Back in the saddle
Still offering the same amusing and outrageous brand of improv comedy,
the Annoyance Theater has settled nicely into its new Uptown digs

By Jessica Kelmon

Ah, the disdain we all secretly have for tourists. We love this city, and we love that they love this city, but do they have to take over all our great venues?

The art of being a real Chicagoan is finding a truly funny performance in the birthplace of comedy — and in a theater not riddled with outsiders.

Well, I’ve found it, and I’m going to tell you the name and address. Guard this secret with your … well, just guard it.

It’s called the Annoyance Theater.

An unassuming storefront entry on Broadway gives way to a colorful, post-modern bar in Uptown. Buy a drink and a ticket and proceed down the hallway to an almost hidden improv theater. The stage is a slightly elevated platform with fewer than 100 chairs facing it. Walk right in and sit right down, but avoid the front row if you are attached to your outfit because one song is purposely punctuated by the singers spitting food.

Around 8 p.m. on Saturday night, the lights dim for the first of three performances. “The Invention Show” is a musical comedy poking fun at great innovators responsible for improving our standard of living. Eight comedians present skits of characters ranging from “Lenny” da Vinci to the typist who struggled to find the right name for Wite Out (“Mistake Out is so negative!”). For about two minutes, you actually feel smarter. But these singers will cram you so full of information you never wanted and drop so many F-bombs that you will laugh out loud — and probably leave dumber, if not just drunker, than you came.

Energy levels in the first show rise and fall, leaving the theater feeling a little cold during the low points. In an odd way, it results in audience respect, as it reminds you just how hard it would be to succeed at improv. Near the end of the show, however, when the cast pays homage to Thomas Edison, Thea Lux clearly enunciates a rapid-fire song about Edison’s “arguably insane” nemesis. During this song, you will be in awe and realize why a sense of humor alone won’t cut it in this business. This show is about talent.

 

Between shows, there is time to grab another drink and talk to some of the performers. Mike Canale, managing director and show producer, calls the Annoyance Theater one of the “big three,” along with Improv Olympic and Second City.

“Most of the good people end up performing at one of these,” he says, calling the Chicago comedy world an incestuous yet welcoming place. “What is unfortunate is that people do have to leave Chicago eventually.”

But before performers leave in search of TV and movie deals in Los Angeles and New York, they tend to hone their talents in Chicago. Andy Richter, Conan O’Brien’s old sidekick who has his own show now, Jeff Garland from “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and Jay Johnston are all names Canale can proudly drop as not-so-long-ago Annoyance performers.

“The training here is second to none,” Canale says.

Annoyance was previously located on Clark Street in Wrigleyville, but it had been without a home since 2001 before eventually relocating to Uptown last summer. Despite a lengthy hiatus in production, the training program stayed intact, and popular, among young comedians with a taste for improv.

Six of the eight actors in the first performance are members of the Annoyance’s 24-member ensemble, which means they usually spend weekends performing and weeknights teaching. The Annoyance regularly offers five levels of Scenic Improvisation classes and has recently expanded the curriculum to include a Writing elective. Classes are taught by ensemble members who give a whole new meaning to the word “busy,” as most also hold full-time jobs outside the theater.

 

The stage heats up with the second performance of the night, “Arm Soup.” This musical comedy about a road trip turned cannibalistic party is as outrageous as it sounds. The recipe is one part silly, one part witty, two parts hilarious and, of course, six parts corpse.

Andrew Peyton, an example of the budding new talent at the Annoyance Theater, steals the show as the questionably Goth, definitely homosexual younger brother.

Arm Soup suffers at points, where lyrics are jumbled or drowned out by the background music. But the actors keep the audience engaged through plot twists and turns, making a missed lyric or two a relatively minor detail. The chemistry and energy of the show are never in doubt. And if your sense of humor is lacking, I swear there is an “audience plant” — one member of the crowd loudly indicating when it’s time to laugh — just in case you missed something. But don’t worry, you won’t.

So, if you see someone holding this publication in one hand and a map in the other, run over and “accidentally” rip the page from his or her hands. You don’t want to be responsible for sending the Annoyance Theater over to the dark side.

And by the dark side, you know I mean “Just ate at Ditka’s, drank to oblivion on Rush Street and now choosing between Second City and — gasp — the Annoyance.”

The Annoyance Theater is located at 4840 N. Broadway (near Lawrence) and online at www.TheAnnoyance.com.

Shows run every night but Monday, and ticket prices range from $5 - $15. There is a $2 student show on Wednesdays. Call (773) 561-HONK for more information.

 

And, up next we have
“Dr. Amazing, Your Country Needs You”

The idea: Space Nazis
The era: 1960s
The quest: Galactic chaos

What else would they do, but try to make the moon crash into Earth? That’s exactly what Annoyance ensemble member Sean Cusick, 28, was thinking. A stage comedian for the past five years, Cusick is opting for the director’s chair this time. His mission: To direct Dr. Amazing into saving Earth.

“It’s really weird, funny and insane,” says Mike Canale, managing director. This seems to be what Annoyance does best. The show debuts soon. Check online for show times or call the box office at (773) 561-HONK.

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