SF Sketchfest 2025

For the last fifty years, The Groundlings improvisation and sketch comedy theatre has been teaching students and delighting audiences from its foundation in Los Angeles and far beyond. Initially founded by San Francisco’s own “The Committee” member Gary Austin, The Groundlings have become universally recognized as a talent pool from which many directors, producers, television series and movies have discovered and fostered some of Hollywood’s most beloved comedic performers. 

To celebrate this iconic institution’s half-century landmark, SF Sketchfest is honored to present an improv show and panel featuring Groundlings alumni spanning across decades— from founding members all the way up to present-day current Main Company. Watch this incredibly talented group play together, then discuss how they came to join the acclaimed community, and what it’s meant to them.

With Jordan Black, David Crabb, Michael Hitchcock, Phil LaMarr, Laraine Newman, Mindy Sterling, Julia Sweeney and more.

Filipino AF is a comedy variety show featuring the best Filipino American talent around. Improv, sketch, standup, and even some music and dance. (It's Filipinos after all!) The show started in LA, and we are STOKED to bring it to the bay!

With Allyn Pintal, Joy Regullano and more.

News + improv + news + improv + news + improv ...

Brandon R. Reynolds & Stephen Jackson present the most important and absurd news of the world. Then, improvisers riff on that news, or become part of it as "live reports." News and comedy, together at last. An enlightening evening of truth — and its consequences.

With guests Jessica Makinson, Cole Stratton, Janet Varney and Gary Anthony Williams.

They cloned Mozart, it went horribly wrong and now we're stuck with the consequences. Shitty Mozart (Aaron Nemo, a writer for "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert") performs a dazzlingly chaotic, vulgar, experimental one-man multimedia concerto.

Terrified that the audience will realize he lacks the musical genius of his predecessor, Shitty Mozart will try anything – playing makeshift instruments he's invented, performing duets with cartoons he drew, even conducting an elaborate laser light show voiced entirely by the song "Mr. Brightside" – in a futile attempt to escape Wolfgang's shadow and make a name for himself.

Go Fact Yourself is a pop culture trivia show hosted by J. Keith van Straaten ("Ask Me Another" Senior Writer) and Helen Hong ("Wait-Wait- Don't Tell Me" recurring panelist), and running as a podcast on the Maximum Fun network and as a radio show on NPR station LAist 89.3. Each week, van Straaten and Hong test celebrity guests on their self-proclaimed areas of expertise in front of a live audience, then bring on a surprise expert in the topic. Previous guests have included everyone from actor Keegan-Michael Key to author Amy Tan to DJ Jazzy Jeff. More info and episodes at gofactyourpod.com

Acknowledged by peers and press alike as one of the premier political satirists in the country, Will Durst has patched together a comedy quilt of a career, weaving together columns, books, radio and television commentaries, acting, voice overs and most especially, stand-up comedy, into a hilarious patchwork of outraged and outrageous common sense. His abiding motto is “You can’t make stuff up like this." The New York Times calls him "possibly the best political comic in the country." Fox News agrees "he's a great political satirist," while the Oregonian hails him as a “hilarious stand-up journalist.” This former radio talk host, oyster shucker, and margarine smuggler currently writes a nationally syndicated humor column, and his scribblings have appeared in Esquire, George, the San Francisco Chronicle, National Lampoon, The New York Times and scads of other periodicals.

With Arthur Gaus, hosted by Cathy Zhao.

Richard Kind is an accomplished stage, screen and television actor who continues to redefine the term character actor. He'll be joined onstage by fellow character actor and friend Kevin Pollak for a spirited conversation.

Richard appeared in the Academy Award Winning Best Picture, "Argo" for director Ben Affleck and starred as 'Bing Bong' in the hit Pixar Film, "Inside Out". He played a memorable, heartbreaking role in Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter". Richard was 'Uncle Arthur,' brother to Michael Stuhlbarg in the critically acclaimed "A Serious Man" written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. He worked a second time with the Coen brothers in "Suburbicon", directed by George Clooney.

Currently, Richard recurs in the fourth season of "Only Murders in the Building" for Hulu. Richard played the series regular role of 'Stan Yenko' in the highly rated CBS drama "East New York". Richard recently accompanied John Mulaney on his live talk show for Netflix "John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in LA" as the show’s announcer. Additionally, Richard played a juicy recurring role in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix limited series "The Watcher" and can be seen in the popular Netflix feature "The Out-Laws", opposite Pierce Brosnan and Ellen Barkin.

