Laughs to brighten the season

Clockwise from top left: Larry Miller and Scott Adsit at a recent performance of Celebrity Autobiography, Big Easy of the Harlem Globetrotters, Lewis Black, and Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein.

As torrential storms bear down and the sun disappears for days at a time, Jo Anne Worley has a bit of advice for those looking for laughs in the dead of January.

“It is always important to find laughter wherever we can,” says the “Laugh-In” legend. “It is just as important to laugh in the dog days of summer as it is to laugh in the vitamin D-deprived days of winter.”

Before Worley hops on stage with Fred Willard to re-enact absurd self-referential anecdotes in the “Celebrity Autobiography” show at the Wells Fargo Center, here’s a quick run through the comedy acts — those unseasonal laughs in the brooding days of winter — coming up in the new year.

“Celebrity Autobiography”: Stumbling across Vanna White’s autobiography in a bookstore one day, writer, actor and producer Eugene Pack nearly fell down laughing over a passage about how her belt broke during “Wheel of Fortune” and yet somehow she managed to continue flipping the panels at the same time.

“I thought to myself, what if these passages were read out loud to an audience verbatim?” he remembers. “Could this unintentional humor connect with people?”

The answer is a resounding yes, in a long-running Off-Broadway hit, a Bravo TV special and now a worldwide touring production, as actors bring to life some of the most absurd autobiographies ever written.

Some of the best “Celebrity Autobiography” bits are the mash-ups. Like a scene recreated in the memoirs of Burt Reynolds, Loni Anderson and their secretary. Or rare moments remembered by Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. Cher, Dolly Parton and Neil Sedaka talking food is a classic, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods and Joe Namath on the sporting life. In Santa Rosa, look for Laraine Newman from “Saturday Night Live,” Willard (doing his best Justin Bieber), Worley (as Ivana Trump), Jonathan Silverman, Dayle Reyfel and Pack.
8 p.m. Jan. 12, Wells Fargo Center, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. $40-$59. www.wellsfargocenterarts.org.

Harlem Globetrotters: This timeless exhibition of hoops hijinks and family laughs goes back to the 1920s. Since then, the Globetrotters have traveled all over the world, appearing on every show from “Gilligan’s Island” and “30 Rock” to “The Simpsons” and the Adam Sandler movie, “Little Nicky.” For the first time ever, this rag-tag troupe of comic hoopsters is letting fans vote on the rules for the game. We’re talking two basketballs at once or the 4-point shot or 6 versus 5 — the one with the most votes on the website will be used in the game.
Performing at 7 p.m. Jan. 16 at Haehl Pavilion, Santa Rosa Junior College. $28-$78. www.harlemglobetrotters.com.

San Francisco Sketchfest: The 12th annual winter laugh riot boasts one of the best lineups ever with Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Drew Carey, Will Franken and many more. Among the comic nuggets in this two-week spree: Maya Rudolph and Gretchen Lieberum are “Princess: An Evening of the Music of Prince,” Bruce Campbell talking with Patton Oswalt before a screening of “Army of Darkness,” “R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet Sing-Along” hosted by Henri Mazza and “Futurama Live.”
Jan. 24-Feb. 10. Get tickets at www.sfsketchfest.com.