SF Sketchfest presented two sold-out nights of "An Evening of Dr. Jonathan Katz Professional Therapist and Patients" this weekend at Eureka Theatre. We went on Friday night, when the “patients” were Maria Bamford, Brian Posehn, Bob Odenkirk, and “more,” which ended up being surprise guest, Robin Williams. The patients were delightfully quirky, and, as usual, Dr. Katz was the perfect springboard for their jokes. Those of you who went to Saturday night's show, let us......

SFist ticket contest to hear Jello Biafra at Great American Music Hall ...

Here's a reminder that there's only four days left in our big SFist contest for tickets to "An Evening of a Thousand Scowls" For those who don't remember, it's a comedy show put on by 826 Valencia and featuring Janeane Garofalo, Patton Oswalt, Al Madrigal, Jasper Redd, Brent Weinbach and others. The performance will raise money for 826 Valencia's student writing and tutoring programs. ...

Our next big SFist contest is for "An Evening of a Thousand Scowls" a comedy show put on by everyone's favorite writers workshop, 826 Valencia. The night features such comedians as Janeane Garofalo, Patton Oswalt, Al Madrigal, Jasper Redd, Brent Weinbach and others, and will be hosted by non-comedian Daniel Handler (aka “Lemony Snicket”). The performance will raise money for 826 Valencia's student writing and tutoring programs. ...

Saturday: We're wiping down our vinyl dress for the San Francisco Fetish Ball. Running March 16 through 19, get your chips, dips, chains, and whips on at a variety on venues all weekend. Sunday: It's the final day of the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show at the Cow Palace. From 9 a.m to 6 p.m. see six acres of extraordinary gardens, seminars and shopping. It's more nature than we can handle! Monday: We......

Making jokes about the President is pretty easy. It's even easier to make fun of him these days what with his 38% approval rating and the Republicans sudden discovery that he's not wearing any clothes. In fact, it's so easy to do it now that there's an element of kicking a man when he's down to it. Which makes us feel kind of guilty about it. Oh, wait. Check that. You can never make enough fun of the President. This Saturday night is the The 2nd Annual George Bush Going Away Party: An Evening of Political Comedy. The first one was held about this year in an attempt to raise money to defeat him. Obviously, it being the "second annual" means that the first one didn’t succeed. While saying that it's yet one more attempt to send our President back to Crawford might be a joke, the money for the show will go to the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors' (CCCO) "Military Out of Our Schools Program," those people trying to prevent military recruiters out of possibly excercising their freedom of choice and choosing the military. Comedians include Bill Santiago, Diane Amos, Scott Blakeman, Lisa Geduldig, Alana Devich, Ross Turner, and Aundre the Wonderwoman (who according to the press release is an Anti-death penalty advocate by day; comic by night-- those death penalty activists are always a hoot.) ...

It sure is a literary week here at SFist, with our Andrew Sean Greer interview and giveaway on Monday, the Picador Birthday event and book giveaway (you can still enter to win today!) Tuesday -- and now, today, yet another event and giveaway! Thursday, September 15 at 7:00 p.m. The Booksmith is hosting "An Evening with The Paris Review" at All Saints Church (not at The Booksmith, as has been reported elsewhere). Annie Proulx......

Our concert picks for the week of 5/26-6/1. Although Memorial Day should mean more than just a day off from work (if you get the day off, and, well, if you have a job), clubs do take advantage of the three day weekend by offering up an action-packed Sunday night. But of course, San Francisco offers up stellar music events all week long. You could spend tonight with the straight-from-the-bottle swillers in The Cuts at......

It can be hard to separate an artist from his art. Can anyone listen to "Beat It" these days and not feel a little...icky? Stories of Phil Spector's "eccentricities" are a little more disturbing to hear now that someone is dead. So when one learns that a performer one once thought of as merely screwy and eccentric is in fact, batshit crazy, it can kind of take the fun out of the art. We......

Now, SFist doesn't usually go to modern dance performances (we're never sure when to clap, for one thing), but last year, our yoga class went to the ODC theater to see our yoga teacher dancing in the corps for Chris Black and the POTRZEBIE Dance Project's The Ecstasy of Saint Whatshername. ...

Way back in the day, we were fairly convinced that the Smashing Pumpkins were going to be the new Led Zeppelin. They were tripped out, looked great in velvet, and frickin’ rocked. In fact, we still occasionally put on our old casette of “Gish” and do some serious head-banging. We thought “Siamese Dreams” was cool if a bit over-done and thought “Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” was mighty impressive if a bit too long.......