It’s time to pucker up and kiss 2019 goodbye at the annual Big Fat Year End Kiss Off Comedy Show. This year, the annual Christmas season cavalcade will commence without its headliner. After suffering a stroke in October, Will Durst will miss his show for the first time in almost 30 years. But don’t worry. He is in recovery and has a plan for his temporary absence.
Bay Area comedic favorites Debi Durst, Michael Bossier, Mari Magaloni, Arthur Gaus and Johnny Steele will present a hilarious evening of stand-up comedy, improvisation and sketches riffing through the major news stories of 2019. Guest appearances in place of Durst will alternate with comics Diane Amos (the Pine Sol lady from television ads), Dan St. Paul, Larry “Bubbles” Brown, Michael Meehan and Barry Weintraub.
The troupe vows to lampoon, satirize, mock, scoff, scorn, taunt, tease, rib and ridicule the people and events of the past year and do it with only a modicum of taste.
Get ready to ring in the new year by giving the current one the great Big Fat Kiss Off it deserves.
Debi is an established Bay Area comedian who’s opened for everyone from George Carlin to her husband, Will. Her movie roles (Nightmare Before Christmas,) television appearances (Whose Line is it Anyway, Comedy on the Road,) and stage triumphs (annual host of the San Francisco Cable Car Bell Ringing Competition, the Nurse in the Marin Shakespeare production of “Romeo & Juliet”) are too numerous to mention. Debi is also President and Executive Producer for San Francisco’s annual Comedy Celebration Day in Golden Gate Park as well as internationally renowned fashion consultant to the stars. Go Giants!
Eschewing his career as a radio show host on the Quake, and a television talk show host on KRON’s Bay TV, Johnny Steele has attached himself like platelets onto the arteries of Bay Area audiences with his fierce and fiery anecdotes detailing family dysfunction and societal breakdowns. Steele is the living breathing conscious of his generation, poking fun and inspiring change from the stage with his high- powered brand of velocity enhanced riffs.
Michael founded and directed the prestigious “Comedy Store Players,” a group whose formative company included Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, Andy Garcia and others in the LA scene then moved back to the Bay Area to claim life-long residency. When asked about the role of comedians in society, said, “I believe we are the canaries in the coal mines. It is our job to digest three newspapers, subscribe to over twenty magazines, surf the web, listen to the radio, and read at least a book a week.”
Mari’s illustrious acting career began after leaving her native Texas with small roles in various New York produced television programs, most notably “Law & Order.” Mari is a member of the sketch comedy troupe Comedy Noir. In addition to impersonating Sarah Palin in the troupe’s Obama Roast, Mari plays Joan Rivers in their Hitler Roast and the Virgin Mary in the Jesus Roast.
Arthur Gaus is that rare talent who uses words to paint pictures of societal conflict and intellectual conundrums. A recent University of California- Santa Cruz grad, Arthur, the kid, has earned his comedy stripes by speedily ascending the national comedy ramp, appearing at clubs and colleges all over the country and being an especially requested act in Las Vegas. Go figure. Take note. You saw him here first.
Photo credit: Fabian Magaloni