Mark your calendars: Muni Diaries Live is back on April 18!

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Mark your calendars: Muni Diaries Live is back on Saturday, April 18, for an evening of laughter and drinks to celebrate everything that can happen on your commute. For our spring show, we’re bringing together riders, bus drivers, and even a band who sings about whiskey and transit, our two favorite topics ever. We’re also bringing in a new Muni haiku challenger for a new show-down!

Check out the full lineup, and grab your tickets soon!

Muni Diaries Live
Advanced tickets are sold out, but we’ve saved some spots for a few door tickets. Get there early!
Saturday, April 18, Door: 6 p.m. Show: 7 p.m.
Elbo Room
647 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Take Muni there: J-Church, 12, 14, 22, 33, 49, or BART: 16th or 24th St stations

Our stellar storytellers:
Yayne Abeba is a native San Franciscan. As a child, you could find her dancing and singing her way around San Francisco with the San Francisco Children’s Opera. In 1995, she began studying with Jean Shelton at the Jean Shelton actor’s lab. She was bitten by the comedy bug in 1999 at Tony Spark’s Luggage Store. “…It’s like I have no control over it…whether it’s an open mike, a showcase, or a soap box, I just want to be a part of it.”

Doug Meriwether has been a transit operator for the SFMTA for 16 years and has withstood the test of time: He still has his “day” job by working nights on the Mission Street buses! Step up and step in to follow Doug and find your Zen in a trolley. His guidebook (or rule book) covers everything from how to pay at the fare box to where to stand while waiting for the bus. Plus, he adds some philosophy on how to maintain dignity and peace when the going gets tough.

Kate Willett is a San Francisco-based comedian and actress. She’s appeared in SF Sketchfest, the San Francisco Comedy Competition, and at clubs, theaters, and dive bars all over. San Francisco Magazine says she’s a comedian you should know about, and SF Weeklysays she’s one of the “strongest female figures in Bay Area Comedy.” As an actress, she has performed throughout the U.S. with groups such as Shakespeare and Company, Word for Word, Woman’s Will, and the Samuel Beckett Theater in Dublin, Ireland. She’s also the co-producer of the weekly show The Mission Position in Lost Weekend Video’s popular CineCave and Live at Deluxe at Club Deluxe.

Tarin Towers has been riding Muni since 1995, when she used to ride the 22 to her first job working the graveyard shift at the Denny’s in Japantown. She has performed her work nationwide, including on tour with Sister Spit. Her book is called, Sorry, We’re Close. She’s a big fan of manners and also a realist. Please don’t block the aisle with your enthusiasm.

Jesse James is the reigning champion of the Muni Haiku Battle. When not administering tours of the Golden Gate Bridge to Australian tourists, Jesse spends way too much money on art school and a slightly smaller amount on comic books. He didn’t drink until he was 21 and has been trying to make up for lost time ever since. Jesse was the winner of the TOHS Class of 2000’s Most Extraordinarily Unique Male Senior Award.

Mesquite and Mustard is a three-piece musical act from San Francisco. Simply put, they play songs about whiskey, trains, biscuits, and mamas.

Ronn Vigh‘s brash attitude and acerbic wit have earned him a comparison to a young Joan Rivers by SF Weekly. It’s a fitting comparison, since he later became a writer for E! Television’s Fashion Police, which was co-hosted by Rivers. For 13 years, Ronn has been a proud San Francisco resident and not-so-proud Muni rider. It just further reminds him that his car was repossessed when he first moved here. On the bright side, he’s also a yoga teacher and has found that regularly riding Muni is an excellent way to put all the teachings of compassion and letting go into practice. It’s also great for working on your core strength when there’s no dirty hand strap in reach as you’re being tossed around a careening L train at rush hour.

Photo by Right Angle Images

Listen to Klee Wiggins at Muni Diaries Live: ‘I wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Muni’

klee_MDL
Photo by Kevin Wong

You know how sometimes you just stumble upon greatness unintentionally? That happened to us when we were planning last month’s Muni Diaries Live.

One rando day I saw someone post a Throwback Thursday photo of herself and her dad, decked out as he was in an honest-to-goodness Muni operator uniform. I followed the breadcrumb trail to Klee Wiggins, daughter of a Muni bus driver.

Fast forward to that night in November at the Elbo Room, when we were all treated to 12 minutes of delightful and hilarious and touching stories of growing up in a Muni family.

Check out Klee’s performance at Muni Diaries Live.

