San Francisco's popular multi-day comedy event "SF Sketchfest" has postponed its 2022 festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers announced on Thursday.
The annual event was scheduled to run Jan. 7 to Jan. 23 at multiple venues throughout the city, however it was postponed to an undetermined date because of the "rising number of omicron cases," organizers said in their announcement. The rescheduled date will be announced "in the coming weeks."
"The safety of our artists, staff and audiences is our No. 1 priority," festival co-founders Cole Stratton, David Owen and Janet Varney said in the release. "Over the past week we have had many artists reach out to us to express concern about traveling and performing at a time when the COVID omicron variant is causing increased positive cases and breakthrough infections around the country. We have also had some artists and staff members test positive for COVID. Faced with multiple artist, show, and flight cancellations, we have made the tough decision to postpone the festival to a later date."
SF Sketchest, founded in 2001, has become one of the most prominent comedy festivals in the country, featuring performers from renowned programs such as "Saturday Night Live," "The Daily Show," "Key and Peele," "Veep," and "The Simpsons."
The 2022 festival was highlighted by tributes to David Alen Grier, Cheech and Chong, and Laraine Newman, a roast of Bruce Campbell, a celebration of the 35th anniversary of the show "Perfect Strangers," and a stand-up performance from David Cross. Officials said that they hope to "keep as much of the original lineup in tact as possible."
The previous festival was held virtually last January with a one-day live stream event.
Organizers urged ticket holders to keep their tickets while the dates are being rescheduled. Each individual ticket holder will be contacted “in the coming weeks with new dates, details and options.”
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