Muni Diaries Live: ‘Please exit through the weirdos’

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.”

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?

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!