Need a laugh? Comics invite you to yuck it up this weekend at festival featuring 10 Oakland clubs

The Oakland Comedy Festival returns this weekend for its sixth year, featuring dozens of up-and-coming and established talent. Mike E. Winfield, a comic who has been featured on “America’s Got Talent” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” will headline the event Sunday. 

Shoshanna Howard, Oakland Comedy Festival host and founder, said the event is all about bringing people together. With Bay Area comedy venues like Alameda Comedy Club, Cal Shakes, and San Francisco’s Milk Bar shutting down, Howard said she wants to make sure local venues have a spotlight and hopes to make repeat customers out of the hundreds of people who are expected to attend.  

Hayden Remi and Tirumari Jothi have performed at It’s Your Move, a Temescal game shop, for 10 years, and will perform there again on Saturday night. The comics describe their act, “Critical Hit,” as a show where actors “get messy,” with plenty of unscripted moments. “Hey, I’m a real guy in front of you,” Remi said.

Both have had a front-row seat to the local comedy scene’s changes. 

“I think art is being pushed out because entertainment is only treated as useful when it makes money for people,” Jothi said. “The process of becoming a better artist requires spaces that foster experimentation and exploration, but that kind of practice does not necessarily make an investor any money.”

Oakland Comedy Festival

What: Comedy performances Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
When: Begins 6:30 p.m. Friday at Baba’s House and wraps up with headliner Mike E. Winfield at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at The New Parish.
Tickets: Start at $18, through Eventbrite and the Oakland Comedy Festival website.

(Pictured: comedian Marcus Williams, courtedy of Shoshanna Howard)

The festival provides both venues and artists a boost. “What I love about the Oakland Comedy Fest is they are all tried and true comedy nerds,” Jothi said. “It’s an audience that really likes comedy and seeing new acts.” 

This year, “Critical Hit” has seen its highest ticket sales yet, Remi added.

Baba’s House, one of the weekend’s 10 featured venues, has offered a space for comics to test their creative content for the past two years. With the recent loss of other area clubs, that showcase for performers has grown even more important, said co-owner Jenn Lui.

“It’s always exciting to see new faces and see who comes into a space and see their reactions,” she said.  “I really love and enjoy seeing that process.” 

Howard, who performs at venues like All Out Comedy Theater, Baba’s House, and Killing My Lobster, said she hopes people who come to the festival will find an act that surprises them and inspires them to return to comedy.

“One of the most beautiful aspects is you never know what you are going to find funny,” she said. 

For Remi, the festival will be a win if he can “send everybody away thinking comedy is a thing they’d like to do again.”

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