Kurtis (Jett) Matthews 

Specialties: Stand Up, LA and National Comedy Market, TV/Radio, Public Speaking, Speech Writing, Team Building, Creativity and Innovation, Executive Coaching

In 1984, Kurtis began his comedy career at the Comedy Store in Hollywood, later appearing and touring with Bill Hicks, Sam Kinison, Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow, George Lopez, Jeff Cesario, Jim Carrey, Bob Goldthwaite, Rodney Dangerfield, Janeane Garofalo, Alonzo Bodden and Mark Lundholm, among others.
Twelve years of touring as a stand-up, appearing on national television, numerous radio shows and a five year stint in the software industry provided both the show business and corporate experience not found in any other comedy teacher. In 1999, the San Francisco Comedy College (SFCC) was born.

Over the past eleven years, the SFCC has become the largest stand up school in the country, training over 5,000 people to be funny with classes in stand up, improv, one-person shows and comedy writing. In 2006, HBO came to the SFCC to showcase comedians for its annual US Arts Comedy Festival in Aspen, marking the first time the network, nationally renowned for its comedy programming, scouted for talent at a comedy school. In 2006 and 2008, the Late Show with David Letterman held auditions for upcoming episodes at the SFCC, solidifying their role as the most sought-after comedy training in the country.                                                                                                                                      
Kurtis is one of only two instructors in the United States who offer the “process-based” comedy training that anyone can use to be funny. His seminars have been widely applauded by the National Speakers Association of Northern California, The Harvard Club of Silicon Valley, Laugh Lovers of Oakland, The Great American Comedy Festval and the Scottsdale Comedy Festival.
As well as being a great comedy teacher he can also be seen nationwide as talent in the Comedy Addiction Tour www.comedyaddictiontour.com and in the UK as the star of BBC1s “Find Me the Funny”.

Performance Resume

Will Franken

Specialties: Stand Up, Monologue, Character Development, One Man Show

Will established himself as a San Francisco cult figure and was selected “Best Comedian” by SF Weekly and “Best Alternative to Psychedelic Drugs” by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Tribe.net named him one of the Top 25 People to Watch Nationwide. His solo show Good Luck With It debuted at the New York International Fringe Festival to rave reviews by the New York Times, and ran at San Francisco’s Marsh Theater.

“Madonna reinvents herself every year. I reinvent myself every two minutes,” Franken says. You can see that principle at work in both his comedy and his life: Always keep moving because things are bound to get — in the words of a San Francisco Bay Guardian article about Franken — more “bizarre and fabulous.”

In late 2007, Franken’s east coast fan base was thrilled to learn that he had re-relocated to New York City. After consecutive sold-out one-man shows at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and appearances at numerous other performance spaces large and small, Franken continues to wow audiences and increase his legion of fans. Franken moved back to the Bay Area in 2010 and has taught his character-driven style of stand-up ever since at the San Francisco Comedy College.

For more information about Will Franken, go to http://www.willfranken.com

Sammy Wegent

SFCC Web Comedy Director
Specialties: Web Comedy, Improv, Sketch Comedy, Stand Up, Comedy Writing, Team Building

Sammy Wegent is an actor/writer/comedian living in San Francisco. He’s been featured on IFC, The Onion A.V. Club, and he’s been seen in TV and web commercials for Geico, Reebok, 24 Hour Fitness, Capital One, the San Francisco Giants, Chiquita, Bay Alarm, Logitech, Yammer, and many more. He’s performed comedy all over North America at festivals and venues such as SF Sketchfest, Gotham Comedy Club, the Chicago Improv Festival, the SF Punchline, iO Chicago, the NBA All Star Jam Session, YouTube Live!, the Purple Onion, and the MLB All Star FanFest. He is a past winner of the Battle of the Bay Comedy Competition along with the title of “The Funniest Person in the Bay Area.” He is the co-creator, writer, and star of the web series, Everybody’s A Comedian. Sammy has been at SFCC since 2004 and has taught acting, writing, improvisation, and stand up comedy at several other institutions including the American College Theater Festival, University of California Berkeley, Shorter College, Old Dominion University, Catholic University, and Georgetown University. His corporate comedy clients include Virgin America, NBC/Universal, Clickatell, Vibrant Media, Table For Six, Davita Pharmacy Group, The Princeton Review, and Jasper Wireless. From 2001-2007, Sammy was the Associate Artistic Director of the Seaside Repertory Theatre and from 2004-2008, he was the Executive Producer of the Gulf Coast Comedy Festival.  

Chris Hayes

SFCC Improv Co-Director/Instructor

REHEARSE instructor Chris Hayes is founding member of the following Improv groups, past and present: Crisis Hopkins, Revolution AllStars, Three is a Magic Number, Bucket, and others. In the past Chris has performed and trained with I.O. West Los Angeles, Theatre Sports Atlanta (Dad’s Garage), The Empty Stage Los Angeles, San Francisco Improv Cooperative, and more. Chris has taught Improv in classrooms and corporations for the last 11 years, and is a member of the acting unions SAG, Actor’s Equity, and AFTRA.

Greg Dean – Consultant/Adjunct Professor

Specialties: Comedy Theory, Stand Up, Public Speaking, NLP Master Practitioner

The San Francisco Comedy College is proudly associated with Greg Dean’s Stand-Up Comedy Workshops in Los Angeles. Greg is the author of “Step-By-Step to Stand-Up Comedy” and since 1982 has taught stand up technique to thousands of comedians. Greg is multi year veteran of nightclubs, street shows and the corporate arena.

Performance and Teaching Resume

Eddie Brill – Consultant/Adjunct Professor

Specialties: Stand Up, Corporate, International and Domestic Television

Eddie Brill, for the past ten years and counting, has worked on the Late Show with David Letterman. He is the audience warm-up and Talent Coordinator for the comedians who appear on the show.
He started stand-up comedy in the late 70′s in college, but moved back to NY and was a copywriter for an advertising agency for a short while. But in July of 1984 he got back into doing stand-up when he started, booked and hosted the very successful Paper Moon Comedy Club in the west village of NYC and hasn’t stopped since. Since then he has become an international comedian who can work most anywhere in the world…anywhere in the world where they speak English of course. He has taped more than 100 television shows in six different countries. He is also a 3-time MAC Award Winner (Manhattan Association of Cabaret and Clubs) for Best Male Stand-up Comic in NYC.

Performance Resume

Steve Smith – Consultant/Adjunct Professor

Specialties: Stand Up, Corporate, Cruise Ships, Corporate Comedy

Steve was one of Merv Griffin’s favorites!? He has amassed over 50 national television appearances over the years and now positions himself exclusively as a corporate and cruise ship entertainer. Steve is a regular performer on Royal Caribbean Cruise lines and L.P.G.A. events. Normally he kills audiences with his humor but was mercilessly killed in “Nightmare on Elm Street 2” and “Slaughterhouse Rock.” We think it’s payback for his father bit.

Performance Resume

But are they great comedy teachers? Many great comedians can’t teach comedy and many great comedy teachers aren’t very funny. Amazingly, all of these teachers are both! Not sure? Find out for yourself by attending a free intro!