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The Purple Onion
The Purple Onion was a celebrated cellar club in the North Beach area of San Francisco, California, located at 140 Columbus Avenue (between Jackson and Pacific). With an intimate, 80-person setting, the club was a popular influence in local music and entertainment during the Beat era of the 1950s and 1960s. History The Purple Onion originally opened in 1952 under the management of Keith Rockwell. His sister and brother-in-law, Virginia "Ginnie" and Irving "Bud" Steinhoff would frequently work weekends at the club until 1960 when they took over management. Bud Steinhoff managed the Purple Onion until his death in November 1983. Virginia Steinhoff continued to operate the club until 1989. First-wave comedy and performance Notable entertainers who either got their starts or played the California club in the 1950s and 1960s include Bob Newhart, Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Alameda housewife Phyllis Diller (making her stand-up debut in 1955), Richard Pryor, Maya Angelou, The Kingston T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of 2024, San Francisco is the List of California cities by population, fourth-most populous city in the U.S. state of California and the List of United States cities by population, 17th-most populous in the United States. San Francisco has a land area of at the upper end of the San Francisco Peninsula and is the County statistics of the United States, fifth-most densely populated U.S. county. Among U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco is ranked first by per capita income and sixth by aggregate income as of 2023. San Francisco anchors the Metropolitan statistical area#United States, 13th-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S., with almost 4.6 million residents in 2023. The larger San Francisco Bay Area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Phantom Surfers
The Phantom Surfers are a surf rock band formed in 1988. Members Current (latest album) *"Swell" Mel Bergman: guitar *Mike "Mouth" Lucas: bass *Maz "Spazz" Kattuah: guitar *Russell "Junky Johnny" Quan: drums *Johnny "Big Hand" Bartlett: guitar Previous *Johnny "Big Hand" Bartlett: guitar *Mel "Frostbite" Bergman: guitar *Michael "Daddy Love" Lucas: bass *Maz "Tender Pants"/"Good Knievel" Kattuah: drums *Trent Ruane: rhythm guitar and organ on Big-Screen Spectaculars LP *Fred again First *Johnny "Big Hand" Bartlett: guitar *Mel "Frostbite" Bergman: guitar *Michael "Daddy Love" Lucas: bass *Danny Seelig: drums Discography Albums Eighteen Deadly Ones! LP (Norton Records, 1992) #Pleasure Point #20,000 Leagues Under the Surf #San Onofre #Horror Beach #Monster From The Surf #Sewer Peak #Surfin' With The Vy #Legend Of The Phantom Surfer #Wave Hog #Palincar #Sandtrap Stomp #Slots O'Fun #Stiletto #14 Miles To Gotham #Theme From Dead West #Twist Off #Jalama Burger #Banzai Run Pha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zach Galifianakis
Zachary Knight Galifianakis (; born October 1, 1969) is an American actor, comedian and writer. The accolades he has received include two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Critics' Choice Movie Award. Galifianakis is known for his role as Alan in ''The Hangover'' trilogy (2009–2013). On television, he starred in the FX series ''Baskets'' (2016–2019), which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2017. He also hosted the Funny or Die talk show '' Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis'' (2008–2018). Galifianakis's other films include '' Due Date'' (2010), '' It's Kind of a Funny Story'' (2010), '' The Campaign'' (2012) and '' Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)'' (2014). He has also voiced characters in animated films such as '' Puss in Boots'' (2011), '' The Lego Batman Movie'' (2017), '' Missing Link'' (2019), '' Ron's Gone Wrong'' (2021), '' The Bob's Burgers Movie'' (2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greg Proops
Gregory Everett Proops (born October 3, 1959) is an American actor, stand-up comedian and television host. He is widely known for his work on the British and American versions of '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?''. He has also voiced the titular character on the American version of '' Bob the Builder: Project: Build It'' in series 10 to 14. Early life Proops was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and raised in San Carlos, California, a suburb south of San Francisco, attending San Carlos High School. He attended the College of San Mateo and spearheaded the comedy duo "Proops & Brakeman". Later, he took courses in improvisation and acting at San Francisco State University, though he never finished college. Career Improv comedy After college, he joined an improv group with Mike McShane. Both Proops and McShane impressed producers Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson, who put them on their show, '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?''. He frequently instigated jokes concerning various idiosyncrasies an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mort Sahl
Morton Lyon Sahl (May 11, 1927 – October 26, 2021) was a Canadian-born American comedian, actor, and social Satire, satirist, considered the first modern comedian. He pioneered a style of social satire that pokes fun at political and current event topics using improvised monologues and only a newspaper as a prop. Sahl spent his early years in Los Angeles and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where he made his professional stage debut at the hungry i nightclub in 1953. His popularity grew quickly, and after a year at the club, he traveled the country doing shows at established nightclubs, theaters, and college campuses. In 1960 he became the first comedian to be featured in a ''Time (magazine), Time'' cover story. He appeared on various television shows, played a number of film roles, and performed a one-man show on Broadway (theatre), Broadway. Television host Steve Allen said that Sahl was "the only real political philosopher we have in modern comedy". His social satir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Owen (author)
