Open Run

This hour long, fully improvised show, features the cast of 12 Angry Improvisers acting as a jury. Peek into the deliberation room as they use improv to recreate the facts of a case (as determined by the audience). They'll reexamine the moment the defendant was caught with their hand in the cookie jar -in reverse! -with French accents! -with every line of dialogue being a question!

1/24, 2/21, 3/21, 4/18

WOAH! NEW EVERY MONTH. A raucous. raunchy, sometimes juvenile but always funny sketch show that will make your daddy give your mommy a pearl necklace... to clutch. Get tickets now, they're selling faster than a Stewie doll at Spencer's. DM: @Antivirginclub proof you bought tickets and we will draw you boobs.

7/3 - 7/24

All the way from its one-year run in Los Angeles comes a brand new team built for Chicago! It's Asshole's Advocate, the court room show for situations that can't be taken to court. This improv show is based off the highly popular subreddit, Am I the Asshole. This long-standing online forum is where millions of people post their awkward social dilemmas or petty revenge and ask if they are the asshole in the situation. We take it a step further and bring in evidence and witnesses to prove that they are or are not the asshole.

8/7 - 9/11

Despite zero playing history, unproven jokesters Scott and Bryce find themselves at the pinnacle of the basketball world — the 1996 Chicago Bulls. In this untold, untrue story, they’re shoved from the shadows of the bench to the center-court spotlight, putting their game to the test. When a scam is successful, who really gets played? Straining to maintain friendship amid fraud, they’re put on defense as they try to squeeze 15 minutes of fame into 12-minute quarters.

Open Run

Are you and your improv team looking for another place to get on stage? We've got a warm and supportive room ready to give you laughs and claps! Bring your own team to Annoyance on Tuesday nights to get a rep in and giggle. If you don't have a team to bring, no worries! There's a mashup team and we're happy to throw you on it! Signups are at 8:30PM and we'll hit the stage at 9:00PM. See you every Tuesday!

1/31, 2/28, 3/28, 4/25

BABY WINE is one of Chicago's longest running LGBTQ+ comedy variety shows. Hosted by Baby Wine's core ensemble, each week a rotating lineup of queer performers open the show with a variety of acts ranging from standup to sketch to music to improv to drag. Baby Wine closes out the show with a no holds barred, long-form improv set. Come lol with us babe!

Open Run

An hour long comedy show featuring some of Annoyance Theatre’s best and funniest. Show Runner: Hails Reeves

Bi-Weekly

CHIP Chats is a PowerPoint comedy show loosely based on TED Talks- but where TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, CHIP stands for Comedy, Hilarity, Insanity, and Pointlessness- and we deliver on those promises. We here at CHIP Chats can guarantee that by the end of every show you will either learn something or not! Like TED Talks, but much Worse.

6/4 - 6/25

Bigfoot? Pyramids? Crop circles? All this and more will be explored in Cryptic: An improv show. Together, 11 of Chicago’s best and weirdest performers will explore how one unexplained phenomenon (as determined by the audience) affects the lives of unique and interesting characters. What did happen that night at the lake? Who saw the UFO? What’s that smell? Find out all this and more at Cryptic: An Improv Show!

Bi-Weekly

Treat yourself to Chicago’s most intellectual comedy show. Comedians of all kinds going on about books while sipping very high end beverages. Bring your date to impress them, or come alone to feel self important.

Open Run

See Chicago's longest-running improv team bring their unique blend of big characters and absurd situations to the stage with infectious energy. Formed in 1996, Deep Schwa has performed over a thousand shows in theaters all over Chicago and beyond. Made up of an evolving cast of ten of the city's best veteran players. Each show singular, each show electric.

1/10, 2/14, 3/14, 4/11

Hail and well met, traveler! Grab a drink, put up your cloak, and I’ll tell you a tale. Escapades is a completely improvised choose-your-own adventure. Sprinkled throughout each story are opportunities for the audience to vote on what happens next. Whether we’re riding jetpacks on Mars or a unicorn through a gumdrop forest, you’re guaranteed a night of gasps, laughs, twists, turns, and daring rescues. Excelsior!

6/18

Two teams will go head to head to win your hearts and laughs in the hopes to be the triumphant winner of Family Fight Night.

Come join us for a fun evening of comedic kinship! Two families will take on guessing answers through improv in the hopes to win your hearts and laughs. Watch these families test their relationship, cleverness, and improv skills in this new comedic gameshow!

Bi-Weekly

Enjoy an evening of off-the-cuff improv with some of the best emerging talent in the Chicago area. Fire & Beer is a fully improvised comedy show that explores the dark sides of life, relationships and human beings. The show features the Annoyance House Ensemble who excel at both long- and short-form improv. You can expect lots of laughs during this unpredictable improv show.

