Sure, local funny-guy comedy troupe busts out great live shows, but they're also getting a well-deserved reputation for their video-produced comic stylings. Check out Alex Aschinger, Bob Brindley, Chris Yule, Jay Starr, Justin Lamb, and Sammy Wegent (each as screwable as the next) tomorrow night at 9 p.m. at The Purple Onion, 140 Columbus; $10.......

-- KrOB'S Film Farm -- Faust (1994): Jan Švankmajer's version of Faust, using Goethe's and Christopher Marlowe's tales as well as heaps of surrealism, screens tonight at 8 p.m. at Chez Poulet, Cesar Chavez (Army) and Mission Streets; free. -- Minnie Driver: Why should you see her? Well, she has an Oscar nomination under her belt. Granted, it's for the XY-heavy emo-porn shitfest Good Will Hunting -- but Driver's got an Oscar nomination nonetheless.......

--Audacia Ray, the editor of the sex worker zine $pread and a Fleshbot [nsfw] contributor, talks at Modern Times about the commodification of sex on the Internet. 7:30 p.m., 888 Valencia (x 20th) --Kearny Street Workshop, Intersection for the Arts, and Galeria de la Raza are throwing a reading and book release party for their 2007 Intergenerational Writers Lab collection, at Capp180 (180 Capp Street 3rd Fl., x 16th and Mission). $5-15 sliding, 7 p.m.......

Our local theater companies have shows much more unique than prix fixe menus for Valentine's Day....

Tonight and tomorrow at the Purple Onion, catch fifteen rising stars on the SF comedy scene for only $15! That's only $1 a comedian, or about a nickel a joke! Seriously, catch them know before they get a show on Comedy Central, sign a multi-million dollar deal, and then disappear to South Africa to center themselves spiritually. Shows start at eight. Hoarding your serotonin agonists/antagonists for Burning Man, but have an itch to see......

Okay, we see why Gothamist loves Todd Barry. But local boys Ryan Stout and Jim Short made good last night, too. If you haven't been to the Purple Onion yet, it really is a great experience. We went for a special night of Asian-American comedians in May who were absolutely hilarious, and fell in love with the brick-walled, plush-boothed underground funnyplace. We'd think it were a little toooo themey if it wasn't so unpretentious......

If you aren't checking out Frameline, seeing some music (Stern Grove on Sunday!) or peeing your pants at the Purple Onion, how about... Tonight, SF Homegirl Margaret Cho (who our sources say has been using some of the same material since high school) performs two shows tonight at Davies Symphony Hall as part of her Assasin tour. Tickets start at a whopping $25. But hey, support a blogger, will ya? Tomorrow at 11:30, revellers......

One of Gothamist's favorite comedians, Todd Barry, will be performing six shows starting tonight at eight at the Purple Onion and running through Sunday. Who is Todd Barry? Well, find out for yourself by reading the interview he did with Gothamist (where, to the world's chagrin, he declined to answer the question "Imagine prostitutes gave receipts. Imagine you go to prostitutes. What do you think your receipt would have on it?"). Named "It Stand......

Months ago, SFist was invited to attend local comedian Kamau Bell’s Birthday Extravaganza. We didn’t go (stupid cold). The thing was such a raging success, however, that he’s having another one. No, not a birthday, but a comedy extravaganza. In fact, it was such a success, the thing might turn into a monthly extravaganza. Maybe even starting now. ...

For some people, they're birthday consists of phone call from the parents, drinks with friends, and trying to make it through the inevitable office birthday cake. For local comedian W. Kamau Bell, his birthday consists of throwing a comedy extravaganza for himself this Thursday at the Purple Onion. Appearing with Bell are "underground comedy legend and virtuoso piano player" Brent Weinbach, comedian Joe Klocek, Human Beat Boxer D.C, "scratch guitarist" The Genie, and others. Kamau......

This week's Bay Blogger Thursday has been a long time coming. Ever since EssEffist went deep into the bowels of the innerweb trolling for bloggers to add to our link list (over there on the right), we've wanted to let the world know about A Comedy Notebook. Immediately upon finding this site, we knew we had struck gold. We have no idea who's comedy notebook this is, but they're good. They should be writing bits for Dave or Conan's monologue, as far as we're considered. Of course they could write for Jay, but the jokes would have to be much less funny. A sampling: What is this a picture of? A. The effects of a hurricane on a pier B. A large wave crashing on a Florida coastline C. A Reuben Studdard cannonball dive