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THE FUNNY BUSINESS ONSTAGE
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Delfin Vigil
Sunday, June 19,
2005
Kurtis Matthews does just about everything standing up.
Whether he's restocking soda and candy, putting up a poster of Lewis Black or adjusting a closed-circuit television, the guy behind San Francisco's Comedy College's Stand-Up Project has trouble sitting still.
The serious look ingrained on Matthews' face makes it clear that helping people be funny is no joke.
"This is a showroom for comedy -- not a toxic club," Matthews says, inspecting the new paint on the walls of the seventh floor of a Tenderloin building turned comedy club. "We're not here to get wasted. We're here to laugh and appreciate comedy as a pure form of art."
Since 1999, Matthews has helped hundreds of doctors, taxicab drivers, teenagers and chief executives get in touch with their funny bones through his series of San Francisco Comedy College classes.
On Saturday nights Matthews and his comedy students convert their Mason Street classroom into the best comedy club in town -- where there is no two- drink minimum, no ID required and not even a cover charge.
"Part of the idea for the Stand-Up Project is to bring camaraderie back to the comedy community," Matthews says, standing next to a sign that reads "Over 1 Billion Jokes Told."
"There's a relationship between the comedians and the audience that doesn't have to have booze involved. When people come into this room, they want to find human beings. And every human being can be taught to be funny."
The San Francisco Comedy College's curriculum includes textbooks and lectures on subjects like scales of comedy, character, point of view, punch lines and "what funny people do that unfunny people don't do."
The classroom, which doubles as a backstage area and greenroom on Saturday nights, is like a gym for comedians. In place of treadmills and dumbbells, there are shelves stocked with videos of stand-up performances and posters of comedic heroes.
There's even a rubber chicken.
Comedy, according to Matthews, has left a distinctive mark on each decade.
The '50s saw comedians dressed in suits: Think Shelley Berman. Lenny Bruce and his taboo-busting ilk dominated the '60s, and the '70s had Steve Martin and Gallagher's goofy gags. Bill Hicks and other shock comics rocked the '80s, and the '90s saw the rise of what Matthews calls observational "sweater comics."
"You know," he says, "the 'What's the deal with cotton balls?' comics."
What Matthews preaches is to include the best of everything. And a little bit of everything is exactly what to expect at the Saturday night specials.
The evening begins with an open-mike hour at 6:30, which is when his "junior varsity" team -- beginning students from Matthews' satellite classes -- takes the stage. "The best of the varsity team starts at 8 p.m.," Matthews says.
But odds are the slot will be filled by nervous novice comics giving it a go, with a couple of awkward moments of silence along the way.
The show officially begins at 8 p.m., with students and sometimes visiting comics performing in 10- to 20-minute intervals.
It's a chance for ha-ha hopefuls like David Van Avermaete, an ex- executive turned entertainer, to get to the bottom of where the origin of the phrase "blowing smoke up your ass" comes from.
"Comedy can be intimidating even though the process may seem simple," Van Avermaete says. "You start with a blank sheet of paper, write something funny down, and then stand in front of people who are saying, 'Now make me laugh.' But it's not that easy."
Whether it's standing room only, or a skimpy crowd of fellow comics, the comedians in training go all out, with intro and outro music and a master of ceremonies making smart-aleck comments between acts.
Classes last five weeks, with "graduation" often leading to performing in the Stand-Up Project or at San Jose's Improv.
But many comedians stay a lot longer. Bob Brindley was one of Matthews' first students when the college opened in 1999. He's still on campus, now as the host of the Stand-Up Project.
"Going to open mikes in other clubs can leave you feeling very lonely and disheartened," says Brindley, 26, who has appeared on TV commercials and been booked in comedy tours across the country. "Other comics don't want to talk to you because they're practicing their act in their head. And if they do talk, usually it's because they're afraid you're going to be funnier, so they'll throw negative vibes your way."
It's the opposite at the Comedy College, Brindley
says. "Here, everyone is friends and giving each other feedback. Here,
you're taught to just trust in your own funniness."
San Francisco Comedy College Stand-Up Project takes place at 8 p.m. Saturdays at 414 Mason St. No. 705, San Francisco. Admission is free. For information on classes, call (415) 515-1098 or go to www.sfcomedycollege.com.
E-mail Delfin Vigil at dvigil@sfchronicle.com.
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