Open Run

A two act improv show. First, Annoyance students get a chance to enter their IDs into a fishbowl to be randomly selected to perform in an improv jam with veteran Annoyance teachers and performers. Then, the night closes with a set from Sight Unseen, an Annoyance house team who, for almost the past decade, has been known for its loose narrative form and vibrant (sometimes vicious) characters.

6/28 - 8/9

A Great White shark with baby teeth is overshadowed by a bigger, badder, killer shark until she's tempted to join the murderous shark's rampage. Cocaine, the Bee gees, fish from Minnesota. Who will survive and who will be the sharks' next victim?

6/25

Gay for Pay is celebrating what makes Pride special—corporate sponsorships! Join hosts Mary Fiala and Dan Hickey for an hour of all-LGBTQ+ comedy brought to you by the most reputable and totally real brands that support the community year-round and not just when there’s a big gay profit to be had. Featuring standup, improv, and burlesque performances from Hannah Belmont, Colette Gregory, Slip Dress, KP, Hannah Magy & Willy LaQueue.

Jun 18th

Join us for an electrifying June preview show before our September Thursday run. Combining the best of improv and stand-up comedy! This unique show brings together two powerhouse improv groups - Heya Toots! and Wolf town - who will improvise off a featured stand-up comedian, showcasing their signature high-energy styles alongside tight 5-minute stand-up sets from a talented comedian. With Wolf town fresh from performances at BOOM! Chicago and the Edinburgh Improv Fest, and both groups known locally and nationally for their dynamic comedy, this show promises versatile entertainment that appeals to improv enthusiasts, stand-up fans, and anyone looking for top-tier comedy. It’s a rare opportunity to see two distinct comedy communities come together for one unforgettable experience.

Then team info:

Heya Toots!:

Cameron Cylkowski, Brian Graf, Eliza Evans, Hilary Hedstrom, Emilia Barrosse, Anna Byrd, Krissy Newcomb, Matt Wise, Dane Wilder

@heyatoots_chi



Welcome to Wolftown:

Selim Ozden, Ashley Whitehurst, Kayla McCaffrey, Marino Korelliss, Sam Huff, Jordan Reichardt, Eric Pedersen

@wolftownimprov

Open Run

A Chicago based improv comedy show and drinking game based on the works of Alfred Hitchcock. Based on an audience suggestion, the cast weave together an intricate Hitchcock-like drama, while holding true to the amount of drinking shown in his movies. You'll barely be able to stand the suspense, and the cast will barely be able to stand.

3/28

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Open Run

See a collage of character studies, scenes, songs and maybe even some audience interaction, all written in a week by some of Chicago’s most accomplished comedians. The “Holy Fuck Comedy Hour” is a curated hour of eclectic, comedic material written in a week with no rehearsals. Featuring a powerful collective representing a wide cross-section of the Chicago comedy community, the material varies every week.

6/19

It's like The Cookout… but you're actually invited.
FEATURING:
Andrew Baldwin, Tim Bell, Sheri Flanders, Skylar Harts, Montrez Hawkins, Laz Howell, Kiki Hughes, Kim Iheme, Evelyn Lawrence, Laz Patillo, KJ Whitehead, Kim Whitfield

Too broke for cash reparations? Pay us in laughter--MainStage, 6 PM, Thursday, June 19th 👀

7/1 - 7/15

Lazarus: Chicago Comedian, Producer, and Double Sagittarius, has wanted to do a solo show at the Annoyance Theater soooo badly. Now he has one and it's going to be crazy! He's Everywhere is a one man show devised by the collections of obsessive wanderlust. Travel with one man through the Chicagolands as you learn what it truly means to be EVERYWHERE! Complete with a myriad of performances, characters, locations, ideas, events, and possibilities, that'll make you think. Is it even possible to be everywhere? Of course it is. It's so easy.
Directed by Lexi Hanna

7/3 - 7/31

The scariest short form show in Chicago is back. Players fight for their lives to be the final girl standing, summer style. Brand new games, brand new killers, brand new TERROR!

Open Run

Missed Call is a premiere Chicago comedy group that writes and performs an entirely new sketch show every Friday.

Open Run

Hosted by members of Tuesday Musical Improv, this free weekly jam allows anyone to try out musical improv on the Annoyance Mainstage. Sign-ups begin at 6:45--no experience necessary!

6/11

A staged reading of a new musical in development - the byproduct of when two writing partners break-up during the most pivotal moment of their career. But can they still make it work? Determined to not lose career momentum and equally determined to not be in the same room together... and with all eyes on what they'll write next... they choose to divide and conquer their next big musical by splitting the work perfectly in half. This is that premiere. Now presenting a musical about Napoleon Dynamite... wait, no... Napoleon Bonaparte? Uh oh.

