Comedian You Should Know : Drew Platt

The ‘Comedian You Should Know’ series highlights funny people performing in San Francisco.  We’d simply like to give some dedicated press to people who make us laugh.  You can catch Drew opening for James Adomian at Doc’s Lab August 6th.

We first got to see Drew perform on the Kinda Late Show with Broke-Ass Stuart, he’s fucking funny.  He’s got metaphors that will make you laugh hard and think about after.  He shares with us why he ended up in SF, his favorite punchline, and his roughest night on stage.

Why do you live in SF?

I moved to the Bay Area from New Orleans because of a girl. We all know how that works out in the end. It’s ok though, I’ve met so many great comics and had so much fun in this insanely good scene that it was somewhat a blessing in disguise.

What district do you claim?

I live in the Mattress District. Although it’s not recognize by many San Franciscans, it’s the area between Trader Joe’s on Masonic and the few blocks west before you hit Arguello Blvd. It’s where the fine city of San Francisco decided, “Hey, let’s put every goddamn mattress store in the city in these five blocks”!

A funny story about bombing on stage?

When I first moved to the city I worked in the kitchen at the Punchline. What people don’t realize about the Punchline is that there’s only one cook that works back there so if it’s a sold-out show you’re really getting slammed hard.
On this particular night the headliner was Dom Irrera who is a crowd favorite and a comics comic, which means he’s one of the few people comics will stomp out their cigarettes and run into the club to watch them perform.
So I’m working in the kitchen and Dom is running late which is very unusual. The host goes up, no Dom, the feature act goes up, still no Dom and the manager is getting a little worried. He let’s the feature act run as long as he can until he can tell he’s running out of material and is about to get off stage. He then runs into the kitchen, “Drew, I need you to do 10 minutes”.
I was covered in flour and sweating and looking like shit and of course I said, “Ok”. You never turn down stage-time, especially at one of the top clubs in the country. So I wiped the flour off my shirt, got a quick sip of water and before I knew it I was up on stage facing an angry, impatient, Dom obsessed crowd that didn’t give a shit about my then 24-year-old problems.
I ate complete shit for about 9 minutes and then stated, “Alright everyone I’ll leave you with one last joke”, when I looked back at the area near the kitchen and saw the manager pulling an imaginary string apart while mouthing, “Stretch!!” That was definitely the worst.

Your weirdest night out in San Francisco?

I’ve had a lot of strange nights in North Beach with a lot of great characters. I really like that area of the city; it’s definitely my favorite. If you stick around late enough it turns into a whirlwind of drunk beat artist (a dying breed), strippers getting off work, shady looking guys peering over from the edge of Chinatown and gel haired European douches. It’s pretty much the perfect recipe for disaster.

Do you have a favorite 1 liner?

Lou Gehrig died of Lou Gehrig’s disease, which doesn’t bode well for my friend Horrible Peniscancer. – Dana Gould

What’s your favorite joke in your set right now?

I have a new bit I’m working on about my Dad talking to me about sex for the first time while we watched a baseball game. I’m having a lot of fun telling that one on stage right now.

Who’s a performer you’re embarrassed to like?
This is a trick question, I’m not calling anyone out. . . Probably Juicy J.

Your Top 5 Comedians of all time?
In no particular order: Patton Oswalt, Louis CK, Bill Burr, Richard Pryor and John Candy.

Honorable Mentions: Dana Gould, Robert Hawkins, James Adomian, Bert Kreischer, Tom Segura, Brody Stevens, Rory Scovel, Brent Weinbach . . . the list goes on.

Have anything coming up?
I’m opening for James Adomian at Doc’s Lab on August 6th which I’m really stoked about because he’s quickly becoming one of my favorites for sure.

Drew Platt’s site