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SF Sketchfest 2025 rolls into its first full week of comedy

Rob Reiner and Albert Brooks
Rob Reiner and Albert Brooks 08:10

The 22nd annual SF Sketchfest continues Tuesday with a tribute to comedy icon Albert Brooks as the festival presents an array of stand-up and improv shows at venues across San Francisco.

Plenty of national names will be making appearances this year as SF Sketchfest presents such television and film legends as the sold-out opening night tribute to comedian and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" actor JB Smoove, "Saturday Night Live" veteran and comic acting great Bill Murray performing with his cover band Blood Brothers, iconic pop music parodist "Weird" Al Yankovic, the entire cast of groundbreaking sketch comedy shows "The Kids in the Hall" and "The State" -- who appear collectively and in a variety of combinations -- and actor and singer Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, ItLegend) for a conversation with legendary local drag queen Peaches Christ. There will also be tributes to such talents as actors Kathryn Hahn and Richard Kind, salutes to the television shows "Futurama" and "Childrens Hospital," a wide array of staged podcasts and talk shows, appearances by stand-up talents Todd Barry, Dulcé SloanBrendan ScannellTodd GlassMoshe Kasher and Natasha Leggero, and celebrated improv troupes The Upright Citizens BrigadeThe Groundlings and SF favorites Killing My Lobster.

Sketchfest 2025 line-up
SF Sketchfest 2025 line-up SF Sketchfest

After going dark on Monday following a packed opening weekend, the fest resumes on Tuesday evening with a salute to groundbreaking comedian, writer, actor and director Albert Brooks. Born into a Beverly Hills show business family -- his mother was actress Thelma Leeds and his father was comic Harry Einstein, famed for appearing on radio as his Greek chef character Nick Parkyakarkus -- he changed his name from Albert Einstein and became one of the first absurdist post-modern comics of the late '60s, crafting an egotistical stage persona and deconstructing comedy stagecraft. 

Albert Brooks Famous School For Comedians by Wayne Shellabarger on YouTube

While he had some success with his unorthodox stand-up routines and made inroads as a writer, Brooks moved into filmmaking in the early '70s. He made an early "mockumentary" with his satirical short The Famous Comedians School in 1972 that led to his short film contributions for the first season of "Saturday Night Live" three years later. While he also continued to act in films, most notably in Martin Scorsese's iconic Taxi Driver by the end of the decade, he wrote, directed and starred in his first feature film. Real Life parodied the documentary television series "An American Family" and featured Brooks as the clueless filmmaker who moves in with a dysfunctional Arizona family.

Brooks would continue to make films through the '80s and '90s with such critically acclaimed efforts as Modern Romance, the doomed yuppie motor home travelogue Lost in America and his most celebrated film, the 1991 allegorical romantic comedy Defending Your Life that features Brooks as a Los Angeles ad executive who dies in a car crash before ending up in the limbo of "Judgement City" where it will be decided whether he will reincarnated on Earth or move on the next phase of existence. He also continued to act in other films, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor as a reporter in Broadcast News, providing the voice of Marlin in the Pixar hit Finding Nemo and playing against type as the vicious gangster villain in Drive. More recently, he was the subject of the in-depth HBO documentary directed by his lifelong friend Rob Reiner. Brooks makes a rare live onstage appearance, discussing his illustrious career with comedian and actor Kevin Pollak at the Syndey Goldstein Theater (Tue/21, 7:30 p.m.)

Other happenings on Tuesday include the Vietnamese stand-up showcase Embarrassed by Night at the Lost Church with co-founding Bay Area-native comics Fred Le and Andy Van and the Battle of the Magicians at the Gateway Theatre hosted by SF Sketchfest's resident magician Robert Strong. Wednesday continues the laughs with a mix of stand-up and sketch improv showcases at the Eclectic Box in the Mission District and the Lost Church in North Beach -- including The 90 Minute Psychedelic Comedy Hour (Time Is An Illusion) -- and Comedians Named Todd: Todd Barry and Todd Glass at Cobb's Comedy Club.

Todd Barry Stand-Up: New York Apartments, Pet Cats | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on YouTube

The deadpan and acerbic Barry has established himself as a top stand-up talent since the late '90s and has been a Sketchfest regular for years. While he has also acted in a number of film and television series (including a small role in The Wrestler), stand-up has been Barry's main outlet, frequently touring entirely improvised "crowd work" shows. Glass has been working in comedy even longer starting in the early '80s and appeared on two early seasons of NBC's Last Comic Standing (Wed/22, 7:30 p.m.).

Best of Rifftrax Live 'Reefer Madness' by wiley schmitt on YouTube

Thursday brings on several film-related shows, with the highest-profile performance being staged outside of San Francisco. The Sequoia Cinema in Mill Valley will host Riffapalooza with original "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and "RiffTrax" writers and actors Bill CorbettKevin MurphyFrank Conniff and Mary Jo Pehl making fun of a full-length b-movie alongside regular participants and SF Sketchfest co-founders Cole Stratton, and Janet Varney (Thu/23, 7:30 p.m.). Meanwhile, the Punchline features Free With Ads, another live movie commentary show with hosts Emily FlemingJordan Morris and Matt Lieb and guest Shanna Christmas making fun of Twilight (Thu/23, 7:30 p.m.) and Club Fugazi presents The Bechdel Cast, a  podcast about the representation of women in film that will feature Caitlin Durante and Jamie Loftus discussing Titanic in full costume (Thu/23, 7:30 p.m.). Thursday will also include the return of Talkies, the SF-born experimental multi-media comedy show that got its start in the basement of San Francisco's Lost Weekend Video store with hosts Nick StarguGeorge ChenAviva SiegelLand Smith and guests Jaren GeorgeIain LanglandsThe London Cycling Man, and Maryam Moosavi. For more information on the SF Sketchfest including the full schedule and tickets, visit the festival's website.  

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