The Comedy Bureau Field Report Ep. 44: Cole Stratton & Keeping a Major Comedy Festival Alive
The beginning of every year, as far as comedy is concerned, can be celebrated with the venerable SF Sketchfest, one of the biggest, most respected, longest running comedy festivals in the world. It’s three weeks of hundreds of shows and thousands of the best performers in comedy all over San Francisco making for the first big comedy event of the calendar year.
Of course, that can’t happen this year due to COVID-19 and SF Sketchfest co-founder Cole Stratton zooms with TCB’s Jake Kroeger about what to do in place of nearly a month of live in-person shows with one big virtual comedy extravaganza (and fundraiser for SF Sketchfest itself) Festpocalypse. Cole also details how doing improv has adapted to the virtual space as well as “hot” takes on Chappelle getting COVID-19, the CA stay-at-home order being lifted, and the debacle of combining the late night and sketch variety categories with the Emmys.
Oh yeah, we’ll remind you once more: don’t gather in person to watch the Super Bowl. Watching it alone is fine.
Follow Cole @colestratton on Twitter and @strattoncole on IG. Get tickets and more info about SF Sketchfest: Festpocalypse this Sat. Jan. 30th at 5PM PT/8PM ET here.
The Comedy Bureau @thecomedybureau across platforms and please, please support TCB via GoFundMe, Patreon, or on Venmo (@jakekroeger).
Produced by Jake Kroeger
Music by Brian Granillo
Artwork by Andrew Delman and KT