SF Sketchfest Opening Night Variety Show featuring Aimee Mann, Todd Barry, Paul F. Tompkins and more! January 10, 2008

The 2008 SF Sketchfest, which runs January 10 - 27, kicks off with an eclectic mix of stand-up comedy, sketches and music featuring:

Aimee Mann
Paul F. Tompkins
Todd Barry
Rhys Darby ("Murray" from Flight of the Conchords)

Hosted by Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal ("Mel" from Flight of the Conchords)

Cost: $30 - $50
21+

About the Performers:

An incredibly strong songwriter, Aimee Mann is one of the most intriguing and enchanting musicians working today. After her departure from the band ‘Til Tuesday (who had a world-wide hit with “Voices Carry”), she began an successful solo career, starting with 1993’s Whatever, with notable releases Bachelor No. 2 (2000), Lost in Space (2002), and the soundtrack album to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, which featured the Oscar-nominated song “Save Me.” She started her own label SuperEgo Records in 1999, and released her first concept record The Forgotten Arm (2005), twelve songs chronicling the story of John and Caroline, who meet, fall in love, and road trip across America. She performs regularly at Largo in Los Angeles, as well as extensively touring.

Paul F. Tompkins is from Philadelphia, PA where he started performing stand-up comedy in 1986. In 1994 he moved to Hollywood, CA, where he met comic actor Jay Johnston, with whom he crafted the live sketch show "The Skates". This led Paul to a stint as a writer and performer on HBO's Mr. Show with Bob and David - where he was nominated for an Emmy award for writing. Paul has appeared on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, and can be seen regularly on VH1’s Best Week Ever as he quips on the latest in pop culture. He performs regularly at Largo in Los Angeles and comedy clubs all over the U.S. This marks Paul’s third consecutive appearance at SF Sketchfest.

Todd Barry was born in New York City. He moved to South Florida as a cute little boy, then moved to Manhattan as a macho little man. TV stand-up appearances include Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Late Show With David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Last Call With Carson Daly. He recently appeared as a bongo-playing new bandmate on HBO’s Flight of the Conchords, and was also on Sex and the City, Chappelle’s Show, and Wonder Showzen. This is his third appearance at SF Sketchfest.

Rhys Darby is the genre-breaking, boundary leaping comic genius from New Zealand. His sensational blend of sound effects, characterizations and askew observations has been reducing international audiences to a state of bewildered hysteria since he launched himself onto the world circuit in 2002. By combining stand-up story telling with physical theatre Rhys has developed a truly unique style of comedy performance. In 2002 he performed his first solo show in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the following year he moved to London to set himself up on the British comedy scene. He has since moved to New York, where he stars in HBO’s Flight of the Conchords as Murray Hewitt, the Conchords manager.

Kristen Schaal is one of the rising stars of the alternative comedy scene, with glowing reviews and multiple awards marking her ascent. She just completed the run of her one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where the London Times named her one of 20 Must-See Acts at the festival. She won the award for Best Alternative Comic at HBO’s 2006 United States Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. Kristen is the recipient of the second annual Andy Kaufman Award hosted by the New York Comedy Festival, as well as the winner of the 2006 Nightlife Award in New York for best female stand-up. In October she was included in New York Magazine’s “Ten Funniest New Yorkers You’ve Never Heard Of.”
Currently, Kristen co-hosts a bi-monthly variety show called Hot Tub at Piano’s, which was voted “Best Variety Show of 2005” by Time Out New York’s readers poll. She also performs on the P.I.T.’s house team Big Black Car, which was awarded Best Improv Troupe of 2005 at the Emerging Comics of New York Awards. In addition to her improv and comedy shows she’s also a founding member of the theatre company Striking Viking Story Pirates, which adapts stories kids write into sketches and songs.
Most recently, Kristen has been hired as a writer on Comedy Central’s South Park. Her other television and film credits include appearances on Ugly Betty, Six Degrees, Kate and Leopold, Adam and Steve, Delirious, Norbit, Law and Order: SVU, The Education of Max Bickford, Mad Men, and Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham. She is a series regular on HBO’s Flight of the Conchords and can also be seen in “Penelope Princess of Pets,” which she co-created, on superdeluxe.com.

Kurt Braunohler has been performing improv, sketch comedy, and stand-up in New York for the past 9 years. He traveled to the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen with the Neutrino Video Projects, which he helped create, as well as to the Edinburgh Theater Festival in Scotland, and was awarded "Improv Ensemble of the Year" by the Chicago Improv Festival. He co-hosts the variety show, Hot Tub, which was voted "Best New Variety Show" by Time-Out New York's readers poll. He performs with Kristen Schaal as "Kurt and Kristen" which was invited to the Montreal "Just for Laughs" festival this summer. His creations include: www.chengwin.com, which was voted by the Village Voice as "Best Hilarious Insane Guerilla Theatre," and the internet-tv show "Penelope: Princess of Pets" (with Kristen Schaal) for www.superdeluxe.com, as well as a sketch comedy show for kids on the Noggin network. You can see him on various commercials and TV shows, especially on VH1, where talks about celebrities.

Official Website: http://sfsketchfest.com