Open Run

Open Stage is an opportunity for anyone to get on stage and try out whatever they're currently working on - standup, sketch, songs - you name it. At Open Stage anything can happen and it usually does!

6/29

Derry Queen is back for the 4th annual Annoyance Pride Party! Get your tickets for the hottest party on the day of Pride in Chicago. With programming all day starting at 3:30, your ticket gets you into all shows including the 21 & Under Pageant, Strapped featuring Dragula Season 666 Winner Asia Consent, the Lip Sync Assassin Tournament and Gag! featuring drag icon Tammie Brown. VIP tickets available for meet and greets with Asia and Tammie and gets you to cut the entrance line! Blast off to space with us, its MOTHEREDSHIP!

3/18 - 4/22

Looking for a Stand-up Comedy Open Mic that’s a supportive room,
always a good time, AND HAS FREE PIZZA?! Look no further than the Pizza Mic. The Pizza Mic (formerly at Pizza Serio) is, first and foremost, a safe space for all. Whether you’re a seasoned comic, an improvisor who’s always wanted to try standup, or you just decided that today’s the day for your first open mic (kudos) – The Pizza Mic is a great venue to workshop your bits. The show is every Tuesday from 5:30pm – 7:30pm. Signup is online and the signup sheet is posted on Facebook & IG on Mondays. The list is emailed out a few hours before the show. Comics get 4 minutes of stage time (and a lifetime of memories.) While all are welcome, the room prioritizes BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and Femme comics. Come laugh with us!

Jun 5- Jun 26

QUEERBAIT is a show where the cast is queer and you’re the bait. Follow these 6 comedians as they/she/he/it explore a multitude of queer identities via an absurdist sketch comedy lense. This show will prove once and for all that queer people are funnier. And if you disagree? You’re probably homophobic!

6/5 - 6/26

Follow Doctor Rorscach as he takes you into the depths of your own subconscious through improv, sketch, and special guest stars.
Rorschach Baby is an improv team formed through the Annoyance Program, and coached by Jake Prizant (Hulu’s Deli Boys, Missed Call). Instagram: RorscachBabyImprov

Team Members include: Tessa Abedon, Travis Bergman, Jason Clark, Melissa Harrison, Katie Rae Horn, Carolyn Hu Bradbury, Andrew Kerr, Nick Martini, Jace Mertes, Daniella Pereira, Jazmin Robinson, Stephen Shoemaker, and Justin Vidovic

6/22

Do you want to have a boring night or do you want to get into some SHAANANIGANS? Bollywood stars, spelling bee champions, R&B singers, and so much more - this is a solo character show featuring the weirdos who show up on TV late at night when no one is watching. Representation matters for freaks too. Written and performed by Shaan Baig. Directed by Arik Cohen.

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Taking her life experience of attending an Indiana Catholic School for 12 years. Syd King looks at why she took purity culture terribly seriously; shamed friends for OWNING yoga pants, SLAPPED PEOPLE WHEN THEY CURSED, and did almost anything but love thy neighbour. Syd is now publicly atoning for her sins and hopefully making anyone else that still feels a tinge of guilt with a sip of red wine, a little better. Directed by Vannessa Jackson (SNL, Colbert, A Black Lady Sketch Show)

6/7 - 6/28

Shake the Baby is a 90-minute original sketch revue directed by Mick Napier.

The show’s cast and writers consist of Chicago’s up-and-coming comedians - Hope Brannon, Francesca Bucci, Luke Herman, Sage Huston, Max Kantor, Edgar Nevarez, Liam Reed, Mario Turner, and Rockie Wenrich. Music Direction by Justin Jacobs

6/6-8/2

Al's a new gay in Chicago looking for love in the big city when he bumps into the most beautiful man he's ever seen on the streets of Northalsted one night. Desperate to make his acquaintance, Al follows him into the legendary bathhouse Steamworks. As he makes his way through the maze of jacuzzis, slings, gloryholes, and fuck benches, Al makes a wild group of friends who help him discover what love might really mean when everyone's covered in cum.

6/6-8/2

Al's a new gay in Chicago looking for love in the big city when he bumps into the most beautiful man he's ever seen on the streets of Northalsted one night. Desperate to make his acquaintance, Al follows him into the legendary bathhouse Steamworks. As he makes his way through the maze of jacuzzis, slings, gloryholes, and fuck benches, Al makes a wild group of friends who help him discover what love might really mean when everyone's covered in cum.

Open Run

A night for Annoyance students to JAM!

Open Run

Super Human is an improv team that tore into Chicago’s comedy scene in 2012 at The Upstairs Gallery (RIP). Since then, Super Human has become synonymous with bold, hilarious, fearless and fun comedy. Described as a “splash zone of women,” Super Human prides itself on the team’s diverse personalities and playing styles, with an unmistakable focus on creating inclusive learning and performance spaces. They are Super Human and SO ARE YOU!

