MUSIC: Tonight's installment of the monthly Communion club, which originated in the U.K. and was founded by Mumford & Sons' Ben Lovett, features a stellar line-up, including The Entrance Band, Tim Cohen, Hot Lunch, Matt Baldwin, and Ready Steady. (7:30 p.m., Cafe Du Nord, 2170 Market) more ›

SF Sketchfest presents Comedy Noir's The XXX Factor: The Ultimate Dirty Joke Competition told via the troupe's trademark "Mockulebrity/ Impersonafacations," followed by... more ›

Adam Savage, Whil Wheaton, and Paul and Storm honor geek culture, the stage adaptation of Cory Doctorow's 'Little Brother' predicts the near future, and record swap at the Knockout. more ›

Kelly Carlin pays tribute to her legendary dad, Mary Lincoln gets some long-overdue recognition, and S.F. State students honor sticker art. more ›

COMEDY: SF Sketchfest presents a rare Stella reunion, in which the crew pays homage to their early "Nightclub" days, when they hosted a weekly showcase for alternative and mainstream comedy. The event features special surprise guest comedians and live music by Release the Sunbird featuring Zach Rogue. (Get there early to score some door tickets.) (7 p.m., Mezzanine, 444 Jessie Street) more ›

COMEDY: There are still tickets available for SF Sketchfest's opening night presentation of RiffTrax Presents Night of the Shorts III: The Search for Schlock, featuring hosts Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett and guest riffers David Cross, Bruce McCulloch, Paul F. Tompkins, Cole Stratton, Janet Varney. (8 p.m., Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street) more ›

ANIMATION: The S.F. Film Society presents the return of The Best of Annecy, showcasing a dynamic and entertaining array of shorts that appeared in Europe's Annecy International Animated Film Festival this year. (5, 7 and 9 p.m., SF Film Society Cinema, 1746 Post Street) more ›

Prince Paul and his son PForreal talk about "the kind of senseless violence that is so senseless that it's funny", local bands play their favorite covers, and artists explore humankind's love affair with computers. more ›

THEATER: You still have a couple of weeks to catch Britain's Kneehigh Theater Group's The Wild Bride at Berkeley Rep, which was extended through the 22nd. SFist Jay enjoyed the production, which he says takes "a particularly dark (and arguably feminist) fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm called 'The Girl Without Hands,' and views it through a Southern Gothic lens, complete with banjo-and-bass bluegrass songs, and a lot of dancing." (8 p.m., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison Street) more ›

MUSIC: Spend your New Year's shaking that a$$ to witty, high-energy hip hop by Kreayshawn (who now lives in Los Angeles), and smart/quirky electronic indie by Wallpaper, along with Roach Gigz, Starting Six, DJ Amen, and DJ Fatboy. (8 p.m., The Regency Ballroom, 1290 Sutter Street) more ›

FILM I: In the documentary Children of the Cockettes, filmmaker Mister WA explores the "free-spirited and non-conformist performance torches" carried by the likes of Thrillpeddlers, Trannyshack, and Peaches Christ and investigates the current resurgence of glam gender performances and "theatre of the ridiculous" in contemporary San Francisco. (8 p.m., Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street) more ›

COMEDY: You have a few days left to catch the tenth-year run of the acclaimed Santaland Diaries, Joe Mantello's stage adaptation of David Sedaris' instant Christmas classic told through the eyes of a Macy's elf who "confronts the screaming children, bossy parents, flaky elves, and apathetic Santas with hilarious results." (8 p.m., Eureka Theater, 215 Jackson Street) more ›

Come-A-To-Lady-Of-Pasta's-House for some cocktails, dessert, and live performances at Deco, see Will Franken enact a Viennese/Australian romance in his one-man show at the Eureka Theatre, or witness some East Bay funk legends get their due at Yoshi's. more ›

Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles, who worked together on such gems as Borat and Bruno, just released a preview to The Dictator. According to the film's team, "The film tells the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed. It is inspired by the best selling novel Zabibah and The King by Saddam Hussein." (We are so ordering that on Amazon.) more ›

FILM: The Roxie hosts a night of Gothic cinema with Southern (Dis)Comfort, featuring Hurry Sundown, "an overly earnest 1960s-era take on race relations and a gorgeously mounted trash melodrama" starring Michael Caine and Jane Fonda, along with the aptly titled Poor White Trash, starring Peter Graves as an insecure architect from the North, who comes to the Bayou Country. (6:15 and 8 p.m., Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street) more ›

So, yeah, we want to go to every single SF Sketchfest show. Why? Oh, we'll tell you why: Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Molly Shannon, Rachel Dratch, Michael Ian Black, Eddie Izzard, Elliott Gould and Sally Kellerman (!), The Dark Crystal's 30th anniversary celebration more ›

