The Other Cafe's 30th Reunion Comedy Concert

Description

What: Legendary Haight-Ashbury Comedy Club, The Other Café’s 30th Reunion Comedy Concert

When: The Reunion takes place September 25, 2010 7:30pm

Where: Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon St in San Francisco

Ticket Information: http://www.TheOtherCafe.com

The show’s proceeds will benefit KQED Public Media.

* Scheduled to perform include: * Line up subject to change

GEOFF BOLT, A WHITNEY BROWN, DANA CARVEY, MICHAEL DAVIS, WILL DURST, JEREMY KRAMER, MARK MCCOLLUM, KEVIN MEANEY, SUE MURPHY, MARK PITTA, KEVIN POLLAK, BOB SARLATTE, BOBBY SLAYTON, JOHNNY STEELE

MORE NAMES TO BE ANNOUNCED soon - PLUS drop-in special guests

Many of the famed Haight-Ashbury club’s former stars, staff and partners will gather for a reunion and comedy concert in San Francisco on September 25, 2010.

The Other Café, which closed in 1993, helped launch the careers of many national talents, including Dana Carvey, Paula Poundstone, Ellen Degeneres, Bob Goldthwait, Kevin Meaney, Rob Schneider, Duck’s Breath Mystery Theater and Bobby Slayton, and was frequent host to Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Richard Lewis, Dennis Miller, Rita Rudner and many others. “Twenty of our favorite comics are holding the September 25 date, including some very special guests,” Ayres stated. “It will be a night of SF comedy to remember.”

Thirty years ago, the seminal club changed its eclectic folk/rock/comedy format to a focus of comedy seven nights a week—establishing The Other as a west coast hub for thinking person’s comedy and launching the national 1980’s comedy scene into overdrive. “It was also 30 years ago that we created (or attempted might be more apt) a big media stir by adding a second bathroom,” Ayres remembered affectionately, “I’m still proud of that 2nd bathroom.”

The physical space and location of the club informed the stage performances. In the politically-correct Haight Ashbury, divisive and mean-spirited jokes fell on deaf ears; The Other quickly earned a reputation among comics and LA and NY talent agents for smart, aware audiences who booed blue humor, connected with political references and who could ably follow character-based conceptual comics like Dana Carvey far out onto any limb. The progressive audiences also readily supported The Other’s choice to become California’s first non-smoking nightclub. The club’s expansive plate-glass windows, uncurtained during shows, revealed a parade of Haight-Ashbury eccentrics who inspired comic improvisation. The effect was edgy and electric and heightened by natural improvisers such as Robin Williams, Jay Leno, or Kevin Meaney, who, armed with an extra-long microphone cord, chased passersbys down the sidewalk trying to interview them. Other Café partners Richard Snow and Chip Romer reminisced, “Paula Poundstone once goaded a motorcyclist to drive his bike right into the crowded club…and Jane Dornacker commonly stepped off the stage and ran out to hop on a city bus, leaving us a little anxious about what to do next.”

The Other was beloved not just for its stellar performers, but also for its out-of-the-box programming like the Miss Haight Ashbury Beauty Pageant, The Other Café Dating Game, New Material Night, Cooking with Kevin (Meaney); and for luring off-beat performers like Timothy Leary, Abbie Hoffman, Larry King, Henny Youngman, David Letterman’s Larry “Bud” Melman, and “Harold and Maude” star Bud Cort.

“The September 25th show will be true to our off-beat tradition,” Ayres promised. “We’ll have plenty of classic stand-up, but also improvisation, sketch and other surprises. We hope the show will reunite faithful Other Café audiences with their favorite performers. It will be just like the old days—when laughter reigned.”

Fans are encouraged to visit http://www.TheOtherCafe.com to sign up for advance access and discounted ticket sales for the 30th reunion show and to read and share blogged memories about the club’s former days.

For more info, please visit the web site

More Info

Link

http://www.TheOtherCafe.com

Call

(415) 563-6504

Call

(415) 392-4400 (Box Office)