The Punchline's Comedy Sessions are an open mic night for local comics. The comics featured that night were Mike Spiegleman, W. Kamau Bell, Mike Meehan, Aaron Berg, Joe Bartnik and the headliner was the very funny Joe Klocek. Our host for the night was none other than Last Comic Standing star, Rob Cantrell.

For those of you who are not familiar with him, Rob Cantrell, or "Bobert", as he likes to be called at times, is a ball full of energy and big smiles. Rob does a great job getting the crowd ready for the nights events. He starts off by asking the crowd "Do you like to get funky?". After a few people in the front whimper, 'yes', he asks again, "Do you like to get funky?!!?" The crowd answers with a huge 'YES!' and the show starts.

First up is a "comic" that I am not particularly fond of for many reasons, Mike Hackleman - excuse me, Spiegleman. This man is such a Bitter Benjamin and his "comedy" ain't great neither. He spoke of topical issues, such as The Passion of the Christ and begs the audience not to give away the ending because he hasn't seen it yet. What a gem. He goes on and talks about how in order to get a tan, he must dust himself with cheetos. Ugh, with an extra helping of ugghhh. If you haven't voluntarily infected yourself with Hepatitis by now, I will go on. Mike realizes he is bombing and continues to ask the audience how they were doing, because he doesn't know how to segue into a new joke. He finally ends with his terrible Kinko's joke, where he asks the audience, "Why are Kinko's employees always pissed off?"... get ready to plunge into a sea of pirahna folks..."because they are always wearing aprons, but they never get to bake". Blech. During the course of his act, Munir decides that he wants to have a lil' fun with the guy, only because in a previous review, Hackleman couldn't take an opinion, as many other failed comics around here can't, and decided to get personal with Munir. So we're sitting through his awful set, and Munir lets out the "Opie" heckle laugh. It's a very obnoxious and sarcastic laugh and is quite hysterical. Hackleman notices us in the front and asks if we paid to get in and as long as we paid, he doesn't give a shit what we're doing. Was that his attempt at a burn? He called us losers after that, but we were not affected in the least. He had NOTHING. Munir represented the Cringe Humor family with pride. I could see the sweat trickling down his awful face. Unfortunately, he left right after his set because the buses in town don't run late during the week. Well that's the end of him.

W. Kamau Bell is one of the regular guys we see at showcases and is a Punchline staple. He gets most of his laughs by working the "black" bits. He comes from a mixed marriage - his father is black and his mother is BLACK. He is convinced that the Chili's voice over's are only meant for black people to do because only they can pull off that kind of deep, sultry voice.

The next comic up was Mike Meehan, one third of the Meehan brothers. I didn't think much of this guy. I am sure he is pleasant in real life, but anyone who does a John Ashcroft impression and bases their entire act on politics and terrible impressions of politicians and sings the Islamic "blues", should think twice about it. Then again, he is in San Francisco where a bunch of politically correct hippies roam free and would enjoy that brand of comedy. I am not a fan of PC comics at all. It's just way too cute and safe for me. Since this is San Francisco though, every comic must talk about the same sex marriage fiasco and he is no exception. He briefly touches on the issue in the end, questioning the audience, "Isn't same sex marriage having the same sex with the same person?"...and cut.

Joe Bartnik is a local favorite and a swell guy. We've seen him plenty of times and he's always done very well. He's so smooth on stage while talking about his marriage and life in general. His bit about working out to look good instead of for longevity kills me. He reminds Munir of a young Jose Canseco, minus the steroids and physique. Always a favorite when we see him.

Aaron Berg is a comic that I have never heard of and I think he's done only a few shows at the Punchline, so he is fairly new to this part of town. I really did enjoy this guys act. He tells a story about how he was paid to jack off with a gay acquaintance for a measly $150. He goes on about how uncomfortable he would feel and so he calls upon his buddy Hot Chocolate for help. Mr. Chocolate is supposedly this very well-endowed stripper and he convinces his little buddy to go through with it, along with him. Anyhoo, to make a long story short, he goes through with it, Chocolate steals his part of the money and he is left a shameful man. It's a very funny bit and I just butchered it, but do check him out.

It is time to welcome our headliner Joe Klocek to the stage. Joe is such a funny guy, I get way too excited when I know he is on the bill. He says that he has been doing comedy for a while, and therefore doesn't have insurance, so if he gets into some sort of an accident, he must die and how a car alarm going off in the city will eventually lead to a rave. Ain't that the truth. He belted out a few jokes in the beginning of his set, but then went a different direction and heckled the crowd through the remainder of his act. This was pure hilarity. He is so good when it comes to working off of the crowd. There were never any silent moments while he was up there. He always delivers the funny.

-Natalie