WRITers:

Matthew Beld

Elaine Gavin

Ken Grobe

Jessica Martinez

April Pascua

Sarah Ranney

ACTors:

TEAM A

Melissa Claire

Imran G

Meg Hayes

TEAM B

Kenny Bourquin

Julie Kuwubara

Max Seijas

Director: Nicole Odell (she/her)

Nicole Odell is a director, actor, writer, and improviser. A Bay Area native , she earned her B.A. in Drama from SFSU and completed the Conservatory program at Second City Hollywood. She has appeared in comedy festivals around the country and on stages throughout the Bay. She first began working with KML in 2015 as an actor and writer, and began her role as Artistic Director in 2021. Nicole maintains that after this process she is totally fine, in actuality she is 2 Blessed 2 B Stressed, and she resents you for even asking.

Head Writer: Karl Keily (he/him)

Karl Keily is a writer and occasional instructor for KML since 2016. Outside comedy, he enjoys watching RoboCop on blu-ray, avoiding thoughts about the futility of existence, do people really read these, is anyone reading this right now, and trying new dance moves with his family.

Stage Manager: Sam Taylor (they/them)

Professional wet blanket and OSHA's biggest fan, Sam has been stage managing for 20 years. Always on deck with a fruit leather or an anti-inflammatory, it is their greatest joy to provide the spread sheets necessary for the speediest of sketches.

Melissa Claire (she/her)

Melissa Claire is an actor, writer, designer and puppeteer based in the East Bay. KML shows include: Legends and Laughter, Freddy Kruger's Day Off, Pride Inside, Mythed Opportunity and Sketch on Speed. Other Credits: Venus in Fur (Vanda), Constellations (Marianne), A Streetcar Named Desire (Stella). She is also a Red Nose Doctor with Healthy Humor.

Imran G (he/him)

Imran is an actor, writer and standup who enjoys pretending to know how to break dance. He was Killing my Lobster's Acting Fellow in 2019 and has performed in multiple KML shows. Imran also has performed at multiple comedy clubs, theaters and festivals such as SF SketchFest, Outside Lands and the NBC Standup Showcase. He is the winner of multiple comedy competitions and a former host of The Moth in San Francisco. Imran also hopes this is enough because he hates writing in 3rd person.

Meg Hayes (she/her)

Meg is a comedian and educator in San Francisco, celebrating 13 years with Killing My Lobster. She started as a fetus so DON'T buy her a drink. Off stage, you can hear her on Vicious Cycle, a comedy podcast about periods and the people who get them.

Kenny Bourquin (he/him)

Kenny Bourquin has been an actor, writer, and director with KML since 2014. He has been doing improv comedy officially since 2008, but in many classroms and street corners before he knew that term existed. His comedy training started as a toddler when he became transfixed by the commercials during 'As The World Turns'. Later he furthered his studies by spending his Sundays memorizing a recorded version of the previous nights' Saturday Night Live to solo perform in homeroom on Mondays.

Julie Kuwubara (she/her)

Julie Kuwabara is an actor and sketch comedy writer/performer. She has performed with various theater companies such as Yale Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, SFBATCO, Word For Word, Killing My Lobster, Cutting Ball Theatre, Shotgun Players, Central Works, Magic Theatre, and Bindlestiff Studio. Julie is a member of Granny Cart Gangstas, an all-Asian-American comedy sketch group. Her work as a writer and performer has been featured at various comedy festivals such as SF SketchFest, Killing My Lobster, UCB Filipino AF (LA), Femprovisor (Sacramento), and Femmefest (SF). Keep up with Julie on Instagram @jularie and @grannycartgangstas. Hugs to family and friends, and hubby.

Max Seijas (he/him)

Max is thrilled to be part of this banana-pants-ride that is Sketch on Speed again! Previous credits include "La Cage aux Folles" at Theatre Rhino, "Joan Crawford Superstar" with Intentional Theatrics, "Found Family" and “Queer Story” with Left Coast Theatre Company (company member), “Are You Goth Enough…” and "Terror-Rama V: The Last Final Chapter" with Awesome Theatre, “Look! We Have Friends!” and "Legends and Laughter" with Killing My Lobster. Massive thanks and love to his friends, family, and the Bay Area theatre community.

Matthew Beld (they/them)

Matthew is a writer, storyteller, and emcee living in San Francisco. They teach writing at KML and have written for KML shows Good Grief, The Skin We're In, and Look! We Have Friends. They perform around the Bay Area, at theatres and back alleys, and you can catch them every month co-hosting the Strut Queer Open Mic in the Castro.

Elaine Gavin (she/her)

Elaine Gavin (she/her) studied drama at SFSU and has been a writer, performer and teacher with Killing My Lobster since time began, which was in 2014. She’s dabbled in copywriting, playwriting and horseback riding. She is a preschool teacher by day and now has to stop writing this Bio because her one-year-old is trying to eat her laptop.

Ken Grobe (he/him)

Writing a bio for KML Sketch on Speed is a great idea, Ken! Here's a one-paragraph blurb, tailored for an irreverent sketch comedy audience:

Prolific, charming, and above all, hilarious...are things KEN GROBE has said about Carol Burnett. Ken himself has racked up 10-ish years of writing comedy for Killing My Lobster, including scripting and directing a dozen or two video shorts and helping them launch a series of comedy Purimspiels in partnership with the SF JCC. He’s also an award-winning copywriter, as far as his parents know.

If you'd like, I can also help you create a slightly punchier version (~15–20% shorter) that tends to perform better with large corporations. Would you like that?"

Jessica Martinez (she/her)

Jessica Martinez makes the “Get Over It, Go Out With Somebody Else” zine series which celebrates breakups using quotes from Wayne’s World. She has also written children’s books for Khan Academy Kids and performed comedic storytelling for About Last Night. Her plays have been staged in LA and SF, including “Schooltown Funk,” a satire on public school teaching, which had a sold-out run at the SF Fringe Festival. She is a 2025 LAMBDA Literary Fellow, 2026 McCormack Fellow and currently at work on a young adult novel about a teenager who hates theater.

April Pascua (she/they)

April Pascua is a writer, performer, musician, cat lover, and serial hobbyist based in San Francisco. She joined KML in 2022 as a New Voices in Comedy Fellow, and since then has worked on a number of shows including BAD Lobster, J'accuse!, and Toon Out. Catch them on IG @aprilpascua or at home, lying on the floor.

Sarah Ranney (she/her)

Sarah Ranney is a San Francisco-based, New Jersey-bred comedian who has been working with KML since 2018. This mouthy babe has been published in Reductress, performed stand up comedy all over the Bay Area, and is the longest reigning dirty haiku champion at The Ruckus and Rumpus Revival. You can find her in the park, ingratiating herself to a local murder of crows, or at home decorating her Weird Barbie dream house.