Comey’s early morning testimony will be must-see TV, even in SF bars

An exterior view of the Clooney's Pub in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Sept. 5, 2014. An exterior view of the Clooney's Pub in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Sept. 5, 2014. Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 50 Caption Close Comey’s early morning testimony will be must-see TV, even in SF bars 1 / 50 Back to Gallery

Don’t touch that dial, as they say in TV land, especially this week.

The fired-up Golden State Warriors are going to do their thing, live on Wednesday night. And fired FBI Director James Comey is going to do his thing, live on Thursday morning.

The Warriors game will be shown in practically every bar in town, as well as on a giant TV in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza.

Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee about President Trump and the Russia investigation will be shown, too, but it might be a little trickier to find a public viewing of it. That’s because the testimony begins at 7 a.m. PDT, an hour that most saloons surrender to the coffee bars of the world.

But a handful of San Francisco bars that open at 6 a.m. will have their TVs on, and many broadcasters plan to pre-empt regular programs in favor of the Comey hearings. So if bar patrons are watching TV early Thursday, that’s probably what they’ll be watching.

“We’ll also have the pool table open,” said saloon keeper Jim Hutchinson, behind the bar at Clooney’s Pub on Valencia Street in the Mission District. “You can watch Comey, or you can play pool.”

The TV will be on, the coffee will be fresh and there will be stiffer libations, too, Hutchinson said. He added that Trump, whose name is likely to come up during the hearings, is good for the drinking business and that TV shows that pre-empt other TV shows are good for business, too. “Our regulars like to watch big events on TV,” he said.

At Ace’s bar on Sutter Street on lower Nob Hill, the TV will be on and the former FBI director will be front and center, said bartender Jason Bow. Whoever comes into the bar early Thursday will get a full pour of politics.

“It doesn’t interest me, but somebody will be interested,” Bow said. “Is it good for the bar business? Everything is good for the bar business. When things are good, you drink. When things are bad, you drink. That’s what alcohol’s for.”

“Sure, we’ll have it on,” said a bartender at Gino and Carlo’s tavern in North Beach. “It’s going to be a big deal. Seven o’clock is too early for music. People who come in at that hour want to watch the news.”

But the Philosopher’s Club on Ulloa Street, a West Portal establishment where the philosophers sit on barstools, will be Comey-free in the interest of decorum, said bartender Deb Sullivan. That, she said, is her philosophy and she’s in charge.

“We try to keep politics out,” said Sullivan, whose bar won’t actually be open for philosophizing until 10 a.m. Comey is likely still to be testifying then, but Sullivan is firm.

“We didn’t broadcast the presidential debates or the election or the inauguration,” she said. “It gets people arguing and, the next thing you know, you’ve got a bar brawl. I’ve been a bartender for 38 years. I know.”

And anyone hoping to catch a Comey-Stephen Curry double feature in Civic Center Plaza will be disappointed. The giant TV screen will be removed immediately after the basketball game Wednesday night, said a spokeswoman for Mayor Ed Lee. The big screen is for spectator sports involving actual, not symbolic, contact.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com