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SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - San Francisco's Civic Center has become home this weekend to 'Clusterfest.' The three-day event is part comedy festival with headliners such as Trevor Noah, Jon Stewart, and Amy Schumer, and part concert, with bands like Third Eye Blind bringing big hits to the outdoor stage.
The celebration of comedy comes after a week of national debate and controversy over what people consider funny and where they draw the line.
Many people say they come for the laughs.
"Mainly for the comedy...Jon Stewart's really big. Michael Che, like all of them," said Joseph Drechsel, who came from New Jersey for his bachelor's party with friends.
The event, sponsored by Comedy Central, includes an outdoor recreation of the show South Park and a Double Dare slime challenge and outrageous obstacle courses.
Inside the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, multiple comedy club stages had a rotating lineup of comedians.
One display, the Donald Trump Twitter library, drew long lines.
Recently, comedians have been at the center of the nation's culture wars, with Roseanne Barr, whose show was canceled after she made racially-tinged remark about Valerie Jarrett, and Samantha Bee who was blasted for using an expletive to describe Ivanka Trump.
Comedian Shane Torres says he and colleagues have always been in the cross hairs of culture wars.
"You're responsible for what you say," said Torres, "The editing process is the show in a lot of ways. So you learn what works and what doesn't."
Comedian Joel Kim Booster says social media has put a bigger spotlight on comedian's work.
"I think comics have always been talking about these issues," said Booster, "It's just now people are suddenly paying attention in a way they weren't before."
Booster says comedy has changed to become more inclusive and diverse.
"Being a person of color and a gay man in this industry is now sort of like it's old hat. Nobody gives a, nobody cares as much as they used to," said Booster, "It's not as much of a barrier, it's not as much of a fight. I don't know, it feels I have a place in the industry that I didn't before."
Some say the stakes seem to be raised in a battle over where to draw the line on humor and jokes.
"I think comedians thrive when they have an arena where they have no restrictions whatsoever. Obviously people's feelings are going to get hurt but if you're not hurting people's feelings you're not doing comedy right?" said Scott Cagney, a festival-goer from New Jersey.
"It's all about intent. If your intent is to hurt people, then that's the line. If you're trying to make people laugh and think, there's nothing wrong with that," said Giselle Ribeiro of Marin.