The Semi-Finals kicked off at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco and it was a great show.
Sal Calanni “intimidates” Kevin Shea (see the video). Apparently it worked as Sal came in third and Kevin was not in the top five.
Otherwise, the top 5 for the night are:
Sean Felipe managed fifth place even with a half-point time violation.
Next up: We’re headed to Redwood City to Angelica’s Bell Theatre.
The Semi-Final Round of the 36th Annual San Francisco Comedy Competition kicks off Tuesday, September 27 at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco.
The Top five from each week of the Preliminary Rounds are coming together to compete against each other for the first time. Only five of them will advance to the Finals.
The Semi-Final Round comics are:
Shanti Charan, Union City
Sal Calanni, San Francisco
Shawn Felipe, Honolulu
AJ Finney, Kansas City
John Hastings, Toronto
Sean Kent, Los Angeles
Alex Koll, San Francisco
Jimmy Ouyang, San Diego
Kevin Shea, San Francisco
Derek Sheen, Seattle
Update: Earlier we listed Nathan Brannon and omitted John Hastings as moving on to the Semi-Finals. Although we love Nathan and would love to spend another week with him, John Hastings was number two for the week and really funny. We apologize about the confusion.
This is still going to be a really great show. Don’t miss it!
No comedy competition should be without a room like the Crows Nest. Theater shows are usually amazing. Casino shows are almost always fun and urban shows in a place that draws an intelligent audience are hard to beat. Without a show like the Crows Nest, you don’t have something that can work like a monkey wrench in a fine geared clock.
It’s also final show for the preliminary rounds of the San Francisco Comedy Competition. With the addition of Sal Calanni, we had 11 of the 16 comics make it into the top 5. That tends to make the scores even closer overall and puts even more comics into contention for moving on to the semi-finals.
The top 5 for the night are:
And now, the week results.
Moving on to the Semi-Finals are:
As of tonight, ten out of 16 comics have made the Top 5. That’s pretty amazing, but it speaks to the caliber of comics in the San Francisco Comedy Competition.
The Top 5 the Marsh are:
Next up, it’s back down to Santa Cruz for comedy at the notorious Crows Nest. Best of luck everyone!
It’s a beautiful room, a great city, we just need to work on the crowd.
The top 5 for Lodi:
Tonight we return to San Francisco to the Marsh Theater. We know it will be a great show and there’s a few tickets left.
Comedians love casino gigs, what with their free food vouchers and overnight accommodations, what’s not to like?
When the audience gets in for free, though, they can be, well, a bit laid back.
The top 5 from Black Oak Casino are:
Next up, were off to Hutchins Square in Lodi.
It’s always nice to start off the week on a very high note. Last week, we started at the Purple Onion. This week, it’s Sonoma State University in front of 600 very enthusiastic students. The show was very well received.
The top 5 for the night are:
The next show is the Black Oak Casino in Tolumne. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this will be the best comedy show you will see tonight in all of Tolumne County.
Performing before 600 very enthusiastic students, the show was very well received. 1. Stroy Moyd, Oakland 2. John Hastings, Edmonton 3. Mike Stanley, Chicago 4. AJ Finney, Kansas City 5. Don Frost, Portland
The 2011 San Francisco Comedy Competition kicks off Wednesday, September 14 at the Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park.
The second round begins with 15 new comics battling it out for just five slots to advance to the semi-finals.
Comics competing in Week 2 include:
Keith Michael Ashton, Los Angeles
Nathan Brannon, Portland
Nat Baimel, Los Angeles
Claire Brosseau, Toronto
Sal Calanni, San Francisco
Jesse Fernandez, San Francisco
AJ Finney, Kansas City
John Hastings, Toronto
John McNeish, Hastings
Stroy Moyd, San Francisco
Matt O’Brien, Vancouver
Jimmy Ouyang, San Diego
Christian Reyes, San Francisco
Kevin Shea, San Francisco
Mike Stanley, Chicago
Owen Straw, Seattle
Christina Walkinshaw, Toronto
Check back for nightly updates.
A strong performance at a legendary “one-nighter” enabled Honolulu’s Shawn Felipe to move pass Edmonton’s Lars Callieou and capture a spot in the semi-finals, along with Sean Kent from Austin, Alex Koll from San Francisco, Derek Sheen from Seattle and Shanti Charan from, wait for it, Union City, CA.
Kent, apparently inspired by Joe Namath, has “guaranteed” he will take home the $5,000 first prize. He finished first again here, making it three out of five wins in his preliminary week. Charan and Sheen each placed first once.
Alex Koll accomplished something that hasn’t been done since Sinbad took the crown in 1985. He advanced despite only performing in four of the five shows that comprised preliminary round one.
Next up: Join us September 21 at Sonoma State University.
The stories you hear from comics about the Crows Nest in Santa Cruz are probably all true. It’s a great room and it’s been a comedy one-nighter for decades, so the crowd has been trained for comedy. They’ve also been trained for what goes on there the rest of the week, so it’s definitely a wild-over-the-top kind of place.
It’s also where the preliminary rounds of the San Francisco Comedy Competition end. It’s a place for snap sets and comedy break-throughs and the final chance for only five comics to advance to the Semi-Finals.
The top 5 for the night are:
And now, the results for the week.
Today is September 19 for a very short time, the entire Web site reverts to pirate talk to celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate day.
At least until we’re ready to publish the scores for Santa Cruz and who is advancing to the semi-finals.
Update: Even though I warned the staff about this pirate skullduggery, people thought the site was hacked. Perhaps they think the pirates have on their mind looting the treasure chest of Spanish Doubloons waiting at the end of this sea voyage. Arrrr.
DEREK SHEEN! #1?!? Is that possible?
Well we know it’s possible because Derek Sheen is really funny and the crowd of 1500 would tend to agree. They also liked Grant Cotter who went up first and managed to take place! At this point 11 of the 16 contestants have now placed in the Top 5, so as you can imagine it will to be a dogfight heading into the final night.
The top five for the night are:
It was a thrill for most of the acts to be performing for the first time in a major casino showroom!
Up next: Snap sets and Hail Marys at the Crows Nest in Santa Cruz. Do not miss it, this could be the best show of the week.
Sean Kent came roaring back with another first place finish in a night that saw seven contestants make the top five due to tie scores. Missing though was Shanti Charan who placed second opening night and first in Alameda. Making his initial appearance in the top five was Jason Love. Also, Derek Sheen shot himself in the foot by going overtime. The results were:
The top five from the Marin Showcase Theatre are:
Next up: Grab your après-ski gear and join us in Tahoe at the Montbleu Casino. I bet they still have snow up there. I know they will have great comedy.
Rob Martinez, Derek Sheen, Chanti Charan, Grant Cotter andd Shawn Filipe
Tonight we went across the bay to Alameda where the streets are quiet and they really, really mean the speed limit is 25 mph.
Thankfully, there was no comedy speed limit at Rythmix Cultural Works. It was a great venue for comedy with a great audience and a a great staff.
The top five for the night are:
With four new people in the top five, everything is wide open.
Update 9/17/2011:
The official rechecking of the announced scores from Thursday showed that Alex Koll had actually finished in the top five, making him the only contestant who has placed each show.
Next up: Marin Showcase Theatre!
If you’re going to have a Comedy Competition in San Francisco, you might as well kick it off at a great venue like the historic Purple Onion.
Sean Kent, Lars Callieou, Shanti Charan, Jules Posner, Alex Koll
Will Franken was our emcee for the night and did a great job. But he’s not in the contest, so lets get to the top five comics for the night!
Next up, Alameda!
