About
SF Sketchfest was founded in 2001 by David Owen, Cole Stratton and Janet Varney as a way to showcase the talents of six Bay Area sketch comedy groups: The Fresh Robots, Kasper Hauser, The Meehan Brothers, Please Leave the Bronx, Totally False People and White Noise Radio Theatre. The festival debuted in January of 2002 at the Shelton Theatre in downtown San Francisco and has grown rapidly into a nationally recognized comedy festival that mixes national headliners, local favorites and the best up-and-coming groups from throughout North America for a month of sketch, improv, stand-up and alternative comedy. A favorite with audiences, critics, and performers alike, the festival has grown substantially to become a highly anticipated artistic showcase that consistently delivers top quality comedic performances, tributes and panel discussions. To learn about past participants, visit the Past Festivals page.
Audiences have overwhelmingly responded to SF Sketchfest’s diverse programming which has featured performers from every major North American television comedy smash of the last 25 years including “Saturday Night Live,” “The Kids in the Hall,” “Mr. Show,” “Arrested Development,” “VEEP,” “The Upright Citizens Brigade,” “The State,” “Mystery Science Theatre 3000,” “Strangers With Candy,” “Key & Peele,” “The Simpsons,” “The Daily Show” and more. SF Sketchfest offers its audiences the rare opportunity to see their favorite performers in intimate live performances and discussions.
Festival Directors
David Owen
David Owen co-founded SF Sketchfest in 2001 with Cole Stratton and Janet Varney. Along with Stratton, Varney and Gabriel Diani, he was a founding member of the comedy group Totally False People, which was featured at the HBO Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. Outside of SF Sketchfest he has produced dozens of other festivals and events. He has worked as a Curator for the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival and Outside Lands and as a Festival Producer for the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival and the Stanford Jazz Festival. At the famed Purple Onion he presented Zach Galifianakis and Mort Sahl, among others. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter.
Cole Stratton
Cole Stratton is co-host of the Pop My Culture podcast which was named the #2 Best Comedy Podcast of the Moment by Rolling Stone. He has appeared on TV’s “American Horror Story,” “9-1-1,” “Nash Bridges,” NBC’s “Comedy Colosseum,” and will soon be seen on the season two premiere of “Good Girls.” Film includes “Diani and Devine Meet The Apocalypse,” “Around the Fire,” “Dead Man on Campus,” and “The Selling.” He played boy bander Kip on the IFC web series “Fortune Rookie.” Along with Janet Varney, he has written and performed comedic commentary to films for RiffTrax.com, an online venture by “Mystery Science Theater 3000″‘s Michael J. Nelson.
Janet Varney
Janet is a writer, producer, improviser, and Emmy-nominated actress based in Los Angeles, which is in California, which is in the United States (see globe). She stars in the IFC horror comedy series “Stan Against Evil,” and as Becca on FXX’s “You’re the Worst” and as herself recurring on “@midnight.” She hosts the innovative podcast The JV Club (featuring guests including Sarah Silverman, Tig Notaro, Christina Hendricks, and over 200 more) and was the voice of the title character on Nickelodeon’s wildly popular animated show, “The Legend of Korra.” She spent seven years hosting TBS’ “Dinner and a Movie,” appeared as Carly on all three seasons of Emmy-Nominated series “Burning Love,” hosts and produces Geek & Sundry’s Escape! and co-created “Neil’s Puppet Dreams” with David Burtka and Neil Patrick Harris.
