Annoyance put itself on the map with its famously distasteful gross-out musical Co-Ed Prison Sluts. Twenty-plus years later, it still cranks out bizarre, unconventional comedy. Its new home on Belmont gives it two performance venues and classroom space all in the same building, along with a lobby bar worth visiting even if you're not seeing a show.
In a city as comedy-centric as Chicago, no one neighborhood can claim to be the destination for comedy fans. Old Town will always have Second City and Zanies; pH Productions and the Neo-Futurists draw connoisseurs to Andersonville. But even though iO moved south to the Clybourn Corridor in 2014, Lakeview may have the highest concentration of comedy clubs of any ’hood in the city. With the Annoyance Theatre's relocation from Uptown to Belmont Avenue and the opening of the new Under the Gun Theater and Public House Theatre all in the last few years, plus music venues like the Vic Theatre and Schubas occasionally hosting touring comics, Lakeview has laughs to offer every night of the week.
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