Comedians tell jokes that they wrote and written by ChatGPT to see what the audience prefers
Comedian Seamus Donohoe presents LaughGPT on Nov. 21, 2025. Photo by Paul Singh
At Mayes Oyster Bar, Jonas Castillo, Chantavy Tornado, Ed Tong, Zorba Jevon Hughes, Marky Mcfly, Mel Earle and various other comedians took the stage this weekend to perform standup comedy sets, mixing in jokes they wrote with ones generated by ChatGPT.
Comedian Marky Mcfly jokes around about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and about autism.
“You know, Robert F. Jr. Actually sucked my dick, but it already kind of sounds like he is right,” Mcfly joked. “Health care. I work really hard on that joke. I work so hard on that joke that the girl next door thinks I’m gay because I have, like, thin walls in the apartment I pay $94,000 a month for in Berkeley.”
Chantavy Tornado performs her comedy skit on Nov. 21, 2025. Photo by Paul Singh
One of the comedians, Chantavy Tornado, jokes about her childhood experiences growing up as a first generation Cambodian. She describes herself as a human trafficking survivor and sexual assault advocate. She is also a child sex exploitation advocate. Love and Light Sonoma county is her organization, to create changes in local policy and community.
“I grew up in a home next to a strip joint in Santa Rosa, California. My mom and grandma were always crazy. So my grandma,” Tornado said. “I was rolling down the avenue all the time, five cigarettes in hand, and I did walk in on her with the monk.”
Comedian Jonas Castillo performs his comedy sketch about his identity on Nov. 21, 2025. Photo by Paul Singh
Jonas Castillo jokes about a slur that many Filipinos are called Flip. Then he goes about to talk about his experiences with depression and other mental health factors and then his identity as a Bisexual Filipino-American man from San Francisco, California.
“I think it’s very important for me to write about that. Honestly, my journey with mental health kind of coincides with my journey,” Castillo said. “Stand up to where I feel like joining the two of them together is very important to me. It’s always just a lot of fun to do funny voices.”
Zorba Jevon Hughes, who visited San Francisco State University to see a friend studying Biology, is another comedian who talks about his life experiences with his grandma and dates he went on during a set.
“I went to a therapist the other day. She said I had trust issues. How am I supposed to take her word?” Hughes said. “See, I do one liner, in and out.”
Then there is Billy Gaus, who comes to the SFSU library to do his taxes and benefits from the bad cellphone signal within the library to write his jokes in the library. During his show, he talked about Hammer Robbie.
“I aired out a joke that I really like. It’s kind of esoteric. It’s about Hammer. I always go to laws. I like to think that my jokes or my comedy goes high and goes low,” Gaus said. “Typically clean, but I’m not afraid to swear.”
From Koreatown, Los Angeles, Nicholas Kim comes out to support Castillo as they both went to UC Berkeley together.
“When you see famous comedians on Netflix or on tv, they all came from small bars, venues like this,” Kim said. So even though it’s not super glorious, we had a small crowd on a Friday night. This is where real comedians come from.”
Regan Armstrong comes to Mayes Oyster House with her date are UV Madison graduates from Lake Merced to Mayes Oyster House to watch the comedy show.
“It was nice interacting with the audience,” Armstrong said. “I feel like you did a good job with that.”
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