Super Scaries presents a made-up horror musical that conjures an entirely new nightmare each night - never seen before, never to be seen again. The cast crafts a chilling tale from one audience suggestion of an ordinary object that turns out to be anything but. Equal parts terror and hilarity, Super Scaries is a darkly funny dive into fear, fate, and the unexpected, before it's gone forever by the final note.

Deep in the heart of a volcano, Crash Test Labs is hard at work creating the funniest, spookiest sketches ever. Join Gus, David, Jonah, and their robot sidekick for an hour of haunted laughs and bone-chilling fun. Featuring original songs, characters and the best alternative stand up comics in Chicago.

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

Thick and Twisted, a plus size cabaret, presents a very special and spooky Halloween show. Featuring unforgettable drag and incomparable comedy from the hottest plus size entertainers in Chicago! This shows lineup includes Lexi Costantini Cunt Fuckula Michael Oakes Delilah Orizaba Amora Storm Cici Puede Hosted by Femme de Violette

Open Sketch is the best open mic for sketches in Chicago! If you are looking to try out a new sketch, bring a group, a 4-5 minute sketch (with less than 4 tech cues), and a barrel full of laughs! Please bring the barrel. We only have one barrel and we keep fighting over it. Hosted by Andrew Sulfsted and AJ Hernandez-Sortore

Come watch King of Drag Season 2 with your host, Twinka Masala. They are a local drag artist and KOD Season 2 contestant! Join us every Sunday for a night of drag performances, games, giveaways, q/a's and meet and greets, king commentary and more. Doors open at 7 PM, the episodes start at 8 PM, followed by live drag performances.

See how short form improv works and even try it out yourself! This short form jam is open to Annoyance students and other improv performers. Join us!

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!

This two-hander features Joe Liss (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Strangers with Candy, Home Alone 2) and Dee Ryan (The Office, United States of Tara). Joe is a master improviser who created and performed over five reviews at The Second City: In addition to numerous TV appearances, Joe is a seasoned TV writer with work on shows like Third Rock from the Sun and SpongeBob SquarePants. DEE RYAN, his co-star, also a Second City alum who has written for Disney Animated features is known as a go-to guru in the world of comedic improvisation, teaching at both The Second City and Northwestern University. TOGETHER, their decades of comedy experience and razor-shay instincts make for a high wire, high-laugh performance.

Murder at Moidah Manor is a 75-minute comedic murder mystery featuring a color-coded ensemble, farcical shenanigans, and themes around cult mentality. This Clue-esque farce follows Mr. Crimson, Esq., Judge Juniper, Admiral Auburn, Professor Goldwinn, Baroness Perivinkle, and Dr. Eggshell as they try to figure out which of them is a cultist trying to start the end of days. Will they make it out alive? Or will there be Murder at Moidah Manor?!

Lipstick Lounge is a monthly immersive night for queer Latinas, sapphics, and the whole queer community, brought to you by DAMA Productions. Every last Saturday, we transform the space around a brand new theme, from Punk Party to Kiss the Bride, complete with a lookbook so you can dress the part. Expect two rooms of music, a tattoo parlor, vendors, coloring stations, a photoshoot room, themed spaces, a chill area, and cabaret-style performances. We can all be the main characters, and we take care of each other. 21+.

A musical to save democracy from Bryce Halliday & Ben Auxier. RANK! is a Schoolhouse Rock inspired explanation of ranked choice voting, an electoral system that allows voters to choose multiple candidates in order of preference. Don’t you want another choice? With a score that nods to public education musicals going back to the 1960s, RANK! will have you toe-tapping your way to the ballot box.

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!

Every day it feels like you have to make dinner, and also you're being recorded, and also the world is ending. Oh well. Let's have fun! One thing's for sure tonight: we're all walking out of here alive.

Screw the algorithm! Sketched Out is a bi-monthly digital sketch comedy showcase rebelling against short attention spans. Too weird for your average feed, this is the gold that never makes it past the social media gatekeepers. Join us for a night filled with digital sketches on the BIG screen and meet some of Chicago’s boldest sketch artists, from up-and-coming voices to seasoned comedy pros. Have a sketch you want to submit? Check out @SketchedOut_Digital for submissions

The mean streets of Barrington, Illinois. Home to several small businesses, nationally ranked public schools, and a seedy criminal underbelly threatening to destroy it all. DEREK ARATE, a 16 year old schoolboy who has devoted his life to learning the ways of karate after losing his father in a freak karate accident, is on the cusp of realizing that he may be the key to unlocking Barrington’s villainous secrets. UNCLE CHARLES, his uncle, stepped in to raise the boy along with his deceased brother’s wife CHRISTINE. Uncle Charles has a vested interest in Derek’s journey, keeping his nephew from the same freak karate tragic fate that took his father. What Derek does not know is that his uncle may have had more to do with his father’s untimely passing than anyone could know...

