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.

History

The Punch Line was opened,

circa Circa is a word of Latin origin meaning 'approximately'. Circa or CIRCA may also refer to: * CIRCA (art platform), art platform based in London * Circa (band), a progressive rock supergroup * Circa (company), an American skateboard footwear com ...

October 1978, by Jeffrey Pollack and sold to Bill Graham in 1981. The building was adjacent to 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 Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums and percuss ...

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...

, R.E.M.,

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

, and more. The Punch Line San Francisco, the Punch Line Sacramento, and Cobb's Comedy Club were all owned and operated by

Bill Graham Presents Bill Graham (born Wulf Wolodia Grajonca; January 8, 1931 – October 25, 1991) was a German-American impresario and rock concert promoter from the 1960s until his death in 1991 in a helicopter crash. On July 4, 1939, he was sent from German ...

up until the death of Bill Graham in 1991. 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. On December 21, 2005,

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

completed the spin-off of

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...

, 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 Christopher Julius Rock (born February 7, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and filmmaker. Known for his work in comic film, television and stage, he has received multiple accolades, including three Grammy Awards for best come ...

, Patton Oswalt, and Dana Carvey took their first comedic steps on the Punch Line stage. The Punch Line's dedication to comic tradition has earned it the

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

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. Stand-up comic

Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...

launched a #savethepunchline campaign and rallied SF city supervisor

Aaron Peskin Aaron Dan Peskin (born June 17, 1964) is an American elected official in San Francisco, California. He serves as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 3, and is currently Dean of the Board. He was elected in ...

and Bay Area comedians W. Kamau Bell and Nato Green. 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.

Venue

The Punch Line San Francisco is open for business almost every Tuesday thru 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

in 1991 as an expansion of the Punch Line San Francisco.

Notable comedians

* Robin Williams * Franklyn Ajaye *

* Ellen DeGeneres * Rosie O'Donnell * Drew Carey *

* Dana Carvey * Margaret Cho * Louis CK * Bobby Slayton *

Wanda Sykes Wanda Yvette Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She was first recognized for her work as a writer on ''The Chris Rock Show'', for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999. In 2004, ''Entertainm ...

* Greg Giraldo * Jim Gaffigan * Sarah Silverman *

Zach Galifianakis Zachary Knight Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969) is an American actor and comedian. He appeared in ''Comedy Central Presents'' special and presented his show ''Late World with Zach'' on VH1. Galifianakis has starred in films including ''Th ...

* Dave Attell * Daniel Tosh *

Ngaio Bealum Ngaio Bealum is an American comedian, musician, writer, actor, activist, juggler and publisher. He co-hosted '' Cannabis Planet'' and published ''West Coast Cannabis Magazine''. Bealum hosted a podcast on Cannabis Radio. The podcast was formatte ...

* Aziz Ansari * George Lopez *

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitcom ...

* Pappas & Diederich * Greg Proops *

Paul F. Tompkins Paul Francis Tompkins (born September 12, 1968) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television on such programs as ''Mr. Show with Bob and David'', ''Real Time with Bill Maher'', and ''Best Week Ever'', later ...

* Ron Funches * Al Madrigal * Patrice O'Neal *

Greg Fitzsimmons Gregory Sebastian Fitzsimmons (born April 5, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, producer and radio host. He hosted ''The Greg Fitzsimmons Show'' on Howard 101 until December 2018. Life and early career Fitzsimmons was born in New Y ...

* Maria Bamford * Dana Gould *

Mitch Fatel Mitch Fatel (born December 20, 1968 Mitch Faytel in in Manhattan) is a stand-up comedian. He was raised in Yonkers, New York and began doing stand-up at the age of 15. In 1988 Fatel attended NYU/Tisch School of the Arts and majored in film and ...

Brian Posehn Brian Edmund Posehn (; born July 6, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, voice actor, musician, and writer. After numerous appearances as a television guest star, Posehn acquired his first major recurring role in HBO's ''Mr. Show with ...

Will Durst Will Durst (born on March 18, 1952) is an American political satirist. He has been called a modern mix of Mort Sahl and Will Rogers. Early life Durst was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He went to 14 different schools before graduating from Wau ...

Marcella Arguello Marcella Arguello is an American comedian based in Los Angeles, California. Early life Arguello grew up in Modesto, California, where she was active in school theater. By her own description she was a class clown, known especially for her Micha ...

* Greg Behrendt * Patton Oswalt *

Doug Benson Douglas Steven Benson (born July 2, 1962) is an American comedian, marijuana rights advocate, television host and actor, best known for hosting the podcasts and TV series ''Doug Loves Movies'' (2006-present), ''The Benson Interruption'' (2010-20 ...

* Mitch Hedberg * Lewis Black * Bill Burr * Demetri Martin * Jim Norton * W. Kamau Bell * Arj Barker * Jim Short *

Tony Camin Tony Camin is an American standup comedian and television writer living in New York City. Career Camin currently performs at comedy clubs throughout the United States. He has appeared at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, the Just for Laughs Fest ...

Robert Schimmel Robert George Schimmel (January 16, 1950 – September 3, 2010) was an American Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian who was known for his blue comedy.Wilson, Eric (September 4, 2010)Robert Schimmel, 60, Provocative Comic, Dies.''New York Times'' ...

* Doug Stanhope * Paul Mooney * Tom Rhodes *

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...

Garry Shandling Garry Emmanuel Shandling (November 29, 1949 – March 24, 2016) was an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer. Shandling began his career writing for sitcoms, such as '' Sanford and Son'' and ''Welcome Back, Kotter''. He made ...

Jerry Seinfeld Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a Jerry Seinfeld (character), semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which he ...

* Dat Phan * Kevin McDonald * Kevin Pollak *

Barry Sobel Barry Sobel (born July 11, 1959) is an American actor and comedian. Life and career Sobel was raised in Brooklyn, New York, a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. During the 1980s, he toured the comedy circuit heavily. In 1987, he appeared in R ...

* John Mulaney * Hasan Minhaj * Sue Murphy *

Laurie Kilmartin Laurie Kilmartin (born July 16, 1965) is an American comedian and writer best known for being a finalist on ''Last Comic Standing'' season 7. Since 2011, she has been working as a staff writer for Conan O'Brien's show Conan (talk show), ''Conan'' ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Live Nation Comedy clubs in California Entertainment venues in San Francisco North Beach, San Francisco Live Nation Entertainment 1978 establishments in California Financial District, San Francisco