The 21st annual comedy festival SF Sketchfest is back starting Thursday, featuring everything from a freshly crowned Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor to a puppet dog that mostly just makes poop jokes.
As of last year, we are back to doing SF Sketchfest in person, and Thursday kicks off 16 days of the 21st SF Sketchfest Comedy Festival. This year's festival will feature a Porchlight show with our old friends Beth Lisick and Arlinne Klatt, with featured storytellers Paul Giamatti — who’s fresh off winning the Best Actor Critics' Choice Movie Award for The Holdovers — and Bob Odenkirk, who’s fresh off winning precisely zero Emmy Awards whatsoever for Better Call Saul, which was nominated 53 times.
I have spent the last two months writing & rehearsing a new show with @JeffBryanDavis for @SFSketchfest. My favourite sketches ,songs, film clips, singalongs, and a Python premiere. It may be the last show I ever do. Now it’s your turn. Please come say farewell. 18/1 Castro SF.
— Eric Idle (@EricIdle) January 7, 2024
The nonsense begins Thursday night with Eric Idle in Eric Idle but Jeff B. Davis. The former Monty Python member Idle recently claimed, “It may be the last show I ever do.” Is he just saying that to drive up ticket sales? Tune in Thursday to find out!
Eric Idle, Kyle MacLachlan and Kids in the Hall are among the headliners of next year’s SF Sketchfest — and that’s just the beginning for the multi-day comedy festival. https://t.co/BKajSkRkmR
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) November 18, 2023
There are also four Kids in the Hall shows scheduled, and at this point, only one of them is sold out (though that performance will be available via streaming).
“It’s just a very great festival,” Kids in the Hall’s Scott Thompson tells the Bay Area News Group. “They take really good care of you, and there’s all kinds of comedy, improv, clown shows, standup. It’s probably the biggest, most diverse comedy [festival] I’ve ever been involved in. Comedians are so often on the road, and we have such itinerant lives. We’re all over the place, and these festivals are really good when you get to connect with people that you haven’t seen in a long time.”
See a comically musical spin on some pop culture classics with these parody shows! Featuring - "Exorcistic" - 1/20 @clubfugazisf, "The Fast and the Furious: A Musical Parody" - 2/1 @GreatStarTheatr, "The Real Housewives: The Unauthorized Musical Parody" - 2/4 at @ILoveTheMarsh pic.twitter.com/O17l3KCc4H
— SF Sketchfest (@SFSketchfest) January 16, 2024
A few standout movie parodies also highlight the schedule, including "Exorcistic" (Saturday, January 20 at Club Fugazi), "The Fast and the Furious: A Musical Parody" (Thursday, February 1 at the Great Star Theatre), and "The Real Housewives: The Unauthorized Musical Parody" (Sunday, February 4 at The Marsh).
A reminder I'm at @SFSketchfest this Sunday w/ #LetsMakeAPoop game show returning w/@alyankovic @donttrythis (Adam Savage) & surprise guests!
— Triumph® ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴsᴜʟᴛ ᴄᴏᴍɪᴄ ᴅᴏɢ™ Headquarters💩 (@TriumphICDHQ) January 17, 2024
tkts: https://t.co/e2vt1MDP6I
or STREAM it like all the kids and ruthless executives are doing nowadays! go to https://t.co/dQQsQbUqFr https://t.co/qdkKLgUthg pic.twitter.com/fZjAEhjKv6
A couple are of these shows will be available for streaming, including next Wednesday's sold-out Kids in the Hall show at the Great Star Theater, and this Sunday night’s Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s ‘Let’s Make a Poop’ at the Castro that will also feature “Weird Al" Yankovic.
SF Sketchfest runs Thursday, January 20 through Sunday, February 4. Schedule and tickets here.
Image: Tommy Lau via SF Sketchfest
