The Something Something Shindig is "a wild show that combines stand up comedy, improv, music, and what we like to call 'audience-participation-good-times.'" This sounds like a fantastic event for a early-in-the relationship date, a night with that person you mean to catch up with but have nothing much in common to discuss, or your from-out-of-town guest who thinks comedy begins and ends with Carrot Top.

Tonight, expect to see comedians Kevin O'Shea, Leslie Small, Trevor Hill, and Trevor Joyner each perform their sets, then join hosts Andrew Moore and Justin Gomes for some improv. How will they fare? That's part of the excitement, I guess.

I'm sure it will be nothing like this. (Which, are you watching Broad City? If not, SHAME ON YOU.)

Also threatened/promised: "big group games, audience shindigs, and weird stuff." If you have some time to kill before the show, there'll also be an art show at the venue, running from 5-7. Culture!

What: The Something Something Shindig
When: 7 PM
Where: Milk Bar (1840 Haight Street)
Tickets: Free

BENEFIT: The Days and NIghts Festival kicks off its season with a stellar show co-presented by Folk Yeah, featuring Philip Glass and Joanna Newsom with Tim Fain performing collaborative and solo pieces. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Henry Miller Memorial Library down in Big Sur, which is in need of facility upgrades in order to meet federally-mandated health and safety requirements. (8 p.m., The Warfield, 982 Market Street)

PANEL: The Mechanics' Institute Library presents 21st-Century Publishing: Reports from the Front Lines, a discussion among a panel of experts bringing news from the wild frontiers of publishing, including literary agent April Eberhardt and five indie publishers on their latest books and adventures. (5:30 to 8 p.m., The Mechanics' Institute Library, 57 Post Street, 4th Floor)

IMPROV: Learn about the power of yes at The Art of Improvisation, a free on-going class that introduces students to Leela's (an improv theatre company and training center) signature style of improvisation: "joyful play, expressing your authentic self, truthful scenework, ensemble building, group mind, character development, detailed space object work, multiple forms, and 'Yes, and!'” (7 to 9 p.m., Intersection for the Arts, 925 Mission Street)

ART: Head over to Phoenix Hotel for the opening reception of San Francisco Art Institute's limited-engagement MFA Graduate Exhibition featuring nearly 100 students working in painting, photography, printmaking, film, sculpture, installation, digital media, performance, and across disciplines. (6 to 8 p.m., The Phoenix Hotel, 601 Eddy Street)

MUSIC: Underground SF presents the third installment of the free monthly Push The Feeling, featuring live music by shortcircles ("sample-based boom-bap, ethereal soundscapes, and other genres") and Chucha Santamaria y Usted ("forward-thinking electronic dance-pop"), along with tunes by resident DJs YR SKULL and the Epicsauce crew. (9 p.m. to 2 a.m., Underground SF, 424 Haight Street)

BENEFIT: Live. Love. Starr., which is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a cure for blood cancers including leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, presents the 1930s-circus themed Under the Big Top - Bachelor/ Bachelorette Auction and Dance Party. One hundred percent of proceeds will benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. (8 p.m. to 2 a.m., Broadway Studios, 435 Broadway)

MUSIC: Matthew Sweet will perform in its entirety his classic 1991 album, Girlfriend, in which his "bone-dry, caterwauling sonics" opened up a "wild and picturesque new terrain for restless singer/songwriters to inhabit and explore." (9 p.m., The Independent, 628 Divisadero Street)

ART: Eli Ridgway Gallery presents Cassandra C. Jones' second solo exhibition at the gallery, Photos Taken #drawings, showcasing the artist's juxtaposition of other peoples photographs culled from the internet, literally and conceptually drawing "connections between how we organize and interpret imagery in the digital realm, where the archives of visual information are in a constant state of growth and evolution." (4 to 7 p.m., Eli Ridgway Gallery, 172 Minna Street)

PING-PONG: The hugely popular American Tripps is throwing another Saturday night Berlin-style ping-pong party, which is themed "Pump Up The Volume." RSVP over at Do415, and they'll cover your first round of beers. (8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., D-Structure, 520 Haight Street)

