OH WHAT A NIGHT! — Indoor shows during summer are problematic but there was a full house at the gingerbread Belrose Theater in San Rafael for our final auditions.

Okay, the place seats about 50 people. 1980 champ Michael Pritchard who lives in San Rafael was there to offer moral support. Brett Harper Jennings was back from Dallas to help judge while visiting her parents in Mill Valley. Xander Beltran left a Santa Rosa show early to help out, too. And what a look on Brett’s face upon learning “Pritch” had once opened for The Pope at Candlestick Park! He may have been a bit sentimental being in the same place where his wife, Mary Jo, had once debuted her original play with a cast of local comics.

As for current locals, the Bay Area scene is sprouting a new crop of generically diverse talent. So good are they that several acts who did not earn immediate entry by placing in the top five at Belrose nonetheless may still be invited into the historic 50th which will begin September 3 at Folktale Winery in Carmel and conclude September 27 with its first appearance ever at Club Fugazi in The City.

Here are our Top Five, well Six Comedians Automatically moving on to SFCC 2026, the 50th! We had a tie for First Place. Let’s Go!

1) Alvin Duke Reid

1) Jake Sullivan

2) Hunaid Shakoor

3) Cookie Williams

4) Alfred Robinson

5) Gabriel Alexander

Stay tuned to see who will make up this year’s “Big 32!” Thank you to all of our auditioners who participated in this year’s live auditions.