After her illustrious tenure on Jeopardy!, Amy Schneider decided to hang up her buzzers and pivot to a more exhilarating side hustle: stand-up comedy. Because who wouldn’t want to descend from being a trivia titan to making people snicker at jokes that involve deep existential questions about garden gnomes?
Schneider is rolling with a fabulous squad of five fellow trivia titans — Sam Buttrey, Guy Branum, Isaac Hirsch, Joey Bland, and Claire Sattler — for a comedy festival that promises to deliver more giggles than a cat video on a Monday morning. “SF Sketchfest presents the first-ever comedy show where every performer has not only appeared on Jeopardy! but is also an actual comedian,” Buttrey quipped on Instagram on January 23. Well, except for Amy, who’s doing her best impersonation of a comic under study.
The Sketchfest extravaganza runs from January 15 to February 1, almost long enough to form an emotional bond with the staff at the venue. But while Schneider shuffles between comedy skits, she’ll also contribute to the hilariously named skit, “What Is Funny? With Amy Schneider.” Irony takes a bow here, as other Jeopardy! stars join her for some comedic enlightenment while she simultaneously questions her life choices.
Founded in 2001 to shine a spotlight on sketch groups in San Francisco, Sketchfest evolved from a quirky local gathering into a nationwide phenomenon. With headliners that boast fame brighter than a neon sign in the dark, the festival now showcases a delightful melange of stand-up, sketch comedy, improv, and that ever-elusive genre called “alternative comedy” — which usually means that it’s just someone reading their grocery list while trying to convince us it’s avant-garde.
Tickets remain available for shows on January 30 and February, which is a fantastic last-minute opportunity to witness Schneider unraveling the mysteries of humor — a venture that may or may not rival her earlier achievements in the trivia realm. As the countdown hits, followers are brimming with excitement, with one user exclaiming, “Looking forward to it!” Comforting to know that no one is threatening to bring a pie to throw at her… yet.
“Hahaha incredible!” another follower chimed in, proving that laughter truly is the best medicine, unless you’re allergic. “GENIUS,” a third comment proclaimed, possibly implying that the magic of assembling trivia enthusiasts turned comedians is a new form of intellectual wizardry. Bring on the magic wands, folks!
For those uninitiated in the trivia states of mind: Schneider boasts a jaw-dropping 40-game winning streak, not to mention capturing the crown during the 2022 Tournament of Champions. Buttrey, the vanquished champion from that tournament, still carries the title of the Professor’s Tournament winner, navigating his way through the 2023 Masters tournament like a trivia shark in a fish tank. What’s next? A trivia-themed reality show where they maneuver through obstacle courses of sticky note questions?
And let’s not forget the others: Hirsch, who raked in over $200,000 and somehow managed to sound educated while doing so; Branum, who has already hit the comedy scene with an album entitled Effable — presumably about things that cannot be defined; and Sattler, a research scientist by day and a budding comedian by night. Then we have Joey Bland, a two-time Jeopardy champion and creator of a comedy quiz show, still dreaming of a world where quizzes get their moment in the sun. Wonder if that’s as entertaining as a root canal.
So, prepare yourselves, comedy aficionados and trivia buffs alike; the SF Sketchfest promises a phenomenal cocktail of humor served with a side of unexpected punchlines. One can only hope the outcome is more than just a series of awkward pauses interspersed with chuckles, and that it serves as a celebration of the fine art of questioning the ridiculous while sipping on a cocktail of wit and trivia!
