San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Mulaney, Hart and Glaser making stops
All the leaves may turn brown, but for Bay Area comedy fans, the outlook this fall is quite bright.
Building on a year that’s already seen the robust return of local landmark venues like the Punch Line and Cobb’s, this autumn brings with it a bountiful harvest of top-notch talent to tickle your funny bone. From Santa Rosa to San Jose, the Bay Area is booming with big names and beloved traditions all focused on making you (safely) bust a gut.
In the case of former “SNL” star John Mulaney, local fans are getting a mulligan. If you missed his shows in April at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre, it’s worth the mileage to catch Mulaney on his “From Scratch” tour when it stops by Concord’s Concord Pavilion on Sept. 17.
Beyond a night with the smart-suited Mulaney, here are a gaggle of other great comedy acts you can catch this fall.
San Francisco Comedy Day 2022:
If
seeing live comedians in Robin Williams Meadow at Golden Gate Park isn’t your definition of San Francisco comedy, you’re using a faulty dictionary. Returning for its 41st installment, San Francisco’s annual Comedy Day features five free hours of entertainment on one stage. Consider it like a one-day version of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, but with fewer cowboy boots and more one-liners. Promoters for the 2022 installment, set for Sept. 18, promise 40 comedians.
Kevin Hart: ‘Reality Check Tour’
Kevin Hart continues to be one of the busiest comics in the world. Though his interest in hosting the Academy Awards ended in infamy, his reputation as a Hollywood box office draw cemented the success of numerous films and franchises. Be it child-friendly fare like the new “Jumanji” movies or his adult-oriented stand-up specials, Hart has something of a Midas touch when it comes to making people laugh.
To experience it, catch the stand-up comedian when he headlines San Jose’s SAP Center on Sept. 30, followed by a show at Chase Center in San Francisco on Oct. 1.
7 p.m. Sept. 30. $45-$150. SAP Center, 525 W. Santa Clara St., San Jose. sapcenter.com; 7 p.m. Oct. 1. $59.50$119.50. Chase Center, 1 Warriors Way, S.F. chasecenter.com
Anthony Jeselnik:
Want to feel better about the world we live in? Don’t see Anthony Jeselnik at the San Jose Improv
from Oct. 6-9. Famed for being among the cruelest (and cleverest) to take the dais during Comedy Central’s heyday of celebrity roasts, Jeselnik doesn’t pull his punches so much as deliver them with the haymaker force of a Mike Tyson left hook. Considering the darkly acerbic and consistently astute observations in specials like 2019’s “Fire in a Maternity Ward” (Netflix), Jeselnik’s upcoming five-show run in San Jose is sure to feature plenty of fresh, fiery barbs. Buckle up.
8 p.m. Oct. 6., 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Oct. 7, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Oct. 8. $35-$85. San Jose Improv, 62 S. Second St., San Jose. improv.com/sanjose
Nick Swardson: ‘Make Joke From Face Tour’
When the public associates you with a roller-skating petty criminal, it’s probably best not to take yourself too seriously. That’s the approach of comedian Nick Swardson, who played such a character (Terry Bernadino) on Comedy Central’s “Reno 911!”
Beyond his role in the Emmy-nominated sheriff satire series, Swardson also starred in the 2006 cult classic comedy “Grandma’s Boy” and remains a frequent presence in the films of Adam Sandler. Whatever the medium, Swardson’s signature brand of self-deprecating stories — often revolving around his own poor choices — always manage to shine through and hit home.
As the proud star of a 2009 special titled “Seriously, Who Farted?,” it feels safe to say that Swardson’s five shows at Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco will be a safe space to get very silly.
James Acaster: ‘Hecklers Welcome’
San Francisco produces more than its fair share of world-class comedians, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love a good import from across the Atlantic, too. In this case, the chap in question is
English stand-up James Acaster. He has repeatedly drawn ravenous acclaim for his shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, regularly podcasts and has also authored three books.
Locals may recognize his name for a clip of his material that went viral (again) in May in the wake of Netflix releasing a special from Ricky Gervais (“SuperNature”), in which Gervais mocked transgender people. The clip, from Acaster’s 2019 special, “Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999,” offers insight into what fans can expect when Acaster visits San Francisco’s Castro Theatre on Nov. 4.
Nikki Glaser:
Tinder swipers beware! Fresh from hosting the second season of the HBO Max breakout reality hit “F-Boy Island,” Nikki Glaser is leaving the tropics and hitting the Bay Area. For those who have yet to witness this
truly incomparable series, it finds Glaser overseeing a competition in which three women seek love from a pool of male contestants, who may be after their heart — or just after the $100,000 prize money.
Beyond putting players in their place, Glaser also released a new standup special, “Good, Clean Fun,” on HBO in July, though don’t take that title at its word.
For some raunchy laughs in real life, catch Glaser when she plays Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center for the Arts on Nov. 5, or at San Jose Center for the Performing Arts in San Jose on Nov. 6.
7 p.m. Nov. 5. $37.50-$192. Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. lutherburbankcenter.org; 6 p.m. Nov. 6. $49.50. San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 S Almaden Blvd., San Jose. sanjose theaters.org
Zack Ruskin is a Bay Area freelance writer.