Please note this event is SOLD OUT.
“It’s Saturday Night Live meets The Daily Show on steroids.”
Pucker up and kiss 2018 goodbye on Thursday, January 3rd, when political satirist Will Durst brings his irreverent tribe of merry pranksters back to the Rhythmix stage. Bay area favorite Johnny Steele along with Debi Durst, Michael Bossier, Mari Magaloni, and Arthur Gaus join Will for a hilarious evening of stand-up comedy, improvisation, and sketches riffing through the major news stories of 2018. The troupe vows to lampoon, satirize, mock, scoff, scorn, taunt, tease, rib and ridicule the people and events of the past year and do it with a modicum of taste. Presenting “comedy for people who read, or know someone who does,” Will makes a point of puncturing the pomposity of sacred cows on both sides of the aisle. A five-time Emmy nominee and a regular commentator for audible.com, CNN, and NPR, Will is as current as today’s headlines, as accurate as a sharpshooter, and in the words of the New York Times, “quite possibly the best political satirist working in the country today.”
The annual Big Fat Year End Kiss Off Comedy Show features an uproarious collection of riotous skits, songs, sketches, and stand- up, all based on the wacky events that made up 2018. Some calendars are less conducive as subjects of humourosity, but this one gave us Megyn Kelly, Brexit, the Zika virus and bad hombres grabbing nasty women. Lush like a tropical rain forest…
Disguised as a former pedicab driver, former waiter/ bartender/ bus boy, former molten steel squeeze molder and former margarine smuggler, Will Durst is the undisputed champ of the All- American sport of bi- partisan bashing. Middleweight division. He is a sworn enemy to all tyrants, foreign and domestic. His abiding motto is “You can’t make stuff up like this.” A dedicated acolyte in the elusive search for the perfect cheeseburger, Durst still slathers ketchup on his hot dogs.
Eschewing his career as a radio show host on the Quake, and a television talk show host on KRON’s Bay TV, Johnny Steele has attached himself like platelets onto the arteries of Bay Area audiences with his fierce and fiery anecdotes detailing family dysfunction and societal breakdowns. Steele is the living breathing conscious of his generation, poking fun and inspiring change from the stage with his high- powered brand of velocity enhanced riffs.
Debi is an established Bay Area comedian who’s opened for everyone from George Carlin to her husband, Will. Her movie roles (Nightmare Before Christmas,) television appearances (Whose Line is it Anyway, Comedy on the Road,) and stage triumphs (annual host of the San Francisco Cable Car Bell Ringing Competition, the Nurse in the Marin Shakespeare production of “Romeo & Juliet”) are too numerous to mention. Debi is also President and Executive Producer for San Francisco’s annual Comedy Celebration Day in Golden Gate Park as well as internationally renowned fashion consultant to the stars. Go Giants!
Michael founded and directed the prestigious “Comedy Store Players,” a group whose formative company included Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, Andy Garcia and others in the LA scene then moved back to the Bay Area to claim life-long residency. When asked about the role of comedians in society, said, “I believe we are the canaries in the coal mines. It is our job to digest three newspapers, subscribe to over twenty magazines, surf the web, listen to the radio, and read at least a book a week.”
Mari’s illustrious acting career began after leaving her native Texas with small roles in various New York produced television programs, most notably “Law & Order.” Mari is a member of the sketch comedy troupe Comedy Noir. In addition to impersonating Sarah Palin in the troupe’s Obama Roast, Mari plays Joan Rivers in their Hitler Roast and the Virgin Mary in the Jesus Roast.
Arthur Gaus is that rare talent who uses words to paint pictures of societal conflict and intellectual conundrums. A recent University of California- Santa Cruz grad, Arthur, the kid, has earned his comedy stripes by speedily ascending the national comedy ramp, appearing at clubs and colleges all over the country and being an especially requested act in Las Vegas. Go figure. Take note. You saw him here first.
Photo credit: Fabian Magaloni