Jose Simon is in the middle of recollecting last nights’ show at The Country Store with his eyes popping… hands waving and an infectious kind of enthusiasm. “Ooooooo man! I had them in the first 10 seconds. They loved me! I came out dancing Salsa. I asked this girl to come out and dance. And she did! She got going and I got going. It was no stand-up. It was party time” Simon starts imitating a salsa piano montuno and clapping clave. “C’mon everybody, get into it…” when he abruptly stops. “Oh I forgot. This is Sunnyvale. I’ll make it simple” Jose smiles and starts clapping to a slow rock n’ roll beat. “Then I asked a guy to come on stage and dance. Everyone went ‘…Oooooo!!! like you don’t do that! I said… ‘Allow me, I am from San Francisco’…” Simon says with mock seriousness.
Who is this madman? Is this guy serious? If you’re not familiar with Jose Simon… You’re probably missing one of the brightest funniest talents of the San Francisco comedy scene. Jose Simon is an original and a longtime member of the Bay Area comedy scene since his days working with the famed Committee Improvisational Troupe. With his perceptive comments on life, he always succeeds in making his audience double-over in laughter. Jose exaggerates and satirizes subjects in effect Latino and non-Latino audiences alike… “Are there any Mexicans here? Is there a kitchen?” Watching Jose do his act is to watch a skilled veteran whose quick comic mind and charismatic style successfully combine improvisational comedy with insanity.
When he isn’t doing stand up, Jose runs the hilarious Improv All-Stars troupe Thursday night at the Holy City Zoo. A well-known San Francisco comedy club. The All-Stars are often visited by star comedians such as Robin Williams, an old friend of Simon.
Simon is at his zaniest when he is improvising on stage taking any and all suggestions from the audience like Robin Williams… Jose Simon has great charming presence on an audience accented by his exaggerated facial expressions and gestures. Simon explains his philosophy on comedy. “I’m one of the standup comedians that takes a lot of chances. I don’t like to play it safe, just talking. This is it! If a gig goes by and I didn’t come up with a new line… I didn’t do right. What didn’t I do right…? I didn’t grow.”

Jose, and academic honor student, made the decision to leave Mexico and join his mother in San Francisco he excepted the challenge of a new country and language. He learned to love the showbiz life by watching the shows every night at the Sinaloa. Jose grew up with the love of the arts by watching his family perform on stage. Jose learned how to play guitar, although his main interests were architecture and soccer.
During this period, Simon attended a year of comedy workshops given by The Committee in North Beach in between playing bass nightly. Those weekly sessions inspired Jose to develop his improvisational skills to the point of later joining The Committee’s experimental wing.