David Owen (born February 14, 1955) is an American journalist and author. Education David Owen grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and graduated from The Pembroke-Country Day School in 1973. He attended Colorado College before transferring to Harvard University, where he was an editor of ''The Harvard Lampoon'', as was his future wife, Ann Hodgman. He graduated from Harvard in 1978 with a degree in English. Journalism Owen has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1991 and a contributing editor of ''Golf Digest'' since 1995; previously he was a contributing editor of '' The Atlantic Monthly'' and a senior writer for ''Harper's Magazine''. For six years he was a regular columnist for ''Home'' magazine. He was also a contributing editor and columnist for '' Spy''. Owen won an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship in 1984 to research and write about standardized testing in the American education system. Personal life Owen lives in Washington, Connecticut with his wife, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Rhodes
Tom Rhodes (born January 14 1967) is an American comedian, actor, host, and travel writer. When Comedy Central began in the early 1990s, Rhodes became the first comedian spokesperson they signed. Much of his commercial success came during this time. He was later the star of NBC's Mr. Rhodes, Dutch Yorin Television's '' Kevin Masters Show starring Tom Rhodes'' and '' Yorin Travel''. In addition to venues in the United States, Rhodes has also performed in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Jakarta, Bali, London, Berlin, Munich, Zurich, Lausanne, Vancouver, Stockholm, Sydney, Melbourne, Basel, Geneva, Copenhagen, and Toronto. His podcast ''Tom Rhodes Smart Camp'' (''All Things Comedy'') is a festival of ideas (''Smart Bestie''), knowledge, stories (''Smart Ramble''), books (''Smart Books & Movies''), and adventures. Co-hosted with Ashna Rodjan, the podcast often features conversations with comedians and individuals (''Smart Talk'') he meets whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Short (comedian)
Jim Short (1966 or 1967 – January 5, 2025) was an Australian-born American stand-up comedian from San Francisco. Originally from Australia, he moved to Texas in 1979, and over time his faded accent caused some controversy, which he often joked about. Short made numerous television appearances, including '' Shorties Watchin' Shorties'', ''Late Show with David Letterman'', ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'', ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', '' John Wants Answers'', and Comedy Central's '' Premium Blend''. He was winner of the 2004 San Francisco Comedy Competition and performed at the 2004 Montreal International Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, where he was deemed one of the "Talk of the Fest" performers. Short toured regularly throughout the United States. His act comprised a mix of personal observations on pop and social culture, world media and history, and television and music references. Short co-hosted the podcast ''Monsters of Talk'' along with Margaret Cho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner (April 9, 1932 – July 21, 2019) was an American writer and satirist. He was the founder, editor, and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine ''The Realist'', first published in 1958. Krassner became a key figure in the counterculture of the 1960s as a member of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters and a founding member of the Yippies, a term he is credited with coining. Early life Krassner was a child violin prodigy and performed at Carnegie Hall in 1939 at age six. His parents practiced Judaism, but Krassner chose to be firmly secular, considering religion "organized superstition". He majored in journalism at Baruch College (then a branch of the City College of New York) and began performing as a comedian under the name Paul Maul. He recalled: While in college, I started working for an anti-censorship paper, ''The Independent''. After I left college I started working there full time. So, I never had a normal job where I had to be interviewed and wear a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and comedies alike, Williams is regarded as one of the greatest comedians of all time. He received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, five Grammy Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Williams was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2005. Born in Chicago, Williams began performing stand-up comedy in San Francisco and Los Angeles during the mid-1970s, and released several comedy albums including ''Reality ... What a Concept'' in 1980. He rose to fame playing the alien Mork in the ABC sitcom ''Mork & Mindy'' (1978–1982). Williams received his first leading film role in ''Popeye'' (1980). Williams won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Good Will Hunting'' (1997 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Dion
Daniel James Dion (born December 11, 1970) is an American photographer and comedy producer. He is best known for his location portraiture of comedians, and was the house photographer of the legendary San Francisco venue The Fillmore for twenty years. Early life Dion grew up in Kenwood, California. He attended Santa Clara University, where he was the campus comedy director, producing shows such as The Second City, P. J. O'Rourke, and Greg Proops. Upon graduation, he moved to San Francisco to work for political satirist Will Durst at his comedy club, the Holy City Zoo. Career In 1993 he was an assistant photographer for the San Francisco Giants, and became the house photographer for The Fillmore and The Warfield venues as a staff shooter for Bill Graham Presents. His location portraits of comedians have spawned ongoing exhibitions at Gotham Comedy Club, The Punch Line San Francisco, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Hollywood, as well as an annual show at the Montreal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guitar Wolf
Guitar Wolf (Japanese language, Japanese: Wikt:ギ, ギ Wikt:タ, タ Wikt:ー, ー Wikt:ウ, ウ Wikt:ル, ル Wikt:フ, フ) is a Japanese garage rock power trio founded in Tokyo in 1987. They coined the phrase "jet rock 'n' roll", which they use to describe their musical style. The band is signed to Sony Music Japan's Ki/oon Records division. Guitar Wolf has released thirteen studio albums internationally as well as a live album, numerous singles, and a retrospective compilation called ''Golden Black''. The band members have also been featured in two B movie, B-grade science fiction horror films: ''Wild Zero'' and ''Sore Losers''. A collection of Guitar Wolf's most popular videos and live performances have been compiled into a limited-edition DVD titled ''Red Idol''. History Formation Guitarist Seiji was born in Nagasaki Prefecture but moved to nearby Shimane Prefecture while he was still young. Upon graduating high school, he moved to Tokyo, where he became lead vocalist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
