Cartoonist Dan Piraro, who kicked off the national tour of his “Bizarro Baloney Show: Comedy for a Cause,” last week, is scheduled to perform tonight at 8 at San Francisco’s Marsh theater, 1062 Valencia St.
Piraro, known for his award-winning Bizarro syndicated cartoon, is also scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. Wednesday at 142 Throckmorton Theater, 142 Throckmorton Ave. in Mill Valley, Calif. followed on Thursday by an 8 p.m. show at the La Pena Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley.
With his one-man Vaudevillian-style comedy, Piraro takes jabs at President Bush and other issues while championing animal rights by donating the shows’ profits to the
Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary and through his vegan lifestyle and activism.
“When I poke fun at Fox News or do a cartoon about gay marriage or alternative lifestyles, editors are buried under a wave of angry e-mails and phone calls,” he said.
“These well-organized offensives encourage editors to replace Bizarro with a less opinionated feature. This is the passive-aggressive way in which cartoonists experience censorship.”
Part of Piraro’s shows include some of his adult-oriented cartoons which appear in newspapers and Playboy magazine. But one of his show’s most popular segments include his hate mail segment, where Piraro reads actual letters from angry readers.
“All of us have dealt with irate idiots from time to time, which is why I think this segment is resonates so strongly with audiences.”
Other tour dates are Friday at the Rio Theater, 1205 Soquel Ave., at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore. on Monday, then on Tuesday at the Wonder Ballroom, 128 N.E. Russell in Portland, and at the Comedy Underground, 222 S. Main St. in Seattle.
For show times and more information, Piraro is online at www.bizarro.com.
