SF Sketchfest 2016

The SF Sketchfest Dozen: The Next Wave of Stand-Up Comedy Stars
SF Sketchfest presents a pairing from a dozen hand-picked stand-up comedians on the rise: names you might not know now, but will be hearing a lot from soon.

Julian McCullough is a nationally-touring comedian and actor who can currently be seen as the co-host of "We Have Issues" on E! He has appeared on "Inside Amy Schumer" and co-starred with Whitney Cummings on the E! series "Love You, Mean It." Julian is a frequent panelist on "Chelsea Lately" and contributor to "The Soup Investigates." He also has his own "Comedy Central Presents" stand-up special and has appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon." In addition to his television appearances, Julian has been featured at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival and has also won the New York's Funniest Comedy Competition in 2008.

At the age of ten, Erica Rhodes started her entertainment career by voicing the conscience of legendary humorist and writer, Garrison Keillor on NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion” and has worked on that show ever since. She has performed on stage with Meryl Streep for PBS’ “A Prairie Home Companion Celebrates the 4th of July” special and co-starred with Martin Sheen when the famous radio show played L.A.’s Greek Theatre and Hollywood Bowl shows. Her work can also be heard on the Grammy-nominated album, “Garrison Keillor’s Comedy Theatre.” In 2012, she also became a writer for the show when it toured Houston, NYC and San Francisco.

Erica starred in the cult horror film "Plague Town" and recently wrapped a supporting role in "Play Nice," directed by Rodman Flender and starring Mary Lynn Rajskub. She also starred in "Big Sky," an indie road trip movie that followed a young couple's journey from L.A. to Montana. Erica co-created and starred in the award-winning web series "Apt. 45," but is probably best known for the character of Sandy in Iron Sink Media's web series "Upstairs Girls" and her own hit spin-off "Sandy's Channel." Collectively, those two web series have had an astonishing quarter billion hits. In 2011, Erica was nominated for an LA Comedy Award for "Most Hilarious Leading Actress in a Web Series." She produced and starred (with Ray Wise and Oscar nominee Sally Kirkland) in the short film Posey which premiered at the 2013 Idyllwild Cinema Fest and made the festival rounds, garnering many awards. Erica was also nominated by the 2015 Los Angeles Short Film Festival as “Best Actress” for her work in "The Platinum Plan." Recent TV credits include Fox’s "New Girl", IFC’s "Comedy Bang Bang" and Comedy Central’s "Why? With Hannibal Buress." Erica has also guested on "The Howard Stern Wrap-up Show" on Sirius XM after being named on his site as number one of the top nine comics to watch.

Erica co-hosts Bil Dwyer's "Stardumb!," a game and talk show comedy hybrid that has sold out three times at SF Sketchfest, and stars major guest comedy players like Zach Galifianakis, Simon Helberg, Oscar Nunez, Adam Scott, Mike White, and Maria Bamford. She is also a fast-rising standup comic with appearances on AXS’ "Live at Gotham" and the syndicated "Comics Unleashed." In 2015, she performed standup at SF Sketchfest, the Moontower Comedy Festival (Austin, TX), the Blue Whale Comedy Festival (Tulsa, OK), and the Boston Comedy Festival. $20 All Ages