Previously …
Ronn Vigh
Dhaya Lakshminarayanan

Listen to Dhaya Lakshminarayanan at Muni Diaries Live—’Please exit through the weirdos’

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Photo by Kevin Wong

Have you ever taken Muni with your parent-types? I did once. It was pretty nondescript, except for that one guy …

Earlier this month, comedian Dhaya Lakshminarayanan told the Muni Diaries Live audience a tale of her trip to Big Lots on Muni with her pop. Hilarity ensued, of course. And a new slogan for this site and Muni general? Have a listen below:

“Dhaya Lakshminarayanan at Muni Diaries Live, Nov. 8, 2014”

If you’re unfamiliar with the delight that is Dhaya’s comedy, check out the Moth Story Slams she hosts every month.

Previously: Ronn Vigh at Muni Diaries Live, Nov. 8, 2014.

Audio: Ronn Vigh at Muni Diaries Live—’WTF, Gladys!?’

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Photo by Kevin Wong

Like sliding doors and dominos and butterflies flapping their wings, you never know what’s going to happen when you miss your stop on Muni Metro. At Muni Diaries Live earlier this month, SF comedian Ronn Vigh had us in stitches with a tale of serendipity and being stuck underground, because Muni.

Ronn’s story didn’t quite fill his time slot, so we urged him to keep going. He did, and the crowd was thoroughly enthralled. Listen to his entire set here:

“Ronn Vigh at Muni Diaries Live, Nov. 8, 2014”

Ronn (and fellow MDL performer, Dhaya Lakshminarayanan) will appear at Harvey’s in the Castro tonight. Whether you missed them at Muni Diaries Live or not, go see them. Unless you, like, don’t like to laugh or something.

Muni Diaries Live: ‘Please exit through the weirdos’

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All photos by Kevin Wong

What’s better than commiserating with your fellow Muni riders about the ups and downs of our transit system? Try dishing all your best transit stories with more than 200 of your San Francisco neighbors over drinks at the Elbo Room. On Saturday, we packed the Elbo Room once again with your friendly faces and our wonderful storytellers for an evening of hilarity that can happen only on Muni.

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We opened the show with comedian Ronn Vigh, who had teased you on Twitter a few days ago wearing his Clipper Card costume (and little else!). Ronn faced off with a screamer on Muni, and that’s just the beginning.

mat

Wired writer Mat Honan had once used Muni data to find out when the next bus was coming. Imagine that! He dug deep into Muni’s history to find out why Forest Hill station smells the way it does—and what is really wafting through the air when you take a deep breath at Muni stations.

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Comedian Dhaya Lakshminarayanan endeared us with a story of taking her dad on the bus to Big Lots. By the end of her story, we all wanted to be best friends with her dad, who thought that “exit through the rear door” was “exit through the weirdos.” I like his version better!

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We were honored to have SF Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan at our show. Kevin graced us with songs inspired from the newsroom. He’s seen Muni—and San Francisco—through the lens of a reporter for two decades now. You can see his next show with his band, The Irish Newsboys, at Lefty O’Doul’s on Dec. 6.

klee

When we found out that comic Klee Wiggins’ dad was a Muni operator, we immediately felt that we had to have her at the show. And we definitely made the right call. Klee’s parents met on the bus, and by the middle of her story we were doing a call-and-response of Muni lines.

josh

Four-time Moth Grandslam champion Josh Cereghino wrote a new Muni story just for us, and we were all for his pastry-themed, tough street nicknames like “Biscuit.”

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Our fifth Muni Haiku Battle (can you believe it?) was the closest challenge we have had. Ronn Vigh’s haikus had us in stitches. We all wondered: Will Jesse James keep his crown, or will Ronn take home our new wearable trophy, a Members Only jacket for the only Muni Haiku champion in town?

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It was almost too close to call, but Jesse James donned the glittery jacket! We’ll have Ronn’s haiku up on Muni Diaries in a few days.

Twice a year we celebrate what it’s like to live in San Francisco—and riding Muni is such a big part of it. Thank you to everyone who made it out to the Elbo Room to celebrate with us, and we hope to see you in the spring!

Hotter Than Hot! Muni Diaries Live’s Full Lineup

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Photo by Right Angle Images

In just two weeks, we’ll pack he Elbo Room for the second time this year for an evening of “Only in San Francisco” stories. The lineup for the next Muni Diaries Live features some damn sexy nerds, hot storytellers, San Francisco insiders, and more surprising tales than a morning ride on the 47-Van Ness (trust me). Advanced tickets are on sale now, so grab one before they disappear!

Our full lineup: Read more

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