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....

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......

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. It was standing room only at the Mezzanine, and the place was already packed to the gills when we arrived fifteen minutes......

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......

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......

Sketchfest continues...

RiffTrax Live at the Castro - Plan 9 from Outer Space: MST3K's Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett provide live commentary on Ed Wood's cult classic, the abominable and beloved Plan 9 from Outer Space. 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......

Moshe Kasher, Alex Koll, and Brent Weinbach. He's cute, 1/3 Jewish, 1/3 Filipino, and 1/3 Los Angelian. What more do you need? Oh yes, he also brings on the funny. Big time. And tomorrow night he will appear with Moshe Kasher and Alex Koll in Boomtime. What is Boomtime, you ask? Ahem: Boomtime is the newest incarnation of Berlin's seminal modern dance troupe: Bodies-In-Motion. The three former San Francisco stand-up comedians Brent Weinbach, Moshe......

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......

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......

Whitest Kids U Know: In addition to winning the Best Sketch award at the 2006 Aspen Comedy Festival and being crowned one of "10 Comics to Watch" by Variety, these guys are, apparently, both very funny and very pasty. They're also a part of SF Sketchfest. (Unfamiliar with these Kids? Check them out here and here.) WKUK perform twice tonight at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. at the Eureka Theatre; $20. Heavy Petty: How......

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,......

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......

While current events here in SF centered largely on Teflon, it's time for some iron - Nato Green's Iron Comic at The Make Out Room (3225 22nd St. between Mission and Valencia). Iron Comic is a live gameshow where 5 comedians rush to write a routine in 10 minutes from topics suggested by the audience (have we got some topics for them, one of which is NSFW and involves Gavin impersonating Ricky Aicardi, Mrs.......

We've been doing far too much reading about relevance and contemporary classical music as of late, so we're looking forward to the opportunity to hear it in a nice room with other people. The SF Tape Music Festival going on all weekend at ODC Theater (3153 17th St at Shotwell) features three distinct programs of audio art over a pristine 16-speaker surround sound system. We like the mix of legends (Brian Eno, with a world......

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. ...

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!)...

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....

SF Sketchfest presents Paul Reubens in Conversation with Ben Fong-Torres at the Palace of Fine Arts (3301 Lyon St. at Bay) followed by questions from the audience. You can ask Reubens his opinion about Mormons. There's also a post-show reception with Paul Reubens at Amante, with food and beverages provided. (8pm) More Sketchfest tonight at the Eureka Theater (215 Jackson Street at Battery) with Killing My Lobster, the SF sketch comedy group and film production......

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. ...

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. ...

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. The end. What? Isn't that enough? Fine.......

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......

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. ...

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! ...

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. We'll take a trip around the blogosphere for a minute. Jon "PJ" Swenson at the Sharkspage does......

Cole Stratton isn't just one of the founders of SF Sketchfest, which starts tomorrow. (Are you going? We are, and you should, too.) We should have asked him what he did to attract performers from Mr. Show, The Kids in the Hall, Saturday Night Live, Stella, The State, The Daily Show, Arrested Development, and The Upright Citizens Brigade to the Fest, as well as ask him what local stars of the comedy stage Kasper Hauser,......

Okay, so you don't understand why the Dowd/Friedman double-bill Friday night is the most exciting thing ever. And the rest of your Friday night social calendar is about as slim pickings as the new coked out Lindsey Lohan. Well, then SF Sketchfest, Club Chuckles, and The Sound of Young America might just have the thing for you as they present "All Tommorow's Jokes" at the Hemlock Tavern tomorrow night. Yep, the Hemlock Tavern: it's not just for alt-country fan boys and smokers anymore. And the show happens not just once, but twice, as there's a show at 9 and 11:30. "All Tommorow's Jokes" features the comedy stylings of music duo Hard N Phirm, stand up comedian Jasper Redd, the sketch comedy group Prank the Dean, and stand up comedian Brent Weinbach. It’s hosted by another stand up comedian (go figure) Jordan Morris. Tickets are $7 at the door....

For the past several weeks, San Francisco has been hosting it's very own Sketch Fest, the cleverly named San Francisco Sketch Fest. It's kind of like the comedy Sundance except without sleazy agents, Harvey Weinstein, or Paris Hilton sightings. Last Sunday, SFist shook off eight hours of football watching (Go Iggles!) to take in the Sklar Brothers/Elephant Larry show.......