The fantastically awesome San Francisco Mime Troupe will have their annual free Sacramento area performances this weekend. For those who are unfamiliar, these are not the creepy non-speaking Marcel Marceau-type mimes with the white painted faces, trapped in a box, walking against the wind, pulling the invisible rope… you know, the ones you want to whack with an olive loaf. No, these are revolutionary mimes that perform physical comedy and feats of agility, talk and sing, and educate their audiences about complicated political realities that affect us all.

This year, which is the 50th anniversary of the SFMT, they have written a wacky comedy about the economic crisis. Titled Too Big To Fail, the show concerns a goat herder and his struggles to build his small business enough to support his family, make his village proud and keep a home for his favorite goat named Bamusa. As he becomes a goat kingpin, he encounters bankers, lenders, mortgage brokers, Wall Street tycoons and ponzi-scheming scalawags. The story is presented in the style of the West African Griots, who have an famed oral storytelling tradition and are known for their talented traveling bards.
Continue reading “SF Mime Troupe in town this weekend” »

I know, I know, you’ve all got 153 Christmas parties to attend this weekend, but really, it’s the same old party every year. Get out and see some comedy instead of discussing your crappy 401k returns with your neighbor. There are several awesome shows this weekend featuing local talent and special guests from as far away as Daly City. Ooooo, Daly City. I know, it’s totally exotic.

Comedysportz Sacramento- with special guests Oui be Negroes. Friday and Saturday at 8pm.
Comedysportz plays fast paced improv appropriate for all ages. Special guests, San Francisco improv troupe Oui be Negroes will be on hand to take it to the local team. Come see a balzing fast ComedySportz match at 8pm, then stay for the midnight show at 10pm!
Tix are $12. 2230 Arden Way-Suite A.

Sacramento Comedy Spot- Friday and Saturday at 9pm, improv at the Comedy Spot. Friday’s show presents Anti-Cooperation League, the best long-form group in Sacramento. Saturday night is an improv battle pitching last month’s winners, Dabble, against SF team, Crisis Hopkins.
Tix are $8 Friday and $5 Saturday. BYOB. 1716 Broadway.

Coexist Comedy Tour- Friday at 8pm @ the Crest Theater. Frequent commenter (although MIA for quite a while) KLJ joins forces with four other comedians, each of which has a different slant on the hereafter and the after-party.
Tix are $25

No, Corey and the boys are not getting back together (I wish)… Last year My58 CW31 brought us Reno 911! on late night, and this year they’re My58 is bringing back Keenan, Jamie, DAG, Tommy, Carrey, and of course J Lo. That’s right, “In Living Color,” the troupe that rocked your world back in the ’90s, is coming back to My58 starting at 7:30 p.m. on April 16. Will it stand the test of time?

Thursday night brought long time comic Will Durst to Sacramento.  Now I’m not as up on stand-up comedy as I used to be (anyone else remember Stand-Up Stand-Up on Comedy Central in the early 90’s), so I wasn’t too sure if Mr. Durst, a purely political comedian who was still telling Reagan jokes the last time I saw him, was still funny.  Turns out he is.

Thursday night’s event at Marilyn’s was a celebration for the “Comic Press News,” a local rag that focuses on nationall political cartoonage (DMZ, remember having to read those things for Carmazzi’s civics class?) which has now changed its name to “The Humor Times.”  The evening was opened up by the local Free Hooch Comedy Troupe, who did some edgy and very salient sketch comedy for the sparse crowd.   Then Mr. Durst came on the stage and did a good hour of solid, current political humor that really killed.  (My favorite local joke of the evening was, “I love Sacramento, I really do.  And I would live here in a second except for one small thing-August…which here happens to last from April to September.”)

Continue reading “Some 80’s Comedians Are Still Funny” »

While federal, state, and local government employees celebrate Columbus’ arrival in the “new world” by doing laundry or weather-proofing the back deck, I would like to take a moment to share some of my experience as a representative of the Native American population.   

Continue reading “Happy Indigenous People’s Day!” »

According to a friend of the Rag who is involved in Runaway Stage’s fall production of the musical version of “The Full Monty” the theater troupe is still looking to fill 5 roles: two guys (one must be a black guy), a female, and a 10-12 year old boy.

My source is pretty sure that the male character is a semi-lead and at some point would need to be willing to bare it all (or, due to the use of trick costumes) bare it “most.” Runaway Stage is also looking for tech folks, so if you look good in black sweats and are free September 1-24 this is a great opportunity to get involved in community theater. The production will be located at the 24th Street Theater at the Sierra 2 (a nostalgic spot for the Rag).

Interested parties should contact Bob Baxter, director/producer at 206-2466 or Anne-Marie Trout, Asistant Dir. at 202-4788.

Just a plug here, but it’s for a good cause:

-Saturday, July 8- Red Ribbon Comedy Event-The Sacramento Comedy Spot presents an evening of sketch & improv comedy to benefit the AIDS Walk-SF
-All proceeds go towards AIDS Walk
-Featuring the Free Hooch Comedy Troupe
-8PM @ the Clarion Hotel- 2600 Auburn Blvd
Tix are $10 @ the door or presale at www.saccomedyspot.com
*there will be no fish fry.

While you may not normally think of a pseudo-seedy chain hotel as a hot spot for cutting edge entertainment, the Clarion on Auburn and Fulton offers some fairly interesting shows every now and then. Saturday night I’m going to be checking out the Free Hooch Comedy Troupe there. They’re promising a whole new show with totally new material, and have even released excerpts from one of their upcoming sketches called Bush vs. Nature:

BUSH: So, in response to this horrible catastrophe, we will be officially declaring war on the terrorist “Mother Nature” and all choose to support her.
REPORTER: Excuse me Mr. Bush, but do we know who is in league with Mother Nature?
BUSH: Yes we do, and to aide our agents in the field, we have created a novelty deck of playing cards listing the names and faces of our gravest enemies. Besides our Ace of Hearts, Mother Nature, we have the Ace of Clubs, Jack Hannah, Ace of Spades, Swamp Thing and the Ace of Diamonds, Captain Planet.

Anyway, check out their website for more info, show starts at 8PM. You’ll definitely see me there.