Killing My Lobster

Killing My Lobster
Formation 1997
Type Theatre group
Purpose Comedy, Sketch Comedy
Location
Website http://www.killingmylobster.com/

Killing My Lobster is a San Francisco-based sketch comedy group and film production company.

The History

KML was founded in 1997 by a group of comedians with day jobs who were looking for a home to create insightful comedic work they simply were not seeing produced in San Francisco. Since KML’s first show in a 25-seat converted Mission District office space on Valentine’s Day 1997, the group has worked with over 400 Bay Area artists to create exciting original work for local audiences and national outlets. Today, KML is hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “the closest thing we have to Second City” and heralded as “an orgy of comic genius” by Comedy Central. KML has created original work for HBO, is a two-time winner of the “Best of the Fringe” Award at the SF Fringe Festival and was voted “Best Comedy Group” by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. The group founded and produced the long-running Hi/Lo Film Festival. KML has also created numerous award-winning short films, taking home the Golden Spire Prize at the SF International Film Festival.

Each KML sketch show is constructed around a theme, like travel (KML Takes A Cruise), food (KML Holds the Mayo), California (KML Hits Highway 101), espionage (KML Goes Undercover), the Apocalypse (KML Does Not Fear the End) and in their most recent show, KML Takes it to the Streets, San Francisco street life and culture. KML Sketch Comedy shows incorporate live music, multimedia, and thematically coherent through-lines, with an emphasis on high production values. The collaborations result in a range of comedic styles that fuse raucous slapstick with sharp satire, wacky monologues with indulgent musical numbers and, once in a while, give rise to slide shows about cats and nuclear physics.

KML has also produced several full-length comedic plays to widespread acclaim. Most recently, Matt Pelfrey’s (MTV’s Skins) darkly comedic world premiere play Pure Shock Value. In 2006, their critically acclaimed world premiere production of Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s Hunter Gatherers played an extended three-month run at San Francisco’s Thick House Theater and went on to win both the Will Glickman Award for the best new play of the Bay Area (2006) and the Steinberg Award for the Best New Play produced outside of New York City.

KML's Mission

The Lobster Theater Project, better known as Killing My Lobster (KML), provides artists with the opportunity to generate and produce performance art across a range of disciplines that provokes, amuses, educates, entertains, and inspires. KML is committed to producing high quality, relevant and smart comedy that draws upon San Francisco for inspiration and is a reflection of its non-traditional audience.

KML Plays

The group produced the world premiere of Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's play Hunter Gatherers in the summer of 2006. The show received rave reviews in the SF Chronicle and SF Weekly.[1] The show sold out its original 5 week run and was extended in total to a 3 month run, and has been named one of the ten best theatrical productions of the year in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle,[2] Oakland Tribune,[3] San Jose Mercury News,[4] Bay Area Reporter,[5] and Contra Costa Times.[6] The SF Bay Times called it was the best production of the year.[7] The production and playwright went on to win the Glickman Award for the best new play in the Bay Area in 2006. Soon after, Nachtrieb was given the American Theatre Critics Association/Steinberg Award at the Humana Festival for the best new play in America outside of New York City.

KML also produced the world premiere of Matt Pelfrey's play "Pure Shock Value" in the spring of 2009.

KML Films

Killing My Lobster is also well known for the short videos they produce.

Company members

Company members and collaborators have include: Managing Director - Darl Andrew Packard Co-Creative Directors – Millie DeBenedet and Allison Page Bookkeeper - Chris Sadler KML Board of Directors: Mickey Bruce Paul Charney – Board President Geoff Horne – Treasurer Jacqueline Murray Josh Orum Liz Stone – Secretary Tim Veitzer

References

  1. ↑ SF Weekly, June 7, 2006
  2. ↑ Top 10 of 2006 -SF Chronicle
  3. ↑ Best Theater Moments of 2006 - Oakland Tribune
  4. ↑ Best of 2006 - San Jose Mercury News
  5. ↑ #1 Pick Of The Year - Bay Area Reporter
  6. ↑ Best Of 2006 - Contra Costa Times
  7. ↑ "The Number One production of 2006 in the Bay Area." - Tom Kelly, SF Bay Times
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