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Spitball is a new monthly sketch show presented by The Annoyance Sketch team, Shake the Baby. Every month the cast will produce a mix of digital and live sketches and showcase up and coming comedians and filmmakers. VIDEO SUBMISSION FORM: https://forms.gle/WsgMW8xZk5jzrkym7

HOUSEPARTY is bringing back not only short form improv, but also a damn good time. Featuring new guests and themes every week, you can never go to the same HOUSEPARTY twice.

Back in the days when Annoyance was in a loft on Lincoln Ave. "Grabass" was a secret show that had a cult following. Every week the cast would create new weirdo bits and have 24 hours to bring them to life with a different strange character hosting the evening. Now the show is back with new friends, a new host each week and it's called Whiskey Dog! Tuesdays at 7:30 PM starting Sept 21.

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!

Originally inspired by the classic movie and hit FX show "Fargo", Duluth takes audiences into the world of true crime in the Midwest. During this extra-spooky October run, the cast will draw inspiration from the hit Apple TV show, "Widow's Bay", improvising an eerie story filled with myth, murder and general mayhem, all set against the backdrop of an audience member's hometown. This show contrasts terrifying folklore with "Minnesota nice".

New forms. New Players. Big Laughs. Every week is a new and different show. So what you see, no one else will see.

The Best of Annoyance Improv main ensemble, made up of veteran Annoyance improvisers and joined by an opening cast of current Annoyance students, brings you the best weekly improv the Annoyance Theatre & Bar has to offer. In honor of the theatre's upcoming 40th anniversary, we’re bringing back the tradition of “pay to leave”: the show is free to enter, but just like in the early days, we’ll kindly take a cash donation in return for your escape. The opening student team performs its own original form, is coached by ensemble members, and is cast through auditions and refreshed with new players every eight weeks. If you’re a current Annoyance student interested in joining, follow @bestofannoyanceimprov on Instagram for audition announcements and updates!

Come play the game with us...When you enter our haunted theater, YOU have the power to control our resident ghost, The Petite Boy....Write down some secret suggestions for how you'd like to possess one of our cast members....Then as our longform improv show goes on, we all try to figure out which one of us is being possessed.

How queer... From the minds that brought you the holiday sensation A Very Steamworks Christmas comes a new murder mystery! Tucked away in the mountains of Aspen, Colorado is the sleepy Hoggy Log Inn and Ski Resort, where there have been no murders... Until a rich daddy brings together his dearest friends (and enemies) for a big announcement. Was it his sweet sugar baby? The jealous brother? The spoiled daughter? The bitter ex? In this farcical, chaotic, and very queer play, find out Who Slaughtered Daddy Dearest, written and directed by Noah Lanos and Connor James Hirsch.

Teams of improvisers frankly go up against each other to please Caesar. If he is unpleased they will be punished physically and mentally.

Joe Harrington and Eric Greenbaum, Disco Horses, make their return to Chicago with their absurdist sketch comedy duo. Showcasing new and classic sketches they've written and performed around the country and UK over the past 4 years, alongside performances from their very bestest and funniest friends in the Chicago comedy scene, this show is bound to make you laugh, guffaw, and want to write a long social media post about how live entertainment is back! Come check out Disco Horses if you know them, or if you know nothing about them. You'll be sure to laugh.....we hope. Please laugh.

Each month, the Annoyance's best performers transform themselves into new, original characters. When they get onstage, You never know what will happen but one thing is for sure. There will be WIGS.......

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.

Horror and Comedy come together for a bloody good time in Splatter Theater! In it's 39th year, the show combines all the elements you love about this subversive romp through suburbia with fresh, gory new twists. Follow our thirteen caricatures of slashers past as they attempt to survive the night inside the white picket fences of Mayfield. With a cast of all stars ready to get gross for your Halloween pleasure, prepare to laugh so hard it makes you scream. It's the blood-covered brain-child of Mick Napier, she's back and bloodier than ever.

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

Originally commissioned for Goblincon in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, "Kentucky's Friendliest Cryptids" follows Agents Hill and Montgomery on their quest to prove the existence of cryptids. And those infamous Goblins are back in Hopkinsville on a mysterious mission of their own. Created by the cast the show features puppetry, comedy, audience participation and original songs!

