7 College Humor Skits That Perfectly Describe San Francisco Culture

As you already probably know, I am very proud to be a San Francisco girl. For 8 years this city has dazzled me, entertained me, taught me, and even introduced me to the love of my life. And while I could go on and on about what I love about it, there’s also quite a lot about it that frustrates me. The tech boom and the insane trends in the cost of living have bread a very strange culture that is very much so removed from reality. We truly are living in Karl the Fog encased bubble.

I’ve compiled some of my favorite College Humor videos that I feel represent modern-day San Francisco. While I know these concepts are not unique to San Francisco alone, I think the combination of them all really do tell the story of the current culture.

Trendy Food

This skit about the fictional (at least I hope so) restaurant Pagan Salt perfectly captures the modern trendy food culture. I’ll admit that I am completely guilty of having many times in my life stood in line for over an hour to get my hands on some imaginative fusion food served by a waiter named Teague.

Review Snobs

Speaking of trendy restaurants, I can guarantee you Pagan Salt has a high rating on 500 Assholes, the fictional review app that makes fun of Yelp culture. I can’t tell you how many times Yelp has steered me wrong in this city, with glowing reviews for mediocre restaurants and 3 star ratings for some really legit eateries. Put on your Kate Gosselin wigs and get ready to request the manager, because we are about to roast review snobs!

The Nomads

I once joked with a San Franciscan that “I can’t stand when people here act like you haven’t lived if you’ve never been to Prague.” He then laughed, and then informed me that “People who haven’t been to Prague really haven’t lived though.” In a city full of people who can afford to fly abroad at the drop of a hat, or are on vacation more days than they’re in the office, it’s easy to buy into their nonsense that travel is the number one way to grow as a human being, and that those who travel more often have a greater understanding and appreciation for life. This ingenious skit about rich people who are always traveling really captures the entire concept.

Trendy Diets

As someone who has grown up knowing people with Celiac’s disease, the gluten-free trend really pissed me off. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people wanting to avoid gluten to live a healthier lifestyle. I just wish people would stop acting like their dieting preference is the same level of seriousness as someone’s autoimmune disease. In this city, I’ve literally heard the words “I definitely have Celiac’s disease…I mean nothing happens to me when I eat gluten, but I probably have it anyway” and “I have Celiac’s disease…meaning I can’t have dairy.” So this skit really resonated with me to say the least.

House Hunting

This skit may be about the woes of house hunting in New York City, but almost everything in it applies to finding housing in San Francisco. The market seems to only get crazier by the year. I’ve seen the price of rent in an apartment go up by $2000 in two years. And like many things, if we can’t laugh about this issue, we’ll just end up crying. So I give you this hysterically relatable skit about the search for an apartment.

Financial Woes

Living inside the San Francisco (or really Bay Area) bubble can really skew people’s ideas of how much things cost, and what constitutes being broke. When $17 sandwiches, $3 non-organic avocados, $3500-a-month one bedroom apartments and $400 monthly parking fees are all commonplace and $117,000 households are considered low-income, it’s easy to become ungrateful for what you make and have. I am guilty of this too. And being surrounded by wealthy people who think nothing of monthly Equinox memberships for their entire family makes you feel more and more “broke” all the time. The following skit really encapsulates the wake up call all San Franciscans experience the moment when step outside of the Bay for a few days.

The Yogis

You’d think that after a few months of living in the Marina that I’d have a higher opinion of yoga culture. But not so. While I do appreciate that yoga’s influence on the West has gotten more people to talk and think about mental health, relaxation and inner-focus, I want to vomit when I hear people go on about how enlightened they are now that they’ve bought their first pair of Lorna Jane pants. This skit gives a hilarious take on how Mahatma Gandhi would react to all this.

Despite all of the complaining I just did about San Francisco, I really do love this city deep down. I have not enjoyed watching it morph into something I barely recognize and many times don’t support. But I always hope for the best for it and that it can return to becoming the city I first fell in love with. My goal with this article was not to shame anyone who may possess some of the qualities that were poked fun at in these videos. We are all guilty of at least one of these. That comes natural from living in this bubble. But I like to think of San Francisco as a friend of mine, so I like to be brutally honest about her. Even if it hurts her. Because I my honest hope is for her to become better over time. And that can only happen by being honest about her faults, and not giving up on her.