IT DON’T COME EASY, BABY!

IT’s incongruous, but a story about a wonderful happening must begin with a regrettable phrase: bad things come in threes.

That’s because Frankie Marcos, the 2024 San Francisco Comedy Competition champ from San Jose, suffered a few serious mishaps on his way to winning.

First, his car broke down. It sat in the shop during the entire event, its mechanical fate hanging on how much prize money Frankie could garner.

Then the day after he set the pace in round one, Frankie learned his mom’s home had caught fire. The Comedy Competition website did its best to direct visitors to a hastily arranged GoFundMe but things offstage for Frankie were turning bleak.

Lastly, on the morning of the penultimate show, while doing his daily gym workout, Frankie felt a chest muscle rip as he was bench pressing 250 pounds.

The bar fell on him and it was all he could do to squirm out from under. An ambulance was called. Frankie was urged to go to the hospital. Sorry, doc, the show must go on.

That night at the Clark Center in Arroyo Grande, his right arm dangling at his side, unable to do the physical “act outs” that serve him so well, Frankie delivered his normally highly visible performance as a simple monologue. The judges were none the wiser. His material about Australian jargon, his short girlfriend (“for the purposes of this joke”) and the San Jose Experience still rang true.

He took first for the night, making it three out of four wins in the finals round and securing the championship even before the last show at the Marin Event Center in San Rafael.

LOCALS HELD THEIR GROUND

The Comedy Competition’s reputation is truly international. Whether foreign acts are drawn by the chance to meet American contemporaries, gain a useful credit, enjoy a panoramic vacation or a combination thereof, they come from far and wide. Last year, Italian Luca Cupani journeyed from his home in London to place second. This year saw Irene Sango from Barcelona just miss making the finals. There were also hilarious challenges from top acts who came from Berlin and Toronto, not to mention visiting American contestants from Dallas, Denver, New York and Seattle.

In the end though, it came down to five NorCal up-and-comers: Frankie plus Dan Aguinaga, Dvontre Coleman and Marcus Howard from San Francisco and Shaheen Khal of Sacramento.

They provided a variety of styles and material. Howard brings high energy insight into interacting with rich school children while Coleman is the opposite, playing it super cool as he recalls dangerous bedroom escapades. Aguinaga puts on an entitled inheritor-in-waiting facade as he explores topics like Republican dirty talk and the consequences of a vasectomy. Khal unveils his mixed Canadian-Palestinian heritage as an overview to the pros and cons of being perceived as from the Middle East..

All and all, it made for an amazing four weeks of touring comedy. The event went as far east as Grass Valley, as far south as Arroyo Grande, and, of course, packed the house once again at its most northerly spot: the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa.

Past winners Jackie Flynn (see him in “Loudermilk” on Netflix), Ryan Goodcase, Ellis Rodriguez, Kabir Singh and Johnny Steele helped host. There was a significant uptick in both women contestants and women judges.

Speaking of judges, NBC reporter Bob Redell has been a long serving one. He declared this year’s five finalists “The best group I’ve ever seen.”