pleasure, and I wouldn’t miss the chance to see them settle a VERY important debate, live at SF Sketchfest: “Star Wars or Star Trek?” Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: We Got This With Mark and Hal”

SF Sketchfest Review: The Great Collaborators Tribute: Billy Crystal & Alan Zweibel In Conversation with Ron Bostwick

There is no shortage of great talent that graces our SF stages during Sketchfest. Tonight, however, we got not one, but two, of the most important comic minds ever. Everyone knows Billy Crystal, star of Soap, Saturday Night Live, When Harry Met Sally, etc., and, although you may not know Alan Zweibel by name, you may have more of his words memorized than Billy Crystal’s. He was one of the main writers during the first few years of Saturday Night Live, as well as It’s Gary Shandling’s Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Monk, and many, many more.

Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: The Great Collaborators Tribute: Billy Crystal & Alan Zweibel In Conversation with Ron Bostwick”

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”

A Nerd’s Guide To Sketchfest 2016

This wouldn't have happened if Chuck just went to a few comedy shows instead. — This wouldn’t have happened if Chuck just went to a few comedy shows instead.

WHAT?!? Sketchfest is already here?!?! It’s quite a bit earlier than usual this year; I’m sure that this is due to some strange event — wherein grown men run around and throw objects at each other in order to help promote the new Coldplay album — interfering with everything in the Bay. If you are actually interested in the big football game in Santa Clara, this list probably isn’t for you. However, if you’re like me and have never seen a football game nor got picked for anything athletic in their life, this is your list. This is where you go to determine which of the 824,422,122 amazing comedy events will be happening in San Francisco over the next three weeks.

SF Sketchfest runs from January 7th – 24th. A full schedule of events can be found here.

Continue reading “A Nerd’s Guide To Sketchfest 2016”

Sketchfest Review: Iron Comic with Nato Green and Moshe Kasher at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 2/8/15

Iron_Comic_289x300

The last night of SF Sketchfest is so bittersweet. This year I attended 9 shows in three weeks and they were all great, but a girl with a day job can get quite tired. But I powered through, hurrying from one event to another to end my Sketchfest experience with an excellent stand up show thanks to Iron Comic. This is my third time watching this show, and this year was the most enticing with some of my favorite comedians competing: Eddie Pepitone, Todd Barry, Emily Heller, Rory Scovel and Chris Garcia. It was going to be quite a competition. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Iron Comic with Nato Green and Moshe Kasher at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 2/8/15”

Sketchfest Review: An Afternoon with Animaniacs at Marines Memorial Theater, 1/25/15

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 Review: You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes at Marines Memorial Theater, 1/23/2015

Rhea Butcher, Pete Holmes, Emo Philips, Cameron Esposito and Charlie Sanders after the show. (Photo from Pete Holmes' Instagram @peteholmes) — Rhea Butcher, Pete Holmes, Emo Philips, Cameron Esposito and Charlie Sanders after the show. (Photo from Pete Holmes’ Instagram @peteholmes)

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”