MUSIC: DJ Neil Armstrong headlines the SF International Asian American Film Festival's Directions In Sound 2012, a genre-bending showcase featuring emerging artists and established vets. The show also features Blackbird Blackbird, Hopie, Micropixie, and DJ Tap. (9 p.m. to 2 a.m., Mighty, 119 Utah Street)

ART: Tonight's Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive's L@TE event will feature pioneer of computer-enhanced performance practice Edmund Campion, who will transform Gallery B with sound and visuals, including video projection, a choir spread throughout the building, and his own brand of dynamic, buoyant electronic music, in collaboration with designer Raveevarn Choksombatchai, artist and 3-D animator Claudia Hart, and the Cornelius Cardew Choir and its director Tom Bickley. (7:30 p.m., Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way, 2621 Durant Avenue)

THEATER: BATS Improv presents their weekly signature improv comedy competition, Theatresports, in which two teams compete in a mix of improvised scenes, songs, and games, along with lots of audience participation and, most importantly, "the unexpected!" (8 to 9:45 p.m., Fort Mason Center, Buchanan and Marina)

PARTY: The delightful Lil Miss Hot Mess is hosting a fabulous Roller Skating Birthday: "Get ready to lace up your skates, buckle your blades, and wipe out with style as you spin around the floor to jock jams from the coolest DJs in school, Durt (Ships in the Night) + Pink Lightning (Stay Gold). Don’t miss roller-drag with Landa Lakes, burlesque-on-wheels with La Chica Boom, and of course, a special performance by the birthday girl herself, Lil Miss Hot Mess! All skate!" (3 to 8 p.m., Cellspace, 2050 Bryant)

COMEDY: The monthly Radiostar Improv's takes on Mardi Gras with Lust for Life, in which they'll record wholly improvised tales of Mardi Gras revelry based on the suggestions of their live audience. The audience is encouraged wear the colors of Mardi Gras, purple, gold and green. (7:30 to 10 p.m., 50 Mason Social House, 50 Mason Street)

FILM: Bad Movie Night begins their attack on DC Comics tonight — "where things are just a smidgen more dire lately" — with the Green Lantern. They're going to riff "all one hundred and twenty minutes (give or take the closing credits) of this green stinkburger." (8 p.m., Dark Room Theater, 2263 Mission Street)

IMPROV: Tickets might still be available at the door for the opening of BATS Improv's 25th Anniversary Season, featuring a special presentation of the first Theatresports show, followed by a champagne and dessert reception with the cast, company, and BATS Community. (8 p.m., B350 Fort Mason Center, Buchanan and Marina)

DANCE: PunkkiCo founder Raisa Punkki presents the debut of her dance collaboration Pick Cells -- "metaphor & minimalism, costumes that create chaos, movement that represents strength and resilience in the face of fate at its most callous plus a score that uses electronica along with the cello of Joan Jeanrenaud." (8 p.m., Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th Street)

MUSIC: Yoshi's presents SF jazz vocalist, Audrey Moira Shimkas, who is heavily influenced by the jazz greats Billie & Ella, and contemporaries like Nancy Wilson, Mary Stallings, Dianne Reeves and Diana Krall, accompanied by Ben Flint on keyboard and Adam Goodhue on drums, as part of Yoshi's free jazz series. (6 to 9 p.m., Yoshi's San Francisco, 1330 Fillmore Street)

FILM: Vigilante Vigilante, the documentary featuring Berkeley's infamous anti-graffiti cleaner-upper among others, will be at the Roxie for a couple more days. Ironically, the filmmakers have royally pissed off the city, whose crews have had to clean up dozens of wheat paste posters for the film throughout the city. (7 and 9 p.m., Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street)

IMPROV: In preparation for the big Improv Festival, which opens on Thursday, Improv Everywhere is hosting an MP3 Experiment at Union Square. Read the instructions, which sound pretty complicated, to participate. (6:30 p.m., Union Square, Geary and Powell)

FOOD/LIT: This month's Feast of Words: A Literary Potluck, which is themed "Blue Ribbon," will feature New Orleans-based writer, artist, and musician, Kevin Simmonds, reading from his upcoming book Mad for Meat, and Chef Peter Jackson of Canvas Underground. (7 to 9 p.m., SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan Street)