Laugh your head off and vote for your favorite contenders at the historically hysterical San Francisco Comedy Competition at Antioch’s El Campanil Theatre on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 8 p.m.

The event is a preliminary round in the competition, featuring between 14 and 16 comedy stars of tomorrow vying for glory – and $25,000 in prize money. Former contestants include Robin Williams, Dana Carvey and Ellen DeGeneres.

The host for the evening is Will Franken, one of the Bay Area’s most innovative comic performers. Armed with what The New York Times describes as a “highly developed sense of the absurd” and what Franken calls a “one-man American version of ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus,’” he brings life’s inherent weirdness to the stage, poking fun at a broad range of cultural strongholds.

Tickets are $35 for Gold Circle (first three rows), $25 for adults and $22 for seniors 62 and older. No one under 18 will be admitted. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the ticket office, 604 W. Second St. (next door to the theater) Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and one hour before showtime. No service fee is charged for tickets purchased at the ticket office. To order tickets by phone, call 925-757-9500. A $2 charge (per phone order, not per ticket) is applied to phone orders. To order tickets online, visit www.elcampaniltheatre.com/events/SF_comedy_competition.htm. Internet processing fees vary by ticket price.