5/2 - 5/23

That Vibey Show is an hour-long improv show hosted by Kiki Hughes and her invited guests where, in collaboration with the audience, we come up with thee vibiest 6-track playlists of all time and let that playlist influence a 20 minute improv set.

Music is how we culturally pass the plate & arguably the most galvanizing ingredient in any comedy show. This comedy show is a safe space for play, serving up comfort, imagination and a good vibe. Just like my childhood basement.

Bi-Weekly

A night of Roman fuckery. Watch philosophers roast each other, improv gladiators battle, and kneel to Cesar in this truly unruly night of alt-comedy.

7/5

The Journey before the Journey! Following the success of their hit
show, The Illiad, renowned theatre troupe Homer, get to work on their
next play. But as anyone who's experienced success knows, it's not
easy to repeat. Will Homer navigate the ire of the Gods, the blending
of personal and professional relationships, and creative bankruptcy to
create a classic that will outlive everyone and change storytelling
for the rest of time? Feels like a lot of pressure. Presented by Ants
in the Hall, a Detroit based comedy troupe that specializes in
semi-scripted, mostly improvised live performances, you can look
forward to a classic Greek comedy told in a way it's never been told
before. From the point of view of the actors, producers and writers
who made it exist. The Odyssey of Homer is an out of the box comedy
about the double edged sword that is creative success.

7/26

The Pendejos: a comedic talent show, brings Chicago's funniest character comedians and makes them showcase their absurd talent to "compete" for the title of Pendejo of the Month. Hosted by Chicago's resident Pedejos, Keiter (The Mermaids, Big Deborah, Escandalo) & Lorena ( Casa de Lore, Burlesque is More, Escandalo).

From the producers of Improvised Survivor & The Chicago Comedy, K8R Productions presents a new chaotic show to the Annoyance Theatre. The Pendejos: a comedic talent show, brings Chicago's funniest character comedians and makes them showcase their absurd talent to "compete" for the title of Pendejo of the Month. Hosted by Chicago's resident Pedejos, Keiter (The Mermaids, Big Deborah, Escandalo) & Lorena ( Casa de Lore, Burlesque is More, Escandalo). Be part of the estupidez every last Thursday of the month at 7pm ONLY at the Annoyance Theatre.

7/2 - 7/30

What if people talked to each other on the CTA?

If you’ve ever sat on public transport thinking “I wonder what that person’s life is like,” The Sunshine Bus is for you! This cast of hilarious improvisers create a wholesome, brand new, improv show each week exploring the lives of commuters and how we might all find moments of connection with strangers and friends.

6/2 - 6/30

The Truth About Love is a brand new raunchy rom com musical that follows the unique stories of 8 different people living in Fair Haven Vermont. This Musical explores all the Greek words for love

Open Run

Annoyance founder Mick Napier created the Trigger Happy form out of a desire to make improv look as slick and beautifully put together as a scripted show. Through a language invisible to the audience, the fully improvised show magically comes to life. There is truly nothing else like it. An Annoyance Signature Improv show.

Review: https://www.newcitystage.com/2015/01/31/review-trigger-happythe-annoyance-theatre/

Open Run

The Annoyance's very own musical ensembles. Every Tuesday at 8pm, two groups improvise brand new musicals based on audience suggestions. Featuring Musical Director Lisa McQueen and starring the Annoyance Musical Ensembles. Follow us on instagram: @tuesdaymusicalimprov

6/19

This Juneteenth, That Vibey Show is turning all the way up with a one-night-only Lip-Sync Battle you do not want to miss. At 8 p.m. on June 19th at the Annoyance Theatre (851 W. Belmont), our lineup of hilarious guest comedians will perform bold, ridiculous, and iconic lip-syncs to songs by legendary Black artists—all in hopes of earning a coveted spot on our collective Vibey playlist. It’s a mix of high-stakes musical improv, comedy chaos, and celebration of Black joy and artistry. But remember: the audience decides who makes the cut. Get your crew together, bring your loudest laugh, and click the link in my bio for tickets. 🎤✨ #It’sNotJustAComedyShowItsAVibe

Open Run

They take edibles. Then they improvise. There's a 'too-high' button, for when it gets too crazy.

6/6 - 6/27

Yas, And! elevates LGBT voices and posits that change on a large scale begins with engaging your local community. The show incorporates a fundraising component for The Trevor Project, the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention nonprofit organization for LGBTQ+ young people. Come out of the closet and enjoy the show as a dynamic ensemble of LGBTQ+ actors deliver a dazzling array of sketches that capture the joys, challenges, and triumphs of queer life.