How To Compete

The San Francisco Comedy Competition is a multi-week, elimination style comedy contest where comedians compete with the comics in that week to advance to the Finals. It differs from many other competitions in prestige and time commitment.

This event runs over a four week timeline during the month of September. If you are invited to participate, you will be required to perform for at least one week of shows. There is no golden buzzer. We refer to this week as a Preliminary Week. In each week, the Top Five comics advance and the rest go home. If you advance to the Semifinals or the Finals, your total commitment could be two or three weeks.

Competition Schedule

  • Preliminary Week One – 16 comics – First Week of September
    • five comedians advance to Semifinals
  • Preliminary Week Two – 16 comics – Second Week of September
    • five comedians advance to Semifinals
  • Semifinals Week – 10 comics – Third Week of September
    • 5 advance to Finals
  • Finals Week – 5 comics – Fourth Week of September
    • One comic is crowned Champ

This event attracts hundreds of qualified comedians from around the world, but only 30 comedians a year will be chosen. If you are interested in being one of the applicants being considered for one of these events, you must make the best possible impression with your application.

Once a performer is chosen, you can choose to be in either the first or second week of Preliminaries. We do our best to allow you to choose which week works best for you.

What is the Submission Process Work?

Submitting for the San Francisco Comedy Competition is straightforward; complete our submission form. It requires a link to a video with at least five minutes of material in length. It does not have to be from one set, a “best of” highlight reel is just as good. If you have a club recommendation please include it, all recommendations will be verified. Once the submission form is completed you must finalize your entry by paying with PayPal.