Additional film credits include a two time collaboration with Tom McCarthy in "The Visitor" and "The Station Agent" as well as roles in several other films including "Tick, Tick…Boom", "Obvious Child", "18 1/2", "The Bellmen", "Auggie", "The Magnificent Meyersons", "Andover", "The Independents", "All We Had", "The Lennon Report" and "The Paper Store" just to name a few, as well as voicing characters in "A Bug’s Life", "Cars" and the television series, "Summer Camp Island", fan favorite "Big Mouth" and "American Dad"!

Apart from his infamous roles on "Spin City" and "Mad About You", Richard was also a series regular on the acclaimed HBO series "Luck", as well as three seasons on Amazon's "Red Oaks" and a season of "Brockmire" opposite Hank Azaria. Richard had a six episode arc on "Everything’s Gonna Be Okay" for Freeform. He has also had recurring roles on Fox's "Gotham", Showtime's "I'm Dying Up Here", and has appeared numerous times on "Young Sheldon", "Curb Your Enthusiasm" as ‘Uncle Andy,' "The Goldbergs" as ‘Formica Mike’ and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit". In addition, Richard has guest starred on many, many shows.

Richard is a Drama Desk Award Winner and Tony Nominee for the Broadway Hit, "The Big Knife". On stage he has also starred in "Guys and Dolls" in London, the smash hit Broadway musical "The Producers", "The Tale of the Allergist's Wife", "Candide", and "Bounce", among others. Upcoming, Richard will join John Mulaney in "All In: Comedy About Love" on Broadway.

Richard started his career in Chicago with the Practical Theatre Company, founded by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brad Hall and Gary Kroeger.

SF Sketchfest presents some of our favorite hand-picked up and coming sketch and improv teams from around the United States and beyond!

With Chicken Big (NYC), Gunk (LA), Kuch Kuch Bollywood (SF) and Whoops! (LA). Hosted by Faraz Niafattah.

SF Sketchfest presents some of our favorite hand-picked emerging stand-ups comics from around the country and beyond!

With Ben Feldman, Andrew Holmgren, Emery Jean, CJ Koepp, Key Lewis, Diante Neagle, Jamar Pitts, Joe John Sanchez III, and Ivy Vasquez. Hosted by Jeanette Marin.

Hello! I'm Arnie. I fell through a magical dimensional portal behind a Burger King in Chicago and found myself in a strange magical land called "Foon." I'm still somehow getting a weak wi-fi signal from the Burger King so I host a weekly podcast from the tavern the Vermilion Minotaur, interviewing monsters, wizards and adventurers.

There are worlds other than our own!

America’s longest-running bad movie podcast is thrilled to return to Sketchfest!

Elliott Kalan ("MST3K", the upcoming Netflix "Ghostbusters" series), Dan McCoy ("The Daily Show"), and Stuart Wellington (owner, Hinterlands Bar) are three real-life friends who’ve tortured themselves for over 17 years by watching critical flops, then chatting about them with equal parts insightful cinematic analysis and digressive comedic nonsense. See why "The A.V. Club" raved, “The Internet is studded with geeks mocking bad movies from the safety of their podcasts, but The Flop House might just be the best of the bunch.”

The Sit and Chat is a loosely structured, conversational podcast from two former co-stars who grew up working together in entertainment. Each week, Bradley Steven Perry and Jake Short sit *and chat* with each other or interview their guest about the journey of following ones dreams and the folly that comes with it. Like most podcasts, they enjoy talking about life's trivial aspects. Each episode aims to make audiences and guests laugh alike because life isn't that serious - at least not on The Sit and Chat.

SF Sketchfest presents some of our favorite hand-picked up and coming sketch and improv teams from around the United States and beyond!

With Big Apartment (NYC), Chugga Chugga (LA), Jane "Austin" Improv (Austin, TX) and Trash Movie Improv (Sacramento). Hosted by Virginia Jones.

Safe Words is dedicated to amplifying queer voices in the comedy world. Our mission is to create a safe space for queer audiences and comedians, while accelerating the careers of queer comedians in the bay and beyond. Hosted by Wonder Dave, with guests Rachelle Cochran, Ren Q. Dawe, Nora Jefferies, Joe John Sanchez III and Jonny Stein.