Think of your favorite musical but off-the-dome and underground... it’s The Great Human Machine! DePaul Comedy Arts’ improvisers mix long-form improv and their musical talents to create an on-the-spot and theatrical piece every Monday at 6:30.

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!

This jam will focus on game-based (short form) improv. Hear the rules or the description of the game and jump in! Make quick choices and find the funny fast!

Mondays 8pm FREE

*No ticket required

*Any money collected will be considered a donation to The Annoyance's Scholarship Funds

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

Mondays 9:30pm FREE

*No ticket required

*Any money collected will be considered a donation to The Annoyance's Scholarship Funds

Open to current, former, and prospective students, The Annoyance Musical Improv Jam is the perfect opportunity to practice what you've been learning in class, or experiment and try something new!

Tuesdays 7:00pm FREE

*No ticket required

*Any money collected will be considered a donation to The Annoyance's Scholarship Funds

The Annoyance's very own musical ensembles. They sing funny songs. Off the top of their heads. Every Tuesday at 8.

A Random Memory is a close-up magic show about memories, connection, and bringing people together to experience magic. In this highly interactive hour of card tricks and mentalism your memories take center stage to make classics of magic more meaningful. So take a seat at the close-up table and together let’s make a magic show worth remembering.

Modern Butchood is an explosive, hilarious, new play about a big lesbian mess. This one woman show follows the misadventures of “Butch” the sardonic girlfriend of a semi-famous lesbian Tik-Toker. Dissatisfied in her relationship and seeking excitement, Butch begins sneaking out of her apartment at night, sparking a riotous descent into lust, chaos, and queer identity. Balancing sharp wit and biting examinations of queer life, Modern Butchood is a fresh theatrical experience you won’t want to miss!

Modern Butchood has played at the Hollywood Fringe Festival (2024) and Providence Fringe Festival (2025).

Written and Performed by Molly Gloeckner

Directed by Charlie Towle

The Dim Sons are a two man Asian comedy duo whose chemistry and quick fire wit is the envy of all duos. This 55 minute show will highlight sketches, songs, and improvised segments filled with clever wordplay and unexpected heart. Join the Dim Son as they discover why they're as classic a combination as PB&J. Brian Park and Robert Kapaku formed the Dim Sons as a spin-off of the 2024 Victor Wong Fellowship at The Second City.

You've been summoned...to laugh.

Jury Duty is a fully improvised courtroom comedy where the only thing on trial is sanity itself.

Each night, the cast creates a brand new legal disaster based on audience suggestion, questionable logic, and total chaos. Watch as the foreperson loses their mind, evidence makes things worse, and deliberations go off the rails.

No script, no rules, no justice. Just comedy

The trial is fake, the laughs are real

BUTTERFACE is a two-person sketch show extravaganza exploring themes of compassion, love, empathy, and cringe. Written and performed through the vessels of Brady Barrow and Ollie Grishaber, these two will bring the beauty of HOPE back to comedy by doing the unspeakable: being two women with okay faces. Sure, the sketches are really good...but her face!

Run Time: 45 Minutes

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! 

Fishbowl hosted by Sight Unseen is 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. The night closes with a set from Sight Unseen - an Annoyance house team that prides itself on being equal parts heartwarming and offensive.

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. 

Modern Butchood is an explosive, hilarious, new play about a big lesbian mess. This one woman show follows the misadventures of “Butch” the sardonic girlfriend of a semi-famous lesbian Tik-Toker. Dissatisfied in her relationship and seeking excitement, Butch begins sneaking out of her apartment at night, sparking a riotous descent into lust, chaos, and queer identity. Balancing sharp wit and biting examinations of queer life, Modern Butchood is a fresh theatrical experience you won’t want to miss!

Modern Butchood has played at the Hollywood Fringe Festival (2024) and Providence Fringe Festival (2025).

Written and Performed by Molly Gloeckner

Directed by Charlie Towle

Brand new sketch comedy every week from one of Chicago's premiere sketch teams.

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!

A Chicago based improv comedy show and drinking game based on the works of Alfred Hitchcock.

As more than 2 million Illinois residents face the loss of SNAP Annoyance hosts two special benefit performances titled "SNAP Out of It" on November 8 and November 15, with ticket proceeds supporting the Common Pantry's mission to provide food security to those in need.

All ticket, auction and donation proceeds, as well as non-perishable items donated for food drive go to Common Pantry.

Each show features a different lineup... 

TALENT INCLUDES:

Annoyance Teachers (Fishbowl)

Best of Annoyance Sketch

Claudia Wallace

Father Figures

JC Brooks

Missed Call

Napier & Estlin

Sean Flannery

Second City

Shake the Baby

Susan Messing & John Lehr

TJ Jagodowski

Tuesday Musical Improv

AUCTION ITEMS FROM: 

Drew's On Halsted

Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce

Second City

Steppenwolf Theatre

Mentalism meets improv comedy in the entirely unique form created by Annoyance founder Mick Napier. There is truly nothing else like it.

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.

An hour long comedy show featuring some of Annoyance Theatre’s best and funniest.

Introducing the Annoyance Variety Hour! Featuring performances from Chicago's best comedians, musicians, magicians, circus performers, puppeteers, and everything in between! A true everything goes show reminiscent of classic programs like the Ed Sullivan Show and the Gong Show, its sure to surprise and amaze even the most seasoned of theater goers. Hosted by one of Chicago's best alternative comedians, Michael Serio, an international headliner and regular at major comedy venues all across the city, and live music played every night by the soulful stylings of the musical comedy duo sensation So Far So Good, the only thing you'll be disappointed by is that you didn't go see it sooner. 

A bunch of grown-ass adults get high and play make believe.

Varun Thakur is back with his latest special Space Cadet—a hilarious deep dive into the existential chaos of adulthood. From navigating marriage without a user manual to debating whether having kids is just signing up for 18 years of unpaid internship, Varun tackles life’s big questions with relatable rants, unhinged act-outs and the energy of a man who’s just realized his EMI will outlive him.

With his signature high-energy storytelling and spot-on impressions, Space Cadet is a wild ride through the mind of a man just trying to keep up with life… and occasionally escape it. Buckle up and blast off with Varun Thakur’s Space Cadet!

Calling all 90s kids! This show is for you. Each week Chicago’s hottest comedians share PowerPoints on their favorite 90s obsessions, while the audience battles over trivia from Boy Bands to Beanie Babies. Hosted by Colette Gregory and Bren Tran, this show mixes comedy, crowdwork, and (your favorite 90s) crushes into a wild night that will make you forget you’re grown!

In a coven, where the witches don’t want to move and find new friends, where partners are passed around, and where warlocks go to sleeze. What is this? oh yeah it's THE COVEN. Join the warlocks and witches as they celebrate a wedding in vegas!