Comedian Frankie Marcos does a Forest Whitaker impression during his standup routine at The Depot in the Cesar Chavez Student Center on Sept. 1. (Miguel Francesco Carrion / Golden Gate Xpress) (Miguel Francesco Carrion)
Comedian Frankie Marcos does a Forest Whitaker impression during his standup routine at The Depot in the Cesar Chavez Student Center on Sept. 1. (Miguel Francesco Carrion / Golden Gate Xpress)
Los Angeles based comedians, Nick Hanna, Richard Sarvate and Frankie Marcos kicked off the first Depot performance of the semester with a free comedy show Thursday, to an audience of around 70 people. The night was filled with tons of laughter as the crowd engaged with each comedian on SF State’s underground stage.
The Depot is a two story underground space in the Cesar Chavez Student Center that campus members can use for leisure activities. Students can purchase a variety of food, play video games or pool and watch live entertainment at The Depot. Neighboring the small stage embellished with neon lights, students 21 and up can enjoy a drink at The Pub.
Despite currently living in SoCal, the three comedians are no strangers to the Bay Area, as their journeys to comedy started in San Francisco and San Jose.
Hanna performed first, leaning on his Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese roots as well as current events to relate to the audience.
“I really do look at comedy as an art form and a very high art form in a weird way,” Hanna said. “So I tried to make it as not too structured, but just as masterful as possible. And part of that is just being funny, be insightful, be creative, be smart.”
Hanna was a former Associated Students member and graduated in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts in 2012.
SF State alumnus Nick Hanna warms up the crowd with his comedic prowess at The Depot in the Cesar Chavez Student Center on Sept. 1. (Miguel Francesco Carrion / Golden Gate Xpress) (Miguel Francesco Carrion)
One crowd-pleasing joke discussed in-laws helping you pay for things in your 30s.
“Hey, listen up old man! You show me some respect when you’re speaking to me in my house that you pay for!” Hanna said. “You know I’m gonna be somebody someday, when I’m done with this master’s program that you also are currently funding, which by the way the payment is due on the 3rd of the month.”
Marcos stepped up to the plate next for his first performance at a university. He expressed excitement since he never really attended college and has only done an open mic night at SF State, which to him isn’t the same.
He said his community of fellow comedians give each other opportunities to succeed that the industry may not provide.
“We’re running off a lot of faith and being delusional,” Marcos said. “We just trust that there will be a time where you’re building really wide and you’re building higher and higher and eventually, it’s going to topple over and then your career is just going to take off.”
A notable joke of Marcos’ was when he chanted a familiar Bay Area commercial with the audience.
“This is how you know you’re real Bay Area, say it with me: ‘The Shane Company, in San Mateo, Cupertino and Walnut Creek open weekdays until six, weekends until eight, or online at … Shaneco.com!’ Yeah see how the 20% got it!” Marcos said.
Last but not least was Sarvate, the headliner of the night. He has performed at college campuses like UC San Diego.
He often feels that people who aren’t familiar with being a comedian are too quick to judge comedy performances.
“A lot of times, there’s like a crabs in a bucket mentality, where it’s like, oh, if somebody’s doing something you can’t do, you just want to bring them down a little bit,” Sarvate said. “I think that’s where the criticism comes from.”
Richard Sarvate delivers a punchline as the headliner for Comedy Night at The Depot in the Cesar Chavez Student Center on Sept. 1. (Miguel Francesco Carrion / Golden Gate Xpress) (Miguel Francesco Carrion)
He joked about a previous comedy show in Vegas after he was thanked for taking a Greyhound bus by a Greyhound employee.
“Excuse me sir, I didn’t choose Greyhound. I made a series of poor life decisions, which have led to financial difficulty,” Sarvate said. “Greyhound was my only option.”
Senior in Communications Vartan Alakhverdyan was at The Pub on campus with friends before the show. He emphasized the importance of comedy, especially when highlighting people’s identities.
“Comedy is so important because of the perspective it comes from, especially about the jokes that you make about specific things,” Alakhverdyan said. “And I think having the platform open up to so many people and from different perspectives and cultures allows for more variety of comedy.”
All three comedians had a fun time performing and enjoyed the crowd.
“It was a great homecoming for me after graduating from SFSU 10 years ago,” Hanna said.
CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this story included a comment that was not intended for publication. That comment has been removed.
Matthew Cardoza (he/him) is the copy editor for Golden Gate Xpress. He is majoring in journalism and minoring in political science. He was born and raised in San Francisco, and still lives in the city. He was previously a part of The Guardsman, the campus newspaper of City College of San Francisco. Matthew likes to write about politics, culture and interesting events on and off campus. In his free time, he likes to drive around San Francisco, rock climb, play video games and hike in the wilderness.
Miguel Francesco Carrion (he/him) is a fifth-year photojournalism major and Asian American studies minor. While he claims to be a country-singing, Bronco riding cowboy in another universe, he is currently serving as the visuals editor for the Golden Gate Xpress. Outside of school, he works as a freelance photographer and videographer, and his work has appeared in BBC North America, The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Positively Filipino Magazine and The Filipino Channel. When not working, you can find him at The Pub or in the back of his friends’ cars belting Zach Bryan lyrics out of tune.
