The Annoyance Theatre, or Annoyance Productions, is a theatre and associated ensemble based in Chicago, Illinois, that deals mainly in absurd and outrageous humor. Many people who have performed with the ensemble have gone on to become successful stage and screen actors. Popular productions have included Co-Ed Prison Sluts and That Darned Antichrist. Annoyance Productions currently runs classes in improvisation, writing, musical improvisation, acting, and solo work.
A political drama can describe a play, film or TV program that has a political component, whether reflecting the author's political opinion, or describing a politician or series of political events.
Matthew Paul Walsh is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for his role as Mike McLintock in Veep for which he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He is a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, with which he co-starred in its original television series and the 2015 reboot. He also previously starred in short-lived comedy programs such as Dog Bites Man and Players, and was a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He has also appeared in films such as Road Trip (2000), Bad Santa (2003), School for Scoundrels (2006), Role Models (2008), The Hangover (2009), and The Do-Over (2016).
Defiant Theatre was a Chicago-based theatre company founded in 1993 by a group of students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which includes Nick Offerman. The eclectic troupe specialized in productions that emphasized inventive stagecraft, perverse and controversial topics, and skillful stage combat. While the company is highly regarded for original plays such as Action Movie: The Play and Godbaby, Defiant Theatre received notable attention for productions of plays by Caryl Churchill, Alfred Jarry, Sarah Kane, and William Shakespeare. Chicago Magazine named Defiant the "Best Experimental Theatre" in their August 1999 Best of Chicago issue. The company disbanded in 2004.
Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) is a U.S. military joint task force based at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on the southeastern end of the base. JTF-GTMO falls under US Southern Command. Since January 2002 the command has operated the Guantanamo Bay detention camps Camp X-Ray and its successors Camp Delta, Camp V, and Camp Echo, where detained prisoners are held who have been captured in the war in Afghanistan and elsewhere since the September 11, 2001 attacks. From the command's founding in 2002 to early 2022, the detainee population has been reduced from 779 to 37. As of October 21, 2022, the unit is under the command of U.S. Army Brigadier General Scott W. Hiipakka.
Benjamin Jacob Fogelnest, known professionally as Jake Fogelnest, is an Emmy and WGA Award nominated writer, comedian, former radio personality, and satirist.
iO, or iO Chicago, is an improv theater and training center in central Chicago, with a former branch in Los Angeles, called iO West and in Raleigh, North Carolina called iO South. The theater taught and hosted performances of improvisational comedy. It was founded in 1981 by Del Close and Charna Halpern. The theater has many notable alumni, including Amy Poehler and Stephen Colbert.
Ike Barinholtz is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his starring roles in the comedy series MADtv (2002–2007), Eastbound & Down (2012), The Mindy Project (2012–2017), Bless the Harts (2019–2021), The Afterparty (2022), and History of the World, Part II (2023). In February 2023 he won the inaugural primetime season of Celebrity Jeopardy!, winning US$1,000,000 for charity.
Susan Messing is an American improvisational theatre performer, teacher and author associated with the Annoyance Theater and iO Theater in Chicago.
Justin Hayford is a Chicago-based singer and pianist. He performs jazz and cabaret music and specializes in reviving obscure and forgotten songs from the past. Justin writes and presents cabaret shows at various venues in Chicago, and has released a number of albums.
Trap Door Theatre is an American, Jeff Award-winning, avant-garde theatre company based in Chicago. Its focus is on European and original experimental material.
Hey You Millionaires was a Chicago based sketch comedy trio composed of James Asmus, John Bohan, and Jim Fath. Though all three members are originally from Cleveland, Ohio, the group formed in Chicago in 2004. They've appeared on the cover of Fortune Magazine, CNN.com, were twice voted "Best Sketch Group" in the "Best of Chicago" Chicago Reader Poll. As of 2011 the group is on indefinite hiatus.
Doorika was a performance arts collective based in Chicago and New York City from 1990-1999. It was a collaborative group with a mix bag of visual artists, performers, non-actors and musicians who worked on developing multi-media theater projects. It was co-founded by John Dooley and Erika Yeomans in 1990. Some of the artists that contributed and worked on the shows were: Eric Koziol, Jon Langford, The Aluminum Group, Casey Spooner, Lisa Perry, Doug Huston, Amy Galper, Ford Wright, Marianne Potje, Deborah Shirley, William F. Wright, Tamara Wasserman, Jim Skish, Celia Bucci, Mot Filipowski, Magica Bottari, Ken Weaver, Amy Kerwin, Matthew Kopp, Kelly Kuvo, LIzzy Yoder, Robert Hungerford, Scott Leuthold, Scott Fulmer, Ken Kobland, Jeremiah Clancy, Peter Redgrave, Carla Bruce-Lee among others.
Oui Be Negroes is an African-American improvisational sketch comedy ensemble, founded by Artistic Director Shaun Landry and Director Hans Summers. They worked together for many years in Chicago with the Underground Theatre Conspiracy, and had thrown around the idea of an African-American-driven sketch and improvisational comedy troupe, which would be geared specifically toward social and political humor.
Good Morning Gitmo is a one-act play written by American comedians Mishu Hilmy and Eric Simon in 2014. Hilmy and Simon were hired by the Annoyance Theater to create a dark comedy and agitprop play about the United States Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay. The story takes place decades into the future in the warden’s office, where he converted it into a makeshift television studio.
Under the Gun Theater is a theater company located in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Angie McMahon and Kevin Mullaney, Under the Gun is a sketch and improvisational comedy theater which opened in Chicago's Lake View community in 2014. The theater was known for its interactive show Comedy Against Humanity, which ended due to legal concerns, based on the game Cards Against Humanity. In September 2017 Under the Gun Theater announced it would partner with the Chicago stand-up comedy institution Lincoln Lodge to focus on producing stand-up comedy shows.
Antoine McKay is an American actor, director and educator who appears as “Bunkie” in the hit TV primetime drama Empire and "Uncle Spike" in South Side.
Christopher Jerell Redd is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, rapper, and singer. After several years performing stand-up comedy, Redd was hired to join the cast of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live ahead of the show's 43rd season in 2017, making his debut alongside Heidi Gardner and Luke Null, and serving as a cast member for five seasons until 2022. For his work on the show, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics in 2018 for co-writing the SNL song "Come Back Barack". He is also known for his roles in Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016), Disjointed (2017–2018), and Kenan (2021–2022).
Chris Witaske is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Chris Czajkowski in the Netflix romantic comedy Love.
David Cale is an English-American playwright, actor, and songwriter, best known for his solo performance works.
