Punch Line San Francisco
Punch Line San Francisco is a comedy club 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, now in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco. It is San Francisco's oldest running comedy club.
The club was originally a restaurant during the day and the backstage hangout for The Old Waldorf nightclub next door at night.
— Bobby Slayton[1]
History
The Punch Line was opened, circa October 1978, by Jeffrey Pollack and sold to Bill Graham in 1981.[2][3] The building was adjacent to[4] 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, Dire Straits, Elvis Costello, R.E.M., AC/DC, and more.[3]
The Punch Line San Francisco,[5] 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.[4] 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.[4] On December 21, 2005, Clear Channel Communications completed the spin-off of Live Nation, 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, Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O'Donnell, Drew Carey, Chris Rock, Patton Oswalt, and Dana Carvey took their first comedic steps on the Punch Line stage.[4] The Punch Line's dedication to comic tradition has earned it the San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Chronicle'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) and was looking for a new location.[6] 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.[7] In July 2019, an agreement was reached between Morgan Stanley, Google (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.[8]
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
Cobb's Comedy Club is located in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco and has been a comedy staple in the city for more than 30 years.
Punch Line Sacramento is Sacramento’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
- Robin Williams
- Franklyn Ajaye
- Dave Chappelle
- Ellen DeGeneres
- Rosie O'Donnell
- Drew Carey
- Chris Rock
- Dana Carvey
- Margaret Cho
- Louis CK
- Bobby Slayton
- Wanda Sykes
- Greg Giraldo
- Jim Gaffigan
- Sarah Silverman
- Zach Galifianakis
- Dave Attell
- Daniel Tosh
- 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
- Marcella Arguello
- Greg Behrendt
- Patton Oswalt
- Doug Benson
- Mitch Hedberg
- Lewis Black
- Bill Burr
- Demetri Martin
- Jim Norton
- W. Kamau Bell
- Arj Barker
- Jim Short
- Tony Camin
- Robert Schimmel
- Doug Stanhope
- Paul Mooney
- Tom Rhodes
- Jay Leno
- Garry Shandling
- Jerry Seinfeld
- Dat Phan
- Kevin McDonald
- Kevin Pollak
- Barry Sobel
- John Mulaney
- Hasan Minhaj
- Sue Murphy
- Laurie Kilmartin
References
- ^ "The San Francisco Punch Line forced out of its home of 41 years as of August 2019 – the Comic's Comic". 8 May 2019.
- ^ "The Punch Line is moving, and no one in the comedy world is laughing".
- ^ a b "Santanamigos. Venues". santanamigos.pagesperso-orange.fr.
- ^ a b c d "The funny business / Punch Line celebrates 25 years of ground-breaking comedy, big-name stars and really bad bathrooms". 2003-10-05.
- ^ https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7954483,-122.3995972,0a,90y,85.05h,93.28t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sAF1QipOtU7zUVgoYsv5WgVzJRBE4U5P_cMCxA7sereWQ!2e10 [bare URL]
- ^ Adam Nrinklow (8 May 2019). "Legendary San Francisco comedy club to close". Sf.curbed.com. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
- ^ Ellen Fort (21 May 2019). "Dave Chapelle Rallies to Save Classic SF Comedy Club From Closure". Sf.eater.com. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
- ^ Caleh Pershan (23 July 2019). "Endangered Punch Line Comedy Club Will Stay Put After All". Sf.eater.com. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
External links
- Official website
- v
- t
- e
business
- 44 Montgomery
- 45 Fremont Street
- 50 Beale Street
- 50 California Street
- 88 Kearny Street
- 100 First Plaza
- 100 Montgomery Street
- 100 Pine Center
- 101 California Street
- 101 Montgomery
- 150 California Street
- 225 Bush Street
- 301 Howard Street
- 333 Bush Street
- 333 Market Street
- 345 California Center
- 388 Market Street
- 425 California Street
- 425 Market Street
- 456 Montgomery Plaza
- 505 Montgomery Street
- 555 California Street
- 580 California Street
- 595 Market Street
- 601 California Street
- 650 California Street
- Bank of California Building
- Bank of Italy Building
- Central Plaza
- Central Tower
- Commercial Union Assurance Building
- Embarcadero Center
- Embarcadero West
- First Market Tower
- Flatiron Building
- Four Embarcadero Center
- Hallidie Building
- Hobart Building
- Humboldt Bank Building
- Hunter-Dulin Building
- The Infinity
- JPMorgan Chase Building
- KPMG Building
- Market Center
- McKesson Plaza
- Mills Building and Tower
- Mutual Savings Bank Building
- One Bush Plaza
- One California
- One Embarcadero Center
- One Front Street
- One Maritime Plaza
- One Market Plaza
- One Montgomery Tower
- One Sansome Street
- Pacific Gas & Electric Building
- Phelan Building
- Russ Building
- San Francisco Ferry Building
- Shell Building
- Stevenson Place
- Three Embarcadero Center
- Transamerica Pyramid
- Two Embarcadero Center
Category
Commons