Is Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein the new Jerry Seinfeld? Every year, he steps on the stage of the SF Opera in the Park, which the Chron generously helps produce. And people are semi-drunk on chardonnay, satiated on taboule and tomato-and-mozarella salads, they are baking in the sun: they are warmed up already. Yet every year, Phil's attempts to warm up the crowd even more end up in a train wreck. Here are this year's jokes (transcribed by us as honestly as we could), and we'll let you be the judge:

--Friday was the Opera opening night at the opera house, and I was one of the penguins there, in that March of the Penguins.
--I read in the paper there was a report saying that "military activity was disrelenting." Looks like the fog is disrelenting too.
--I am here courtesy of the Justice Department. I am one of the few journalists they haven't arrested.
So: is Phil Bronstein the new Robin Williams? Or should he stick to writing submissions to the New-Yorker cartoon anti-caption contest?

All other performances in the park were actually beautiful.The only thing which was off was the stage, aligned towards McLaren Lodge instead of facing north, due to construction in the back we believe. It seems the new setting put the non-VIP audience further away from the stage than before. At least we got to see the back of Dede Wilsey's blond hair. Music-wise, it was all very entertainment friendly, with a lot of music from Die Fledermaus, which is a fun riot but sounds a bit kitschy in contrast when following a Verdi aria.

Notable exceptions not involved with Die Fledermaus: Kristinn Sigmundsson and Christine Brewer, from the Tristan and Isolde cast. Christine sang a Mozart aria, but also Harold Arlen's Come Rain or Come Shine. Which gives us an excuse to reproduce the old joke, we think Phil might appreciate: at a jazz gig, the sax player tells the band: we're gonna play Come Rain Or Come Shine. The drummer goes: which one?

Picture found on flickr from mbostock.