Punch Line San Francisco is a

comedy club A comedy club is a venue where a variety of comedic acts perform to a live audience. Although the term usually refers to establishments that feature stand-up comedy, stand-up comedians, it can also feature other forms of comedy such as improvisati ...

located at 444 Battery St in San Francisco's Financial District. It has a sister club in Sacramento, California, and is also associated with

Cobb's Comedy Club Cobb's Comedy Club is a stand-up comedy venue in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood. It was founded in 1982, and has had many top comedians on its stage. History Chestnut Street :"Femprov....worked with a construction manager to design th ...

, now in the North Beach neighborhood of

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 ...

. It is San Francisco's oldest running comedy club.

History

The Punch Line was opened,

circa Circa is a Latin word meaning "around, approximately". Circa or CIRCA may also refer to: * CIRCA (art platform), in London * Circa (band), a progressive rock supergroup * Circa (company), an American skateboard footwear company * Circa (contempora ...

October 1978, by Jeffrey Pollack and sold to Bill Graham in 1981. The building was adjacent to the Old Waldorf, a music venue originally opened in 1976 whose owner (Jeffrey Pollack) booked all the acts he could find, including music legends such as U2,

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals, lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums, percussion). Th ...

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

, R.E.M.,

AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...

, and more. The Punch Line San Francisco, the Punch Line Sacramento, and Cobb's Comedy Club were all owned and operated by Bill Graham Presents up until the death of Bill Graham in 1991. The company was taken over by a group of employees who later sold it to SFX Promotions. It was subsequently sold to Clear Channel Entertainment. On December 21, 2005,

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

completed the spin-off of

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American multinational Entertainment industry, entertainment company that was founded in 2010 following the Mergers and acquisitions, merger of Live Nation (events promoter), Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It ...

, formerly known as Clear Channel Entertainment. Live Nation is an independent company (NYSE: LYV) and is no longer owned by Clear Channel. Comics such as

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 comedie ...

Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...

Rosie O'Donnell Roseann O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American talk show host, comedian, and actress. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series ''Star Search'' in 1984. After a series of television ...

Drew Carey Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actor and game show host. After serving in the United States Marine Corps, U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey gained stardom in his own Situa ...

, Chris Rock, Patton Oswalt, and

Dana Carvey Dana Thomas Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, podcaster, screenwriter and producer. Carvey is best known for his seven seasons on ''Saturday Night Live'', from 1986 to 1993, which earned him five consecutive Pri ...

took their first comedic steps on the Punch Line stage. The Punch Line's dedication to comic tradition has earned it the

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...

and the

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

's Readers' Choice Award for the Best Comedy Club. Today, The Punch Line is the only full-time comedy club in San Francisco. In May 2019, the club announced it could not renew its lease with the current property owners (a subsidiary of

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

) and was looking for a new location. Stand-up comic Dave Chappelle launched a #savethepunchline campaign and rallied SF city supervisor Aaron Peskin and Bay Area comedians W. Kamau Bell and Nato Green. In July 2019, an agreement was reached between Morgan Stanley,

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

(new tenant of the building complex) and the Punch Line to secure the renewal of the lease. The club also received the Legacy Business status from the city of San Francisco, which safeguards the club as a cultural institution.

Venue

The Punch Line San Francisco is open for business almost every Tuesday through Sunday to ticket-holders ages 18+ with valid photo I.D. The box office is open on show days from 3:00 – 6:00 p.m. There is a two drink minimum per person. Cameras and video/audio recording devices are not permitted.

Sister clubs

is located in the North Beach neighborhood of

and has been a comedy staple in the city for more than 30 years. Punch Line Sacramento is

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

’s premier comedy club, and was opened and operated by Bill Graham Presents in 1991 as an expansion of the Punch Line San Francisco.

Notable comedians

* Franklyn Ajaye * Dave Chappelle *

* Chris Rock *

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actress and musician. In her Stand-up comedy, stand-up routines she critiques social and political problems, especially about race and sexuality. She starred in the Ame ...

* Louis CK * Bobby Slayton * Wanda Sykes * Greg Giraldo * Jim Gaffigan * Sarah Silverman * Zach Galifianakis * Dave Attell *

Daniel Tosh Daniel Dwight Tosh (born May 29, 1975) is an American comedian, writer, and producer. After graduating from the University of Central Florida with a degree in marketing, Tosh moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy. His career accelera ...

* Ngaio Bealum * Aziz Ansari * George Lopez * David Cross * Pappas & Diederich * Greg Proops * Paul F. Tompkins * Ron Funches * Al Madrigal * Patrice O'Neal * Greg Fitzsimmons * Maria Bamford * Dana Gould * Mitch Fatel * Brian Posehn *

Will Durst Will Durst (born March 18, 1952) is an American political satirist. He has been likened to Mort Sahl and Will Rogers. Early life Durst was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He went to 14 different schools before graduating from Waukesha South ...

* Marcella Arguello * Greg Behrendt * Patton Oswalt * Doug Benson * Mitch Hedberg *

Lewis Black Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy routines often escalate into angry rants about history, politics, religion and cultural trends. He hosted the Comedy Central series ''Lewis Black's ...

* Bill Burr * Demetri Martin * Jim Norton * W. Kamau Bell * Arj Barker * Jim Short * Tony Camin * Robert Schimmel *

Doug Stanhope Doug Stanhope (born March 25, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, author, actor, political activist and podcast host. His stand-up material consist of profane and confrontational observations of life. Early life Stanhope was born in Worcest ...

* Paul Mooney * Tom Rhodes *

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...

* Garry Shandling *

Jerry Seinfeld Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. As a stand-up comedian, Seinfeld specializes in observational comedy. Seinfeld gained stardom playing a semi-fictionalized version ...

* Dat Phan * Kevin McDonald *

Kevin Pollak Kevin Elliot Pollak (born October 30, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, impressionist and podcast host. He has appeared in over 90 films; his roles include Sam Weinberg in Rob Reiner's ''A Few Good Men'', Jacob Goldman in ''Grumpy Old Men ...

* Barry Sobel * John Mulaney *

Hasan Minhaj Hasan Minhaj ( ; born September 23, 1985) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, and television host. Much of his comedy involves Culture of India, Indian culture and the modern American political landscape through the use of satire, ...

* Sue Murphy * Laurie Kilmartin

References

External links

Official website
{{Live Nation Comedy clubs in California Entertainment venues in San Francisco North Beach, San Francisco Live Nation Entertainment 1978 establishments in California Financial District, San Francisco