Clubs in Mountain View

In the most recent installment of Consumer Reports, stand-up comedy was named the far superior postural form of comedy, beating out sit-down, lying-on-your-side, spread eagle, Indian-style, running-in-place, crucifixion pose, hunched-over-out-of-breath, kneeling-on-your-right-knee-while-tying-your-left-shoe, Statue of Liberty, King Tut, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Heisman. The magazine's editors concluded that other comedy stances proved too distracting and greatly limited the comic's material (most jokes told in the King Tut pose went something like "Hey, somebody let me outta this coffin, I'm dyin' in here…").

Carefully choreographing everything you say and premeditating each approving nod you nod becomes exhausting by day’s end. Today’s Groupon provides an entertaining education in off-the-cuff living with one general-admission ticket (up to a $20 value at the door) to a Friday- or Saturday-night improv show at BATS Improv for $5. Buy up to four of today's Groupon for extra in-the-momentness and improv-ering witticisms.

Experienced comedians on Comedy Off Broadway Oakland’s black-swathed stage extract laughs with jokes honed during appearances on HBO, BET and Comedy Central. Veteran yucksters Joe Gleckler and Samson Koletkar host 90-minute shows three nights a week and recruit all-female and all-Southern lineups for Thursday theme shows. Chortling viewers can dig into plates of Cajun and Southern fare from the kitchen of Miss Pearl’s Jam House, which hosts the proceedings in a private dining area, or covertly film spit takes with wine and beer from a full bar.

Raised by a family of chefs in Belzoni–a town in the Mississippi Delta– chef Gaines Douglas Dobbins brings a distinctly authentic Southern flair to crafting dishes at the Zagat-rated Eureka Restaurant. Inside his kitchen, Dobbins prepares each dish to order, putting modern twists on Southern dishes such as pairing fried okra with yuzu aioli and smoking pork loin in-house to recreate home-cooked flavors that are as comforting as a grandma wearing a teddy-bear costume. Customers dine in three different areas, clinking glasses of wine or custom cocktails. The romantic main dining room glows with flickering votive candles on each table. Upstairs, just beyond the cocktail lounge, the dining room features windows overlooking the bustle of the Castro district and a fireplace. The garden room, just off the outdoor patio, looks out on the trees, flowers, and gnomes who water them each day.

Asian and American karaoke styles join forces at Pandora Karaoke & Bar, whose moodily lit space hosts both an open stage for crowd-friendly crooners and 15 private rooms for groups. In either setting, singers scroll through Super Master touch-screen karaoke systems to choose from more than 100,000 songs in languages including English, Mandarin Chinese, and Frank Sinatra’s native pig Latin. Wireless microphones then capture crooning voices as lyrics scroll across 50-inch plasma TVs, serenading spectators as they munch sushi and Asian-fusion fare from the menu. Inside private rooms, colorful cushioned banquettes host groups of up to 40 harmonizers beneath themed decorations such as brewery logos or a rebus representing the complete lyrics to “Eye of the Tiger.”

Echoing peals of laughter recall such revered joke tellers as Robin Williams, Dana Carvey, and Louis C.K. at Cobb’s Comedy Club, an iconic comedy hotspot that celebrates its 31st-straight year of splitting sides in 2013. Curved rose-colored arches frame Cobb’s 400-seat venue, where a rotating slate of comics seen on film and television crack open cans of fresh chuckle before audiences seated at cozy cabaret tables on the main floor or balcony. Suds from a full-service bar help guests wash down upscale American fare, which is prepared with homemade ingredients and free-range rubber chickens.