The Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, Berkeley’s traditional music venue, is spreading its wings on Friday, March 25 with a comedy night. It’s the launch show for a series of comedy showcases presented by Bob Ayres, founder of the Haight-Ashbury comedy club, The Other Café. A reunion show for The Other Café that Ayres organized last fall was described by KQED as “the most extraordinary comedy event in Bay Area history”.
We’re able to offer Berkeleyside readers a free pair of tickets to the showcase. Follow this link to sign up for your free tickets.
“Does the community want to come out and laugh?” Ayres asks. “We have three insanely different forms of stand-up. I want to create a little bit of a scene for folks that don’t even know how to go out and see comedy without being abused.”
Ayres was prominent in the comedy scene in the ’80s before turning to other pursuits. He’s convinced there is still an appetite for humor that is different to what he sees as the contemporary standard of insult and abuse. The Other Café Comedy Showcase will be an evening of comedy that Ayres says will be great for a wide range of ages, from teenagers to the elderly.
The three comedians are Don Gavin, Will Durst and Geoff Bolt. Ayres describes Gavin as “almost Borscht Belt” in his humor. Durst is a “classic political satirist”. Bolt’s style is deadpan: “He makes people feel awkward and then a lightbulb goes off and he has them.”
If you want to get your free tickets to The Other Café Comedy Showcase, sign up before next Wednesday. If you just want to bring more people to laugh, you can get tickets to the showcase through the Freight.
