SF Sketchfest, arguably the city's most anticipated and entertaining annual festival, promises to top last year's stellar selection of bladder squeezers. Most notably, Candice Bergen and Diane English will make a special appearance at the Castro Theatre on February 2 for "Tribute to Murphy Brown," part of SF Sketchfest's Great Collaborators Series. more ›

SF Sketchfest's closing show at Cobb's on Saturday night was an interesting night of comedy and Bingo, topped off with comedian-donated prizes and hosted by Bobby Tisdale. The grand prize was a good back-cracking from Andy Richter, which was hilarious. The recipient was the large guy pictured at left, and apparently, his back actually did crack. more ›

SF Sketchfest presented two shows with great line-ups at Cobb's on Saturday night, which proved to be a double-double dose of Robs (Riggle and Huebel). "The Hills: A Staged Reading," featured Janine Garofalo as Lauren, Rachael Harris as Heidi, Rob Huebel as Spencer, surprise guest Rob Riggle as Brody Jenner, and narrator Tom Kenny. The concept proved to be a hit that made us want to watch all three seasons of the Hills, but only if performed in this format. more ›

The fine folks at SF Sketchfest are offering another great giveaway -- a pair of tickets to tonight and tomorrow night's showing of "Invite Them Up." New York comics Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale are back this year to host their cabaret-style variety show. Tonight's show will feature Janeane Garofalo, Todd Barry, Tig Notaro, Seth Herzog, and John Mulaney, and tomorrow night's line-up features Rob Riggle, Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer, Todd Barry, Tig Notaro, and John Mulaney. more ›

Write a haiku with the words "Harold" and "Maude," and be eligible to win a pair of tickets to a special onstage conversation with Bud Cort and a screening of Harold and Maude at Castro Theatre tomorrow night. The occasion will mark the 38th anniversary of the film. more ›

Write a haiku using the words "own" and "words," and be eligible to win a pair of tickets to tonight's 7 p.m. or 9 p.m. showings of Sketchfest's "Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words." Comedians will read the autobiographical "masterpieces" of celebrities, such as Mr. T and Vanna White, with deadpan hilarity. Two winners will be notified by 4:30 today (sorry for the last minute notice)! Be sure to check your email. more ›

The closing act of 2008's SF Sketchfest brought the prize of two nights with The Kids In The Hall. This legendary Canadian sketch troupe whose deranged, ribald, brilliant humor has scarred the minds of a generation through stage and screen came to Sketchfest as revered elders. more ›

• Beatropolis: Oh joy! Beatropolis has returned! (Not that they really went anywhere, but it always feels like forever when they're not around.) Anyway, Beatropolis' special brand of dance rock, live drum 'n' bass, and futuristic space pop will have you up until the wee hours of the morning. The Toy Soldiers (a heady nu-electrorawk mix of Flaming Lips, Justin Timberlake, and Hot Chip) and the Buttercream Gang (a local indie/post-punk/afro-beat band) also perform starting at 8 p.m. at Rickshaw Stop; $8.
• The Geek System: Starring Hard 'n Phirm , Reggie Watts, and " We have no idea what that last thing means--okay, some of that other stuff, too--but anything Kraftwerk-y is simply smashing by us. Starts at 10 p.m. at the Knockout; free.

As noted on Friday, we were super stoked to check out SF Sketchfest's "Fresh Faces of Comedy" show at the Mezzanine on Sunday night, hosted by Jon Benjamin and Eugene Mirman, with performances by Mike Birbiglia, John Lehr, Bob Odenkirk, Michael Showalter, Tim and Eric, and musical guest Zach Rogue of Rogue Wave. more ›

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 know how it was and who the surprise guest was for the night! more ›

The hilarious Eugene Mirman and Jon Benjamin are hosting SF Sketchfest's "Fresh Faces of Comedy" show on Sunday night at Mezzanine that we can't wait to check out. There will also be a short film contest with Jon Lehr of TBS's 10 Items or Less (he was also Geico's Caveman, whom he looks nothing like, BTW), which had us chuckling aloud the other night. "Five finalists will have their grocery-store themed films showcased and the winner, as determined by the SF Sketchfest founders and Sony Television executives, will receive a cash prize." more ›

Sketchfest continues more ›

• RiffTrax Live at the Castro - . Eeee! Like, we could just die! (Part of SF Sketchfest.) Starts at 9 p.m. at the Castro Theatre.
• Your Macworld Expo Parties: It's winding down, kids. Partake in the Macworld festivities while you can.
• Ships in the Night: San Francisco's jankiest and most awesome bar--of the homosexual persuasion, anyway--is having one of the city's jankiest and most awesome! DJs L'il Manila, Durt, and Vroom pump out all of your favorite dance floor classics this evening. What's more, your admission fee goes to pro-abortion group, Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights. Woo hoo! The drinking and dancing starts at 10 p.m. at the Gang Way; $3-5.

Moshe Kasher, Alex Koll, and Brent Weinbach. more ›

• The Sound of Young America Live: Live public radio featuring Jesse Thorn, Morgan Murphy, Merlin Mann, Danny Hoch, and Bucky Sinister perform le stand-up hot. Zach Rogue (of Rogue Wave) provides the music. It's indie rock and comedy all rolled into one. Ta-da! Oh, and it's part of SF Sketchfest, so you know it's good. Show starts at 8 p.m. at the Eureka Theatre; $10.
• BiFriendly Social: A bisexual coffee klatch for men and women who lean on both sides of the fence. (No, not for you alterafag Manhunter subscribers who claim bisexuality only in effort to entice seemingly straight men, but for authentic bi guys. Wherever they may be.) No set topic, just an old-fashion chat with strangers all juiced up on caffeine. Or whatever. Anyway, it goes from 7:30 p.m.- 10 p.m. at Church Street Cafe (formerly Muddy Waters); free.
• Tonight's Macworld Expo Afterparties: Leave the goatees in the bathroom sink. Please.

