SF Sketchfest 2025

Embarrassed by Night Celebrates Tết

The all-Vietnamese-American standup showcase Embarrassed by Night proudly makes its return to San Francisco Sketchfest to celebrate the Year of the Snake! Come ring in the serpentine Lunar New Year with loads of laughs and cultural joy from this eclectic, elite all-Viet lineup of comics!

Created in 2022 by Bay Area-native comics Fred Le and Andy Van, Embarrassed by Night is a touring comedy show that combines standup, music, and sketch to all types of venues to spread love of the Vietnamese culture through laughs and tunes. The show pays homage to "Paris by Night", the spectacular Vietnamese variety show whose ubiquitous video tapes helped bring our immigrant families closer together.

With guests Peter Bui, David Nguyen, Nina Nguyen, Viet Nguyen, Sean Porter, and Lillian Sam.

Kate Willett is a New York-based comedian who has appeared on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and has a stand-up special on Netflix’s "The Comedy Lineup". She co-hosts the popular political podcast "Reply Guys", the first female-hosted leftist political podcast. Some of her other TV credits include Comedy Central’s "CC Stand-Up Featuring" (she taped her second appearance this summer which is in the can), Comedy Central’s "Jim Jefferies Show" as a guest correspondent, and Viceland’s "Flophouse". Her appearance on Comedy Central’s "This Is Not Happening" which was on Splitsider’s list of “2016’s Best Late Night Standup Sets.” She has appeared at Bumbershoot, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Just for Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival, Limestone Comedy Festival, High Plains, Big Sky Festival, Bridgetown, SF Sketchfest, Laughing Skull and many other festivals. In addition to headlining around the nation, she has performed in England, Scotland, Australia, and Canada.

Her latest special "Loopholes", was listed by Paste Magazine as one of the top 10 comedy specials of 2024 so far and is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

With Paco Romane, Hosted by Priya Purim.

SF Sketchfest is thrilled to pay tribute to the one and only Albert Brooks, who will sit down for an in-depth conversation with Kevin Pollak.

Albert Brooks is an American filmmaker, actor, author, and comedian. Brooks revolutionized comedy in the late 1960’s when he came on the scene with a new form of standup, one that made fun of comedy itself. From 1968 to 1972, Brooks appeared on over one hundred network variety and talk shows, always performing new material that he had never tried out beforehand.

Knowing he wanted to go into motion pictures, Brooks made his first short film for the Public Broadcasting System in 1972, "Albert Brooks’ Famous School for Comedians", a satire on schools that claimed they could teach people how to be artists. In 1975, he made six original short films for the very first season of "Saturday Night Live", creating the short film segment, still in place fifty years later.

In 1979, Brooks wrote, directed, and starred in his first feature film, "Real Life", which purported to make a real family’s life into a major motion picture, showing how the filmmaker and family affected each other. The movie foreshadowed what reality television would become thirty five years later. After "Real Life", Brooks wrote, directed and starred in the now classic movies "Modern Romance", "Lost in America", "Defending Your Life", "Mother",  "The Muse", and "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World".

As an actor, Brooks has appeared in over thirty films beginning with Martin Scorsese’s legendary "Taxi Driver". Some of the other co-starring roles include "Private Benjamin", "Unfaithfully Yours", "Out of Sight", "Concussion", and "This is 40". He was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in the 1987 film "Broadcast News". He also received multiple major acting awards for his performance as the villain in the movie "Drive".

In animation, Brooks voiced many legendary characters for "The Simpsons" and starred in animated films including "Dr. Doolittle", "The Secret Life of Pets", "The Little Prince" and "Finding Nemo", which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film. 

Most recently, Brooks’ life and career was featured in the HBO documentary "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life" directed by Rob Reiner. The documentary received four Emmy nominations, including Best Documentary of the Year.

He is currently working on an adaptation for television of his New York Times best-selling novel "2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America". His latest role will be in James L. Brooks’ film, "Ella McKay", which will be released in 2025.

This show is sold out. A limited number of tickets may be available at the door.

Five Magicians battle to the (magical) death in this no holds-barred showdown. Produced by SF Sketchfest's Resident Magician, Robert Strong. With Kent Axell, Bob Baker, David Gerard, Tori Noquez and guest judges Carlos Aguirre and Vivek Venugopal.