Get ready for an amazing night of comedy at the Maher Matta Chicago show - live and in person! Maher is a story telling comedian who brings his Instagram characters to the state. Come see Maher and sassy Samira!

ANYTHING BUT DRAGONS is a live tabletop roleplaying game with live dice & barely any table 🫦 A brand new TTRPG is created each night using 30 audience suggestions and two 30-sided dice. One game master and three onstage players bring the roleplay to life while you control the party's luck from your seat. Anything But Dragons mixes the best parts of improv, TTRPGs, and interactive theatre to bring you something never before seen each and every night.

You’re (un)invited! Uninvited is a fully improvised event-based disaster in three acts. The audience supplies the suggestion of why we’re gathered, and then we show you what wackiness and whimsy unfolded before, after, and then during the event. Join us for a one hour chaotic descent into why we got ourselves Uninvited.

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

What if the heroes never saved the day? What if one town WAS swallowed up by a hellmouth, or infiltrated by alien imposters? Cryptic is a fully-improvised documentary in the style of true crime stories, exploring the aftermath of a small-town mystery and how it brings a community together. Complete with interviews, theories, accusations, and revelations, you'll be shocked by what we uncover. If you love true crime and tall tales, you'll love Cryptic!

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

An LGBTQIA+ themed variety show featuring some of Chicago's strongest and most diversely hilarious voices!

Guerrilla Press is proud to present Blue Wave By The Lake! A Chicago-style progressive midterm results watch party! Left Flank's Dylan Blaha and Demi Palecek, along with ALTIFA's Nick Hausman, will host Blue Wave By The Lake, playing games, giving away prizes, reacting to results as they come in, and welcoming special guests. Palecek is on the ballot that night for the State Representative (IL-13) seat and will be reacting to the results of her race in front of the live audience! Girl, I Guess co-author Stephanie Skora will be providing live results commentary throughout the evening in front of her big projector screen. AKA, serving as the "Steve Kornaki" of the night. Possibly in khakis, no guarantees! Some of the Chicago progressive leaders and influencers who will be making appearances include: 1st Ward Alderperson Daniel La Spata 40th Ward Alderperson Andre Vasquez 43rd Ward Alderperson Timmy Knudsen 48th Ward Alderperson Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth Former IL State Senate candidate Nick Uniejewski With more still to be announced! Blue Wave By The Lake takes place Tuesday, November 3 at The Annoyance Theater. Festivities will begin at 7 pm and continue until all major races are called or the bar closes, whichever comes first. Drink specials will be available!

Out of Key is a short raunchy comedic play about love, ego and classical music. It focuses on an arrogant high school football captian named Crew who misses his shot with the theatre girl he desires. A head injury sends him into 1800’s Vienna where he meets Beethoven. Beethoven takes Crew on a journey to meet the greatest composers of the time (Chopin, Liszt, and the Schumanns) to guide him to discover what true love actually is.

MAYDAY! MAYDAY! Your space shuttle is making an emergency crash landing on the nearest planet where the only (semi) intelligent life forms are Karly, Evan, and Emma. They’ve spent all their lives writing sketches and awaiting an audience, and now you’re finally here! But beware that on Funny Planet nothing is as it seems… and everything is stupid…

WARNING: Don’t Try This At Home. Inspired by the bond of true friendship, Not4Kidz presents a Jackass-Style Variety Show. Guests will take the stage with a twist. Maybe you’ve got 8 minutes to complete your set, but you also need to finish an entire sheet cake before the lights go out? Maybe everyone on the team is blindfolded? Maybe your set is interrupted by a rodeo clown? Anything that would make MTV’s most lovable idiots proud. We’re Not4Kidz, and welcome to whackass!

It's Christmas at Steamworks, and all through the baths, all the queers are celebrating... and there might be ghosts?! Join us for a queer take on A Christmas Carol as your favorite characters from Steamworks the Musical navigate Steamworks' past, present, and future while trying to save the building from being destroyed by an evil Grinch! We promise you lots of raunchy reimagined holiday tunes, all while keeping the yuletide gay!

Come witness horrifying and taste-defying sketch comedy featuring the crew of the MOTORCYCLE ROCKETSHIP as they guarantee certain doom for themselves and their audience. Can you survive? Of course not!

This format might seem similar to Jubilee's hit show Surrounded but this is most certainly not that because they seem litigious. The format is simple: one person gives their hot take and has to go up against 20 people tearing their take (and them) down for 8 minutes. The heart of Arounded is clip farming and ragebait, not changing minds. So, in that way, it's exactly like Jubilee's Surrounded. We, however, aren't in the business of platforming divisive right wing politics because we don't need politics to make people upset online.