• Information Society: Remember these guys? No? How about now? They perform along with Tell Tale Heartbreakers, Spellbound (a Siouxsie tribute band), DJs Decay (Death Guild), Shindog (New Wave City), and Callum McGowan (Retrowerks). The energy goes from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. at DNA Lounge; $14-20.
• My Kid Could Paint That (2007): Amir Bar-Lev's documentary about artist Marla Olmstead (a four-year-old at the time this was shot) whose work has raked in loads of money while being compared to Kandinsky, Picasso, and Pollock. Lucky bitch, indeed. Screens at 7:15 p.m. and 9:15 at the Red Vic; $5-8.50.
• Get It?! Gameshow: Local comic Joe Klocek headlines tonight's knee-slappingness. Jason Wheeler, Arj Barker, Todd Barry, and Morgan Murphy also perform. Part of SF Sketchfest. Show starts at 8 p.m. at the Punchline; $15.

Before hitting the sundry of top-notch hilarity littering San Francisco during the 7th Annual SF Sketchfest - i.e., the sad clowns making funny - be sure to stop by tonight's opening party. No really, it's well worth the price of admission. And then some. They have Aimee Mann, Kristen Schaal (aka the girl from Flight of the Conchords), Paul F. Tompkins, Todd Barry, Rhys Darby, and DJs Skip & Shindog on-hand to perform. Plus, you'll have the chance to get wasted near other comedic types. And as we all know, alcoholism runs wild within the bloodstreams of stand-up comedians. Amateur night for substance abusers and comics this is not. more ›

Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and RiffTrax returned to the Bay Area this holiday weekend for two live shows. We went to the Sunday show at the Rafael Film Theater in San Rafael, (a much more comfortable place to see the guys than Cobb's, even if it is booze-free). Like their previous San Francisco engagement, the shows were sponsored by the San Francisco Sketchfest, and we hope they continue to have a good relationship and bring more live shows to San Francisco, because this one was almost as fun as the last one. more ›

Sketchfest is winding down this weekend and we don't know about you, but we've had a wonderful time at these things, even if David Cross now hates us. Sunday night will be the last night and they're throwing a party to celebrate. Not only that, they're giving away a pair of tickets. more ›

Tuesday night at the Eureka Theater, SF Sketchfest presented an up-tempo, mostly hysterical conglomeration of audio-visual entertainment. Interesting that this was Sketchfest's first-ever video night, when it's exactly the kind of evening you'd think would go by the wayside our YouTube world. (Hell, we've even got a video on YouTube, and we don't own a camera!) more ›

With the Yoga Journal conference going on at the same time as SF Sketchfest, SFist didn't know which way to turn. So, we spent the weekend in child's pose. Then, still feeling childish, we took our big sister to the Sketchfest tribute to Paul Reubens Monday night at the Palace of Fine Arts. more ›

As you might have noticed, we've been enjoying ourselves at Sketchfest. You've also might have noticed that we've partnered up with them. Which is why we're pretty excited about today's, last minute, giveaway. Because we're going to give away five (that's five!) pairs of tickets for tonight's SF Sketchfest to Paul Reubens. You know, Pee Wee Herman. more ›

It's a little intimidating stepping up into the batter's box to do any sort of Sketchfest review in light of recent SFist events. Last thing we'd want is to get nasty comments back by celebrities. So, with all that in mind, we're just going to get the negative stuff out of the way with our Kasper Hauser/Elephant Larry review first so we could spend the rest of the review manning the trenches. And that is this-- we thought the opening act, Elephant Larry was better. more ›

Last night, SFist went to see RiffTrax Live at the San Francisco Sketchfest. It was really funny, everyone laughed, there were no awkward silences, and the topic of Mormonism didn't come up once. In all, it was a great show and we really liked it. more ›

Last week's winner, the San Jose Metro. Gary Singh infiltrates a ladies' drinking circle, while Chuck Reed goes drinking with the Merc News. Do note, Gavin Newsom, that Reed only drank two bottled waters the entire night. Cover article: Making Redwood City fun again (land use edition). Italian food in Los Gatos. Lemon trees in winter. Women chanters. A review of the Justin Timberlake show. And the Straight Dope: are the magnetic poles going to flip? more ›

We've had a pretty good time these past couple of years going to the San Francisco Sketchfest and we're pretty excited it's coming around again. This year, Sketchfest starts up January 11th and promises to be just as good as the previous years. more ›

What's black and white and read all over? Our Google coverage! Speaking of tech, our tech editor and media maven MattyMatt displayed his polymathematical skills in abundance, simultaneously covering the new SF360 film venture, reading comics, watching American Idol, and yvesdropping to boot. Whew! What a week! We're ha-ha-haing our way through the ongoing SF Sketchfest, and checking out NoirQuake! (exclamation point our own). or did you win tickets to Slim's One Night Stand? In news: is that Gavin Newsom in the Yankees cap? Is he planting a tree? Can't he get anyone to run against Chris Daly? Candy some orange peels! Dip 'em in chocolate! more ›

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! Did you know that America's "first black Millionaire" was Yerba Buena resident Alexander Leidesdorff? Eric Meyerson got a chance to see Nobel Laureate Jimmy Carter at a recent book signing. And the wheels of the criminal justice system continue to squeak, with this harrowing tale of dealing with the Fremont courts. more ›

Cole Stratton isn't just one of the founders of SF Sketchfest, which starts tomorrow. (Are you going? We are, and you should, too.) more ›