South Asian Comedy Fest Returns To The Bay Area With 25 Comics
Photo: desi comedy fest
India-West News Desk
SAN FRANCISCO, CA-The 12th edition of Desi Comedy Fest, one of the world’s longest-running festivals dedicated to South Asian stand-up comedy, will take place across the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento from August 18-23, featuring 25 comedians from the US and Canada.
Founded in 2014 by comedians Samson Koletkar and Abhay Nadkarni, the festival began as a local showcase for South Asian comics and has since expanded into a major comedy platform with performances across North America and India.
This year’s festival will feature six nights of stand-up across six cities, with shows scheduled in San Francisco, Oakland, Sunnyvale, Pleasanton, Hayward, and Sacramento.
According to the organizers, the festival has helped introduce audiences to comedians who later appeared on platforms and networks including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, NBC, ABC, CBS, Comedy Central, Just For Laughs and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
“Desi Comedy Fest has always been about creating opportunities for talented comedians while bringing people together through laughter,” co-founder Samson Koletkar said in a statement. “Over the past twelve years, we’ve watched our audiences become increasingly diverse, proving that great comedy doesn’t need a shared ethnicity, it just needs a shared sense of humor.”
Co-founder Abhay Nadkarni said the festival was launched at a time when there were few platforms dedicated to South Asian stand-up comedians.
“When we started Desi Comedy Fest, there were very few spaces dedicated to showcasing South Asian comedians,” Nadkarni said. “Today, we’re seeing South Asian comics appear on major streaming platforms, television and comedy festivals around the world. We’re proud that Desi Comedy Fest has helped create opportunities, build audiences and demonstrate that these stories resonate far beyond our own communities.”
The 2026 lineup includes comedians Crystal Ferrier, Faraz Abidi, Harpreet Sehmbi, Jesse Singh, Raza Jafri, Uzair Malik, along with festival co-founders Abhay Nadkarni and Samson Koletkar.
Organizers said performers represent a mix of established headliners, festival regulars and emerging comics, with material spanning observational comedy, storytelling, cultural satire and everyday experiences.
The six-show schedule begins on August 18 at Punch Line Comedy Club in San Francisco and concludes on August 23at Punch Line Comedy Club in Sacramento. Other venues include The Sound Room in Oakland, Sunnyvale Theater, Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton and Douglass Morrison Theater in Hayward.
