Laughs

Laughs

Go See Some Comedy: Drennon Davis at Elbo Room and More

This week, go see comedy and music and/or literature mixed together.

On Thursday, Drennon Davis and DJ Real will be at the Elbo Room. They do a madcap music-comedy-sketch thing that I can’t describe but I love it. Here’s Drennon on Conan recently with Karen Kilgariff to give you a taste. Also go to the Elbo Room before it gets destroyed for more fancy condos.

This week is Litquake, San Francisco’s annual festival of words. Throughout Litquake and Saturday’s Litcrawl through the Mission will be an array of events that include comedians like Greg Proops, W. Kamau Bell, and me, among others.

Finally, mark your calendars now for Tuesday, October 27. I’m presenting another “Nato Green & Friends” showcase at Doc’s Lab in partnership with KALW public radio. I’ve assembled some of my favorite local comics to record standup that we’ll air on future FSFSF segments.

You can hear these recommendations in my deep, sexy radio voice in the segment called FSFSF every Tuesday at 4:45pm on KALW 91.7FM public radio, during All Things Considered, or can subscribe to them on Soundcloud.

Go see some comedy.

Nato Green is a comedian who also writes a column for the San Francisco Examiner, and performs on Saturdays at the Cynic Cave.

[Photo: Drennon Davis]

Laughs

Go See Some Comedy: Mission Position at The Punchline and More

This week, I want you to go to the Punchline. There are a handful of comedy clubs in the country that comedians talk about among themselves as among the best: Comedy Works in Denver, Acme in Minneapolis, the Comedy Attic in Bloomington, Cap City in Austin, and the Punchline are usually the top of the list.

A lot of times, comedy clubs can be brainless hellholes where the comedy itself is a condiment for the “house special cosmo” or chicken fingers. If you live in a city with one of the best comedy clubs, you should go to that club.

For three years, the Mission Position has been producing great shows on Thursdays at Lost Weekend Video. Tonight, they relocate to the Punchline for a Very Special Show. Like everything in San Francisco comedy, people develop here until they either quit or launch to greater triumph or greater failure in LA or New York. All the Mission Position alumni come home for one night only. In addition to their current regular (excellent) crew of Kate Willett, Matt Lieb, Jessica Sele, and Torio van Grol, they also welcome back long-lost friends Matt Louv, Trevor Hill, and Casey Ley.

Here’s a taste of Casey Ley. (NSFW.)

On Wednesday, Ngaio Bealum headlines the Punchline. Ngaio is a San Francisco native who lives in Sacramento now. A lot of comics like weed and talk about it, but Ngaio is so funny that his pot humor is funny to people like me who do not and never have smoked it.

Here is a clip of Ngaio on the last show at the legendary Purple Onion in North Beach, before it closed in 2012. (I was also on this show.)

Listen to public radio-sounding versions of these recommendations on KALW 91.7FM every Tuesday at 4:45pm during All Things Considered, or archived online here, or by subscribing on Soundcloud.

Or come see me stand-upping every Saturday with all the cool kids on the greatest alternative comedy show in a video store, The Cynic Cave at Lost Weekend Video.

Whatever it is, go see some comedy.

Nato Green is a standup comedian, columnist in The San Francisco Examiner, and, according to his lifelong friends and family, a “civic treasure.”

[Photo: Mission Position]

Laughs

Rye Silverman Performs at The Cynic Cave Tomorrow Night

For anyone who has been looking for an excuse to finally hit up the definitely-not-closed Cynic Cave, here it is: comedian Rye Silverman is performing there tomorrow night. Silverman has been featured on the Todd Glass Show, Jordan Jesse GO!, and the RISK! podcast, and this will be her first show in San Francisco (she is based out of Los Angeles).

San Francisco-based comic Nato Green, who has performed with Silverman in the past, described her style to Uptown Almanac.

“Rye’s comedy is smart, vulnerable, dark, and funny. Aside from that, she’s transgendered. All this is to say that San Francisco is her core demographic.”

Silverman describes her own work as “sort of a strange blend of cynical optimism.”

Tickets are $12, and you can buy them here.  

[Screen Shot: The Unpopular Opinion Show]