i left my heart in SF sketchfest
- abegreenwald
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
My friend Janet co-founded SF sketchfest in 2002, long before devices would try to autocorrect the word "sketchfest" into "sketchiest" no matter how many times you try to text it to someone. I've known Janet since we worked together at HuffPost Live in the mid 2010's and been wanting to come up to San Francicso for the comedy festival since then, but it never worked out for me calendar-wise until this year. And I'm so glad I finally got to attend a couple shows there and see the festival in person. I'm honestly in awe of what she and her co-founders built. They produce over 200 shows each year and it all takes place within 3 weeks over January and February. This year they put together a standup comedy show that took place on a BART train! You literally cannot get more San Francisco than that. Also, in the age of the fun but corporate Netflix Is A Joke festival, it's even more impressive to see this institution started by just three people and still thriving decades later. Also, since people love pitting SF and LA against each other, I'll just say that the comedy audiences in SF are more enthusiastic. Maybe because we're spoiled for live comedy throughout the year here in LA.
Part of what brought me to the festival this year was a tribute to my friend Randall. I've known Randall since 2012 when he was in an indie film with Lynn called The People I've Slept With and it's been exciting to see his career take off since then. As often happens if you're fortunate enough to work in the entertainment business long enough, we even got to work together on a project a few years ago called Human Resources, a spinoff of Big Mouth in which he played a logic rock named Pete.
It was a joy getting to hear Janet and Randall in conversation covering many of the highlights of his career along with clips, my only note being the lack of Human Resources inclusion, but that's what happens when you've been in too many projects to count! One of my other favorite Randall projects was given its due, Baby Mentalist , perhaps the greatest procedural not on television.
My personal theme for the weekend was old friends, and I got to spend the day with one of my oldest friends (in terms of length of friendship, not age) Anthony Veneziale. As a long time San Franciscan, and comedy heavyweight in his own right, Anthony has also performed at Sketchfest several times over the years. We got our start performing together in school musicals and it's also been a pleasure watching Anthony's career ascend over the years. Here's a photo of us in the elementary school Halloween parade in 1985, I'm not sure why I was dressed as Mr. T since my family didn't even have a television at the time, I guess A-Team was that popular:
And here we are 40 years later at a tea shop in Chinatown, after being educated on various tea varietals by a white man with a goatee wearing a mandarin-collared shirt. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who wore a Mr. T mask for Halloween in the 80's, but hoping there's a statute of limitations on crimes of cultural appropriation.
Is there a German word for the unique, soul-nourishing feeling of spending time with someone as an adult who you've known throughout your life? Whatever that word is, I really felt that last weekend and am grateful for it.
The other highlight for me was just getting to be a tourist in one of my favorite walking cities in the world. I started the day off with a walk to Coit Tower, which I've seen from afar but had never been to, and ended up with over 20,000 steps that day. I also ended up having two dinners (!), and I rarely go out for even one dinner! The first was with Anthony at House of Nanking where of course he was on a first name basis with the owners, that's very much the Anthony I know. And the second was at House of Prime Rib (so many houses!) with Randall, and a music idol of mine, Dan the Automator. I couldn't have engineered a more ideal day in San Francisco if I tried, although I was sorry to miss my Aunt Jo who was busy on Saturday but to me is the human embodiment of everything I love about that city. No hyperlinks for Aunt Jo, she's off the grid and proud of it!
Here are some photo highlights from my day of wandering:
As I eluded to earlier, there's a long tradition of a (mostly one sided) San Francisco / Los Angeles rivalry in that Angelenos don't seem to really care much about it. I've learned to love LA over the years I've lived here, but for me it takes no effort at all to love San Francisco. So in my heart the Bay Area wins that battle handily. And a weekend spent there exploring solo, then with close friends from different eras of my life is hard to beat. Thanks for the Lebenswegbegleitergeborgenheit, SF and I'll see you next year at Sketchfest!
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