Sketchfest is an amazing annual event – actually three weeks of events – each January in San Francisco.  This year’s performers include…

Dan Aykroyd, Candice Bergen, James L. Brooks, David Byrne, Neil Patrick Harris, Garry Shandling, Eugene Mirman, Nerdist Chris Hardwick, Kevin Pollak, Greg Proops, RiffTrax, Will Durst, Bob Goldthwait, Brendon Small, The Sound of Young America, Paul F. Tompkins, Marc Maron, Todd Barry, Bob Odenkirk, Maria Bamford, Greg Behrendt, Doug Benson, Moby, Jimmy Pardo, and many many more.

Oh yeah:  I’m performing along with comedian and cartoonist Michael Capozzola on Wednesday, January 26th, 8pm at the Eureka Theater. Come enjoy an evening featuring two comedic performances! Mike will be doing his food-themed show and I’ll be doing my thing…

Brian Malow – Spontaneous Emissions
and
Michael Capozzola – Regurgitated

8pm, Wednesday, January 26th, 2011
Eureka Theatre
215 Jackson Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
$15

Tickets are available here

You can also choose the option to buy a pass for all Sketchfest events being held at the Eureka Theatre on this page

I’ll be a guest comic on a great show in San Francisco’s Mission District. It happens every Wednesday and it’s run by four great locals: Alex Koll, Sean Keane, Chris Garcia, and Bucky Sinister. It’ll be my first time joining them. Here are the details:

The Business
$5
8pm, Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Dark Room Theater
2263 Mission (at 18th St.)
San Francisco CA

16th Anniversary Celebration and Fundraiser:  ”The Science of Success”

Food, wine, live entertainment (that’s me!)

6-10pm, Saturday, November 6, 2010
Quadrus Conference Center
2400 Sand Hill Road
Menlo Park, CA  94025

Tickets available at http://sswevent2010.eventbrite.com

More info on Schmahl Science Workshops:

The Bay Area is home to significant innovation in science and technology.  However many local school districts have eliminated science education from their curriculum. The key is more Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) educated graduates if we want to continue to be leaders in the global economy. By partnering with schools, institutions of higher education, science based institutions, museums, local governments, and the business community our non-profit, Schmahl Science Workshops (SSW) develops young scientists to participate in the next wave of scientific innovation. We need your help to keep Schmahl Science Workshop strong.  We invite you to join us to celebrate the accomplishments of our students and to learn more about how you can inspire the next generation of scientists.

An evening of science comedy – and a couple guests on the show.  Get tickets here!

San Francisco’s Purple Onion, in North Beach, is an awesome venue with a lot of history.

Tickets:  http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/129964
140 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 956-1653

That’s why I’ve always been fascinated with vanity plates and bumper stickers.  And I’ve always lumped them in with answering machine outgoing messages and Karaoke.  I think, for some people, these might be the only outlets they have through which to express themselves to the world.  They have so much to say – and so little space!  But humans are creative.

And humans that drive the Toyota Prius Hybrid Vehicle in the San Francisco Bay Area…  well, they are particularly creative.  And consistent with their message.  I keep seeing hybrids with green-themed vanity plates.  Not every one below is a Prius, but most of them are.

Have you seen any other vanity plates with environmental themes or messages?  Let me know!

Thanks, as always, to Tara for photo touch-up and editing!

So, before my migration to Northern California – which is counter to the eastward migratory pattern characteristic of my kind – a migration which, over time, deposits us in the Sunshine State like calcium carbonate on a stalagmite – I had the opportunity to make sociological and psychological observations of an uncommon species.

I hope to someday publish my findings and share with the world these curious and fantastic tales.

The working title of my book is The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Yarmulke.

I’m a non-smoker, but not a militant one. In fact, I think some of the smoking restrictions here in California are a little extreme. Maybe even comical.

My favorite example is the San Francisco airport. The only place you are allowed to smoke is in a special glassed-in room. It’s like a terrarium, in which you can view the smokers in a recreation of their natural habitat.

If you haven’t seen it, get to the airport; it’s worth the price of admission. They have a lounging area, and a pacing area (because the smokers need their exercise).

If you come at the right time, you might see a couple out basking on rocks, or fighting amongst themselves. Grooming each other. You see the parents bringing their kids up to read the little plaque: Homo emphysemas.

The only thing they don’t have is one of those coin-operated machines so you can buy cigarettes to toss out to the smokers. That would complete your zoo experience:

“Hey, check it out! He’s smoking the one I threw! Isn’t that cute? Oh my god, that male smoker is trying to mount that female smoker! They’re trying to make little smokers!”