Ask Dr. Hal Returns From The Dead

Ask Dr. Hal

Ask Dr. Hal is back, each Monday night in March, starting at 9pm at 12 Galaxies in San Francisco. Odeon Bar alumni Ted Schram opens next Monday’s show. Check out the Squid List post for more info.

As always, the best questions get a shot of Fernet Branca! So think of some good ones. Here’s how Ask Dr. Hal works.

From Hal Robins’ newsletter:

Spring is here, and timorously the new shoots, summoned by the Rains of the Prime, inch their way through the stony soil of Winter to bless the reviving Earth. The chaffinch sings on the orchard bough, and the springtide wakes anew all that slumbered through the frozen darkness. In the Mission, an old favorite once again lurches into life, back from the Limbo of its hiatus. Again the lights dim and K-Rob produces the familiar fanfare. Once more Ask Dr. Hal goes on the boards– yes, for a limited time (at least during the month of March) it will be as if our show never went away.

But of course it did, and it will again, after our agreement with 12 Galaxies expires. Whether or not we ever do any more of these remains largely up to you, our belovéd audience. So far, the indications are good. Help us keep it going by coming, sampling the varied and unwatered alcoholic potations offered by the establishment.

The biggest break from our traditional presentation, aside from our change of venue to the renowned 12 Galaxies, 2565 Mission Street near 22nd, is that we are abandoning our signature mid-week Wednesday play-date to do the Ask Dr. Hal show on a new night–MONDAYS, starting at or around NINE P.M. That’s right, MONDAYS.

Here are my photos from the 2nd to last show at Cafe du Nord last November (the previous venue for Ask Dr. Hal).

Scott Beale
Scott Beale

Scott Beale founded Laughing Squid in 1995 in San Francisco and is currently based in New York City. When not running the blog, Scott can be found posting on Bluesky and sharing photos on Instagram.