FILM: There will be a handful of tickets at the door to the Roxie's Evening with Amy Sedaris, which follows the lead of last year’s successful John Waters' Sleighful of Smut. The event, which benefits the great programming at the Roxie, will feature a signing and discussion with Sedaris about her 2010 book, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People, along with an open bar and other treats. (7:30 p.m., Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street) more ›

TALK: Ben Fong-Torres will be interviewing composer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Taj Mahal, one of the most prominent and influential figures in contemporary blues and roots music, with accompaniment by live musical interludes. (8 p.m., Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California Street) more ›

FILM: The Roxie presents Inni, Sigur Rós’s second live film following 2007's hugely-celebrated Heima, which is "artfully and intimately captured by French Canadian director Vincent Morisset (Arcade Fire’s Miroir Noir)," interweaving archive material from the band’s first ten years with "sometimes gossamer light, sometimes punishingly intense," concert footage. (3:30, 5, 7, 8:30 p.m., Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street) more ›

COMEDY: Club Chuckles presents its 8-year anniversary show, featuring "a not-to-be-missed lineup" of heavy-hitters, including Neil Hamburger (Drag CIty), Natasha Leggero, Tim Heidecker (Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job), Duncan Trussell, and The Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser Yo-Yo Extravaganza. All-ages, seated show. (8 to 11 p.m., Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa) more ›

ART/LECTURE: Visiting artist Stephen Kaltenbach with speak about his lengthy and diverse career most notably "creating conceptual gestures, magazine advertisements, diagrammatic propositions, 'Street Works,' time capsules, and photorealistic paintings," as part of S.F. Art Institute's free Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series. (7:30 p.m., San Francisco Art Institute, Lecture Hall, 800 Chestnut Street) more ›

Wise man Stephen Colbert took on Occupy Berkeley's skirmish with abusive police this week. Calling UC Berkeley a "hippie haven" and a "slow food, locavore, patchouli, super-fun granola dump site," Colbert breaks down the now-famous video of students and faculty clashing with the fuzz on November 9. more ›

"What the fuck happened in Oakland?" Jon Stewart asked during last night's Daily Show. "Seems a little heavy handed... unless some of the protesters were Godzilla," he went on to quip. The comedian took on the city of Oakland's brutal response to Occupy Oakland, which included, among other tactics, using flashbang grenades, rubber bullets, and tear gas. (Most notably, Iraq veteran Scott Olsen was seriously injured during the attack.) more ›

COMEDY: There will be a few tickets available at the door to see Pam Ann aka Australian comedienne Caroline Reid, "the fashion-flying, hard-drinking, A-list hostess to the stars," who's "touching down" in San Francisco after a sell-out 25-date European tour -- just in time to kick off Fleet Week. (6:30 p.m., Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street) more ›

COMEDY: You have two weekends left to catch beloved local comedy troupe Killing My Lobster's latest sketch comedy show, Killing My Lobster Conquers the Galaxy, which includes "the real story of how Dr. Who chooses his time-traveling companions; Space Wizard antics; Italians running a space station and more." (8 p.m., The Jewish Theater San Francisco, 470 Florida Street) more ›

ART: It's another installment of Sketch Tuesdays, your monthly golden opportunity to score cheap one-of-a-kind art ($5-30) that's created before your eyes by highly talented Bay Area artists. (7 p.m., 111 Minna Gallery, 111 Minna) more ›

ART: Japan-based, PangeaSeed, and Spoke Art Gallery present the weekend-long Sink or Swim Fundraiser, their inaugural art exhibition featuring original works from thirty internationally renowned artists such as Dave Kinsey, Josh Keyes, Dan May, Jim Phillips, Jeff Soto and many more, addressing the rapid and mass depletion of sharks. (6 to 10 p.m., Spoke Art Gallery, 816 Sutter Street) more ›

COMEDY: SF Weekly informs us that Kids in the Halls co-stars Kevin McDonald and Scott Thompson have been at Cobbs all weekend, as part of SF Sketchfest's presentation of Two Kids, One Hall. Sorry it fell under SFist's radar until now! (8 p.m., Cobb's Comedy Club, 915 Columbus Avenue) more ›

MUSIC: Legendary '90s Bay Area garage band, The Mummies, whom SF Weekly say "took stripped-down, amped-up guitar pop to heights of volume, satire, and obnoxiousness, coining the phrase 'budget rock' to describe its music," hit the Knockout, along with The Hondettes and DJ Russell Quan. (10 p.m., The Knockout, 3223 Mission) more ›

FILM: You have until Thursday to catch Love Exposure, the entertainingly "dark and sick" epic by Japanese poet-turned-auteur Sion Sono, which broke art house box office records in Japan and "is the sort of film that reminds you why you love going to the movies in the first place." (7:30 p.m., Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street) more ›