Puddles Pity Party performs during SF Sketchfest at the Great Star Theater in San Francisco in 2024. This year's festival kicks off Jan. 15, 2026 and runs through Feb. 1. (Photo by Jakub Mosur, courtesy of SF Sketchfest)
Hey, so 2026 has been off to a real fun, breezy start, huh? I definitely don’t wake up and read the headlines every morning in a state of bone-deep rage, fear, and despair.
If I did, though, you know what would be a good antidote? Comedy. Luckily, SF Sketchfest, the city’s sprawling, homegrown comedy festival that’s now in its 23rd year, hits venues all over San Francisco Thursday, Jan. 15 and runs through Feb. 1. Founded by SFSU theater kids Janet Varney, David Owen, and Cole Stratton, the festival brings a frankly overwhelming slate of talent to the Bay each January as local comics mingle with movie stars at panels, stand-up sets, sketch and improv showcases, live podcast tapings, music performances, and more.
Peruse the whole schedule, and you’ll see that some of these events and performers require no introduction: Do you need me to tell you Maria Bamford is a genius and you should go see her? Maria Bamford is a genius and you should go see her. Wet Hot American Summer should be in the Library of Congress and this 25th anniversary concert will likely be absurd in soul-filling ways.
Here are a few more picks from COYOTE staff for your consideration.
Facial Recognition Comedy
Imagine if Naomi Wolf and Naomi Klein, two women who are mistaken for the other so often that one wrote a book about it, started a band. This is basically that: a nationally touring show hosted by a lineup of standup comedians who, for some reason, seem to be mistaken for each other a lot. Also, they’re female-identifying and of MENASA (Middle Eastern, North African, & South Asian) descent. Hmm!! At Sketchfest, they’ve invited three more great comedians up on stage, including one of my local faves, Shanti Charan! 7pm Saturday, Jan. 17 at BATS Bayfront Theatre, SF. $33+, more info here. — Soleil
Mark Mothersbaugh with the Red Room Orchestra
Live music is good for your mental health, and so is escapism (in moderation). Why not give your mind a vacation to a kinder, gentler, more aesthetically pleasing universe with this night dedicated to the film and TV scores of Devo frontman-turned-composer Mark Mothersbaugh? Expect songs from such delightful worlds as Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Rugrats, and whatever planet Wes Anderson lives on. Mothersbaugh will be the featured guest in a group of workhorse Bay Area musicians known as the Red Room Orchestra, a Sketchfest house band of sorts featuring composer/multi-instrumentalist Marc Capelle, Dirty Ghosts guitarist Allyson Baker, and vocalist/ska royalty Karina Deniké. 8pm Sunday, Jan. 18, Great American Music Hall, SF. $67, more info here. — Emma
Standup Showcase ft. Mike Evans Jr.
I’m not going to lie to you, dear reader: I have never personally seen Mike Evans Jr., the San Francisco-raised comedian who is part of Family Not A Group, the excellent local creative mafia. But the thing about an independent standup comedy show is that you will fucking laugh no matter what. In all of my years of attending random comedy events on the fly, I have never not been tickled by at least one of the comedians on stage. So I apologize in advance if Mike Evans Jr. doesn’t become your all-time favorite Bay Area comedian. But maybe you’ll find someone else to stan at this Standup Showcase, an event packed with emerging comics from around the country. 7:30pm Thursday, Jan. 15 and 4pm Sunday, Jan. 18 at the Lost Church, SF. $30+, more details here. — Alan
See these people who are about to have their lives enriched by comedy at the Castro Theatre during SF Sketchfest 2024? You could be one of them! (Photo by Jakub Mosur, courtesy of SF Sketchfest)
Riffapalooza: Shorts Night!
If you, like me, are an annoying person who lives to talk shit during bad movies and workplace training videos, Riffapalooza is our Woodstock ‘99. Featuring your parasocial besties from Mystery Science Theater 3000 — Kevin Murphy (Tom Servo!), Bill Corbett (Crow!!!!), Trace Beaulieu, and Frank Coniff — alongside members of the RiffTrax crew. Come together to laugh at the best of the worst “educational, industrial, and just plain awful shorts” known to man. 7:30pm Thursday, Jan. 22 at the Great Star Theater, SF. $53, more info here. — Soleil
Dan Deacon
Musician Dan Deacon seemingly spent the years since the beginning of the COVID pandemic speedrunning score production for TV and film. Some of them silly, some serious, among them the exquisite soundtrack to HBO’s earnest, Rust Belt-chic crime drama Task. He’ll be at Great American Music Hall on Jan. 22, crooning original songs between synthesizers for anyone who wants to experience the middle-aged man Gene Belcher from Bob’s Burgers might have grown up to be. 8pm Thursday, Jan. 22 at Great American Music Hall, SF. $40, more info here. — Rahawa
Trans-It Girls
Nori Reed, who came up in the Bay Area and was once named “Oakland’s Next Great Comedian” by SF Weekly, co-hosts this “unapologetically trans” show alongside comic Hayden Johnson. (We’ll forgive Reed for relocating to Los Angeles several years back because, well, she’s very fucking funny and that makes a lot of things forgivable.) “We wanted to make comedy that was first and foremost processing what it’s like to be trans in this industry — in an absurd and comical way, for a trans audience,” Reed told Vogue of this showcase in 2024. Dvontre Coleman, Jo Firestone, Sammy Mowrey, and Tien Tran all feature. 9:45pm Saturday, Jan. 31 at Cobb’s Comedy Club, SF. $30+, more info here. — Emma
