History
KML in 1998
KML performing Night of the Living Data at the Montgomery Theater in San Jose, 2016
The Lobster Theater Company, DBA Killing My Lobster (KML), was formed in 1997 filling a creative need for insightful comedic work in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since KML’s first show in a 25-seat converted Mission District office space on Valentine’s Day 1997, the group has worked with over 1000 Bay Area artists to create exciting original work for local audiences and national outlets.
826+KML=BFFs at PianoFight, 2015
KML is recognized as the Bay Area’s premier sketch comedy company, drawing comparisons to Chicago’s Second City and New York’s Saturday Night Live (SF Weekly and SF Chronicle). KML has grown to serve more than 4,500 audience goers, 150 Professional Artists, and 35 faculty annually. KML has created original work for HBO, is a two- time winner of the “Best of the Fringe” Award at the SF Fringe Festival and was voted “Best Comedy Group” by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. The group founded and produced the long-running Hi/Lo Film Festival. KML has also created numerous award-winning short films and taken home the Golden Spire Prize at the SF International Film Festival. In response to efforts by KML, sketch comedy was added as an eligible TBA awards category and in the last two years KML has received 26 TBA Award nominations and has 3 winsKML’s 2019 season ensured our Bay Area communities a comedic outlet on relevant topics from mental health and therapy (our TBA Award winning production "How Does That Make You Feel"), to an all Asian-American exploration of the term “Model Minority” ("Model Minority Report"), to an all female perspective on the action adventure genre ( “Don’t You Die on Me”), to life through the eyes of young sketch writers ("826+KML=BFF").
We are committed to finding the best and most diverse pool of writers and actors available in the Bay Area and providing an environment for them to consistently create original and innovative shows. In 2014, KML developed the Diversity in Comedy Fellowships, intentionally increasing representation of members from marginalized communities on our professional artistic teams. We award 6 fellowships each year and have awarded 18 since 2016. Since 2013, KML has been collaborating with 826 Valencia, a nonprofit supporting literacy and writing for under-resourced youth, to teach more than 200 children the fundamentals of sketch comedy. Since 2017 KML has been consciously shaping our performance repertoire to deliver points of view typically marginalized through identity based productions. By consciously shaping our performance repertoire to deliver points of view typically marginalized, we make space in our community for artists and audience members from those communities to see their stories heard, guaranteeing each of these identity based productions is relevant and cutting edge.
In its 24th year, KML is as large and consistent as it has ever been, with over 150 active collaborators writing, directing, performing, and choreographing live shows all year long, the future is brighter than ever.