Advisory Board
Fred Armisen
Matt Besser
Bart Coleman
Dave Eggers
Bruce McCulloch
Eugene Mirman
Laraine Newman
Bob Odenkirk
Kevin Pollak
Tom Sawyer
Molly Schminke
Michael Showalter
David Wain
Geof Wills
Festival Staff
Founders and Directors
David Owen
Cole Stratton
Janet Varney
Festival Producer & Managing Director
Jay Wertzler
Director of Production
Heather Gallagher
Publicist
Betsy Abendroth, ELA PR
Artist Services Director
Heather Wilson
Artist Services Managers
Aaron Hansen
Tammy Hart
Box Office Consultant
Cara Tramontano
Box Office Manager
Molly Felton
Events Manager
Kirill Satanovsky
Festival Operations Manager
Karyn Barnett
Graphic Designer
John Ross
Marketing Manager
Elisia Gonzalez
Social Media & Content Coordinator
Myron Caringal
Sponsorship Manager
Jaime Galli
Theater Operations Manager
Becky Hirschfeld
Transportation Coordinator
Megan Bell
Transportation Manager
Ian Stewart
Associate Production Managers
Casey Floriani
Rhiannon Ford
Cheryle Honerlah
Taylor McQuesten
Alexia Staniotes
2026 Artwork
Paul G. Hammond
Special Thanks
Jonathan Agam, Mary Aller, Christian Amechi, Kristina Arellano, Allyson Baker, Fred Barnes, Stephenie Bayer, Tara Beppel, Allie Blackman, Jack Boulware, Kimberly Brooks, Susan Brooks, Jennifer Brooks-Stratton, Marika Brownlee, Marc Capelle, Bikram Chatterji, Kesila Childers, Brett Cline, Bart Coleman, Jim Colgan, Dori Daniels, Shana Daum, Raquelle David, Dominic Del Bene, Gabriel Diani, Aaron Dixon, Kyle Doerkson, Rick Dorfman, David Dower, Debi Durst, Will Durst, Lauren Egstad, Arnold Engelman, Danielle Esparza, Jack Fink, Michael Flynn, Arlene Forster, Angelo Fraboni, Zack Freedman, The Fresh Robots, Thea Gagliardi, Jane Ganahl, Abi Ghiridharan, Marcus Glass, Kate Goldstein-Breyer, Joshua Grannell, Anne Harris, Katie Hicks, Jeanne Hizon, Matt Holliman, Carly Hoogendyk, Jason Hoover, Biz Hurst, Marcia Hurwitz, Claire Jennings, Anya Kanevskaya, Josh Karlin-Resnick, Michele Kappel, Rishi Kapur, Kasper Hauser, Barry Katzmann, Rich Korson, Jordan Kurland, Carrie LaFerle Gergely, Jake Lankheit, Angelica Lee, Marcus Levy, Josh Lindgren, Rae Livingston, Erin Lubin, Silvio Lund, Mad-Dog Madigan, Christina Manning, TJ Markwalter, Jennifer Marmor, Bruce McCulloch, The Meehan Brothers, Diane Melanson Karla Merklein, Alex Minjares, Stacey Molski, Kaiti Moos, Jakub Mosur, Jessica Mozes, Holly Mulder-Wollan, Aigul Myekyei, Paul Nathan, The Owen Family, Harper Todd Owen, Arlen Papazian, Courtney Petrakis, Roger Pincombe, Please Leave The Bronx, Natalie Portelli, Elliot Randall, Dave Rath, Brandon Reynolds, Christian Routzen, Christopher Ryan, Al Samuels, Molly Schminke, Adam Segal, A Sigler, Tovah Silbermann, Cody Simmons, Scott Singh, Bruce Smith, Dani Spinks, Ethan Stern, The Stratton Family, Laura Swisher, Reg Tigerman, Amanda Todd, Adam Triplett, Ellen Udovich, Philip Varney, Tucker Voorhees, Joe Waterman, Zack Waxenberg, Paige Wertzler, White Noise Radio Theatre, David Wild, Cher Willems, Duncan Wold
The 2025 SF Sketchfest is dedicated to the memories of festival alumni, friends, and family: Jim Abrahams, Teri Garr, David Lynch, Martin Mull, Andy Paley, Andrea Sherman, Jim Short, Kabir Singh, Josh Skinner, Maril Stratton, and Raishawn Wickwire.