Clusterfest comedy bash goes charmingly off the rails.
Crowd laughs off scheduling glitches as 3 days of comedy explore the limits
With five minutes left into his 30-minute set, comedian Michael Che realized that he had barely started his prepared material — instead spending the time riffing with some 16-year-olds in the front row.
“Well, this went way off the rails,” said the “Saturday Night Live” cast member, laughing, before joking with the crowd some more.
Mostly for better and occasionally for worse, “off the rails” was the vibe at the second annual Comedy Central Presents Clusterfest, the threeday comedy and music festival in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza that wrapped up on Sunday, June 3.
The throw-it-at-the-wall-and-seewhat-sticks attitude lent itself to some letdowns and minor disasters. (The musical acts seemed particularly cursed over the first two days, with sets that were delayed or altogether rescheduled.) But a sense of discovery pervaded the festival, whether it was a couple of mostly unknown comics killing it in front of 6,000 fans in the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, or a huge act using the festival to try something new.
The latter element was arguably the biggest reason to pay $200 or more for a three-day pass. Clusterfest scheduled Jon Stewart’s highprofile return to stand-up comedy, and featured the Lonely Island performing their first live concert — outdoors and facing San Francisco City Hall.
Stewart, who sat down with The Chronicle for an hour-long onstage conversation about his comeback and the state of the nation earlier Sunday, spent much of the first half of his set taking on President Trump — the butt of many of jokes during the three-day event.
He reached as far back as his Twitter war with the then-“Apprentice” host, who called Stewart a “pussy,” and brought it full circle to defend his friend and former “Daily Show” colleague Samantha Bee, who recently came under fire for
calling the president’s daughter Ivanka a “feckless c—.”
“I expect my apology in the morning, Donald Trump,” he said. “You can deliver it via the Twitter machine.”
Earlier in the weekend, the Lonely Island made an electric debut, a sort of “Weird Al” Yankovicmeets-Beastie Boys effort that included surprise guest appearances Friday from Chris Parnell, Michael Bolton and T-Pain. The raised-in-Berkeley trio consists of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone.
Their quirky and unpredictable approach took on legendary status when the group advertised a sex party in the room of an Emeryville budget hotel and then produced T-shirts for fans who actually showed up in the parking lot.
Another great Clusterfest moment came out of a disaster. T-Pain said he wouldn’t perform Friday afternoon when he showed up to empty seats in front of the main stage as many festivalgoers were backed up in slow security lines.
After some tense words by the rapper on social media (“obviously, don’t put T-Pain in front of seven people”), the apparent stalemate ended with Clusterfest extending the festival by an hour in the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, with T-Pain performing until midnight for ecstatic fans.
There were more logistical complaints, if you went looking for them. A new clear-bag policy added initial confusion, and there were long security lines on the first day. By day two, some fans complained about the reservation-only comedy clubs, especially fans who were shut out of the popular Thomas Middleditch and Ben Schwartz set.
And the schedule at times seemed more like a recommendation. Saturday headliner Amy Schumer and friends’ set ended about a half hour before the listed 11 p.m. end time, on a night when sex workers protested the comedian outside the festival over previous material by Schumer about strippers and prostitutes.
Rapper/comedian Awkwafina was advertised on the main stage for Saturday afternoon, but didn’t perform. Sunday’s schedule was particularly out of sorts as certain events were moved or completely canceled to make room for two Warriors vs. Cavaliers watch parties.
Other issues were out of anyone’s hands. Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins acknowledged that his voice was giving out, asking a crowd to sing along.
“To be honest, I have kind of a head cold,” Jenkins said. “If this was anywhere other than San Francisco, we would have canceled.”
There was a lot more San Francisco love throughout the weekend.
Mike Lawrence, who performed one of the more memorable sets before Maria Bamford’s headlining show, talked about his dad’s deep regret that he moved from the Bay Area to Florida years ago.
“My dad would miss San Francisco so much he would get weepy during the ‘Full House’ intro,” Lawrence said.
John Mulaney, who along with Nick Kroll thrilled a packed Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Friday, may have had the line of the weekend.
“The seal of San Francisco should be a guy going back to get his jacket,” he said.
Back on the grounds, fans seemed to be enjoying the photo opportunities and various theme park distractions as much as the comedy. Last year, a “Seinfeld” living room was created, and the Soup Nazi served guests. This year, the “Arrested Development” banana stand and stair car were hits.
Paddy’s Pub from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” popular in 2017, was moved to a bigger tent outside to make way for the Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library. The pop-up comedy museum drew crowds all weekend.
But it wasn’t hard to find a dissenting opinion. Zorba Hughes, a San Francisco comedian, walked through the festival Saturday with a goldtipped cane and a Chihuahua named Rumi on his shoulder.
“I’m liking it, it’s my first time here. It was a little crazy getting in, but I was with my friends, so it was cool,” he said, after enjoying Salt-N-Pepa and Tiffany Haddish on the main stage. “I think it’s a great location and a great festival. I’d love to be in it next year.”
Chronicle Arts Content Editor Mariecar Mendoza contributed to this report.