A fascist-fighting book club and a cheeky sketch comedy troupe offer two ways to find some topical humor in the Bay Area. Here’s a look.
When the all-too-familiar principles of fascism start entering mainstream politics again, so does the demonization of antifascist activism. But the women of the Book Club of Bisbee, Arizona, are having none of it in the eerily familiar dystopian future of “Girls Kill Nazis” at Mountain View’s Pear Theater.
In this latest dark comedy by South Bay playwright James Kopp (“Geeks vs. Zombies,” “The Millionth Production of A Christmas Carol”) the American Nazi Party has been elected into power, and four book-club buddies decide to fight back against the new regime by, yes, killing a whole lot of Nazis. Like Kopp’s previous comedies, it’s getting produced by Pear Theatre Company.
Details: Nov. 9-Dec. 2; Pear Theatre, Mountain View; $10-$35; 650-254-1148, www.thepear.org
Meanwhile, if you’re a little bit blue, sometimes the best thing is some humor that’s also a little bit blue. And Chardonnay, San Francisco’s longest running all-female sketch troupe ready, is ready to oblige with its aptly named new sketch comedy night, “The Female Bawdy Show.”
The resident troupe at San Francisco’s PianoFight venue, Chardonnay has whipped up a wicked mix of ludicrous scenarios involving witches, conjoined twins, men’s rights activists, Uber drivers, manic pixie dream girls, British venereal diseases and book clubs for a rollicking roster of ribald rib-ticklers.
Details: Four performances Nov. 9-17; PianoFight, San Francisco; $20-$40; www.pianofight.com
