SF Sketchfest returns in January with more than 230 shows and 700 performers, including Martin Short, Broad City creators Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, and local filmmaker Boots Riley.
Tickets go on sale Sunday for the 24th annual SF Sketchfest, which will take place January 14–31, as the Chronicle reports. Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, the creators and stars of Comedy Central’s Broad City, will reunite to discuss the cult classic, which ran for five seasons from 2014 to 2019.
Martin Short is among the festival’s headliners, bringing his decades-long career in comedy, television, and film to the lineup. The festival will also celebrate Oakland filmmaker, musician, and writer Boots Riley discussing his work with comedian Patton Oswalt, whom Riley interviewed for an SF Sketchfest tribute more than a decade ago in the same theater.
The festival also has several reunions planned, including the 30th-anniversary celebration of the Stella sketch comedy series and the 20th-anniversary of Run Ronnie Run!, the film spinoff of HBO's sketch comedy series “Mr. Show with Bob and David.”
The two-night Run Ronnie Run! event will include a live reading with original stars David Cross and Bob Odenkirk, joined by cowriters Scott Aukerman, B.J. Porter, and Brian Posehn, followed by a screening with live commentary from Cross and Odenkirk.
Other television reunions include a conversation about the '90s animated series “Hey Arnold!” with creator Craig Bartlett and animators Natasha Cline and Mike Hollingsworth, and “Futurama Live; Outtake-o-Rama 2027!” featuring David X. Cohen, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, and Billy West.
A few of the more unusual offerings in the line-up caught SFist’s attention, including Fake TED Talks, where Jonathan Coulton, Janeane Garofalo, Laura Kightlinger, Adam Savage, and Dulcé Sloan will deliver carefully prepared presentations with considerably more jokes than research.
According to SFGate, past Fake TED Talk presentations have reportedly ranged from hit-or-miss monologues to standout sets, including “Kids in the Hall” alum Bruce McCulloch’s tongue-in-cheek motivational speech about embracing failure and competing presentations about the Eagles’ “Hotel California” by host Paul Sabourin and Jonathan Coulton.
Another curiosity is My Dad's Dead Screenplay, in which comedian Nicole Parker tells the story of inheriting a (terribly-written) Cold War thriller screenplay called False Premise from her estranged father after his death in 2020. The screenplay, which he spent more than a decade trying to sell, will get a live reading featuring Michael Hitchcock, Parker, Edi Patterson, Paul F. Tompkins, and Janet Varney.
And for those who appreciate wordplay, Bay Area Pun-Off returns to Cobb's Comedy Club. The competition began in an Oakland living room 11 years ago and has since grown into a Bay Area comedy institution, with an expansion to New York City this year.
The festival also includes its Edinburgh Spotlight series, live podcast recordings, comedy workshops, variety shows, and stand-up performances, with additional performers still to be announced.
Tickets go on sale Sunday at 10 am.
Related: SF Sketchfest Returns In-Person Friday, Will Finally Celebrate Twice-Delayed 20th Anniversary
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