Close Quarters is an improvised comedy where every scene unfolds just a wall, hallway, or whisper away. Set in one shared location, this fast-paced, character-driven show follows multiple storylines that collide, overlap, and hilariously unravel in real time. Directed by an ensemble member of the original production, Close Quarters honors its origins while showcasing a new cast of sharp, fearless improvisers. Come see how close things can really get.

A new sketch show from The Annoyance Theater!

Eric Striffler & Scott Cramer are hitting the road to watch movies together on The DCOM Tour! And while you might think you know what that stands for, our DCOM stands for Dallas, Chicago, Orlando, & Minneapolis. Join Eric & Scott for a night of laughs, drinks, & hopefully a little Eddie!

Open to current, former, and prospective students, The Annoyance Improv Games Jam is an opportunity to get on stage and put what you've been learning in class into action!

“Wet Willie Goes To Karate” is a brilliantly crafted solo comedy that weaves humor and heartache as it follows a man navigating the emotional turmoil of a broken heart. He’s encouraged to try an unconventional counseling method that leads to both laugh-out-loud moments and profound insights, showcasing the absurdity and resilience of the human spirit in the face of heartbreak.

A night for Annoyance students to JAM!

Join us for the world premiere of scadink, a raucous and heartfelt look at the life and times of Travis Scadink. Watch as he navigates life, love, and the pursuit of happiness. Stick around after the screening for a talk back with Travis himself.

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!

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

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

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!

Close Quarters is an improvised comedy where every scene unfolds just a wall, hallway, or whisper away. Set in one shared location, this fast-paced, character-driven show follows multiple storylines that collide, overlap, and hilariously unravel in real time. Directed by an ensemble member of the original production, Close Quarters honors its origins while showcasing a new cast of sharp, fearless improvisers. Come see how close things can really get.

A new sketch show from The Annoyance Theater!

Swig. Prezents: Too Brain Cells is a two-woman sketch show that serves up bite-sized brilliance, heartfelt hot takes, and a surprising number of churro-related metaphors for modern America. Smart sketch. Dumb choices. Big heart. If you’ve ever felt feelings in a Taco Bell parking lot, this show is for you.

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.

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!

The ladies of Gag Reflex return to the Annoyance for one-night only of all new sketches and a epic send off for the one and only Sam MacNerland (Chicago’s favorite Tech Director).

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.

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.

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.

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!

An improv show straight out of Austin, TX.

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.

Something Like A Brother (SLAB) is a two-man 50-minute comedic catastrophe starring Nathan Hatfield Eryn Rafferty. Laugh, cry, and throw tomatoes while enjoying sketches, puppets, and poorly choreographed but very earnest dance numbers. If you’ve ever wanted to see two grown men throw comedic spaghetti at a metaphorical wall for nearly an hour, now’s your chance. (Please don't throw actual tomatoes at the performers we promised them not to worry about it).

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

Viral internet sensation Puppy Songs is coming to Chicago and bringing his Musical Journey to the Annoyance Theatre! Matt Hobbs, the creator of Puppy Songs as well as a songwriter, composer, and playwright, reveals more of the man behind the songs,the songs behind the man, and the puppies in the songs—in Puppy Songs: The Musical Journey of an Oblivious Dog Dad.

This one-man show is part musical, part retrospective, part memoir, and all love to Leni and Mar Pup, the two dogs that expanded Hobbs’s creative horizons and inspired the creation of Puppy Songs. Come sing along to the tunes you know and love, and be delighted by the stories and songs you’ve never heard before.

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?

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/

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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.

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.

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.

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

Viral internet sensation Puppy Songs is coming to Chicago and bringing his Musical Journey to the Annoyance Theatre! Matt Hobbs, the creator of Puppy Songs as well as a songwriter, composer, and playwright, reveals more of the man behind the songs,the songs behind the man, and the puppies in the songs—in Puppy Songs: The Musical Journey of an Oblivious Dog Dad.

This one-man show is part musical, part retrospective, part memoir, and all love to Leni and Mar Pup, the two dogs that expanded Hobbs’s creative horizons and inspired the creation of Puppy Songs. Come sing along to the tunes you know and love, and be delighted by the stories and songs you’ve never heard before.