Sure, people laugh at you behind your back. But Kurtis Matthews is here to make them do it to your face. On purpose.

Matthews, with 14 years' experience as a professional stand-up comedian, is head of the San Francisco Comedy College. His partner in the venture is Greg Dean, author of "Step by Step to Stand-Up Comedy." The two run Comedy College classes in San Francisco and San Jose, and now they're expanding the funny business into Sacramento. At 6 tonight, Matthews begins a five-week comedy course at the Studio Theatre, 1028 R St.

Q: Who can benefit from your course?

A: Everybody. Most of our students want to be performers, and we give them the tools to do that. But anybody who's a salesperson or who does public speaking can benefit. Anyone who just wants to be more comfortable and confident expressing himself.

Q: Can anybody be funny?

A: If a person has normal sensibilities and wants to be funny, we can make them funny. All you need is the normal capacity to understand the distinction between thinking something funny and translating it into words that actually make someone else laugh. I can teach that.

Q: How?

A: There are basically two kinds of teachers of comedy. There's the opinion-based and the process-based. Opinion-based is what most teachers are. They'll edit and criticize your act. I'm process-based. I will lay all the tools at your feet and let you pick up the ones that work for you.

Q: Tools?

A: We'll give you a "joke map" and a "joke mine." We teach old-school writing, association lists, how to write jokes out of the news of the day. Then we work on being in front of a crowd and developing material on your feet. We cover rehearsal, creating characters, doing impressions. In the fifth week, we do an in-class performance.

Q: How much does this cost?

A: It's $250 for the five-week course. The first half of the first meeting is a free trial. You can come and decide if you want to stay. And we offer a money-back guarantee.

For more information: (877) 735-2844 or www.sfcomedycollege.com.

--Jim Carnes
Reach him at jcarnes@sacbee.com.

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