Hello people of Chicago and other people that might want to travel here to see some world-class comedy. We have some news about the upcoming second annual 26th Annual Comedy Festival, taking place at various delightful venues around the city from May 26-30, and brought to you by The A.V. Club and The Onion. Here is that news: The Kyle Kinane show at Thalia Hall is completely sold out. The 7 p.m. screening of UHF with special guest Weird Al Yankovic is also completely sold out, though tickets remain for the 10 p.m. screening. (You’d be wise to get on that.) Both Friday shows and the early Saturday Ellie Kemper shows at Up Comedy Club are sold out, but some tickets remain for the late Saturday show. (Again, get on that.) Tickets for the late John Mulaney show at Chicago Theatre—also almost gone.
Tickets remain for many of the other shows, including SNL’s Vanessa Bayer, the awesome local showcase The Upperclassmen, an afternoon panel discussion with writers from The Simpsons and The Onion, and of course a screening of Cabin Boy with director Adam Resnick in attendance. You can see everything at this site.
Remember last week when we told you about the awesome aftershows we’re going to be doing during the fest, too? Well now you can RSVP to them. These include super special comedy guests on a couple of nights, plus stand-up by Jen Kirkman and music from Crooked Fingers, Owen, Mac McCaughan of Superchunk, and Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak. All of these shows take place in a very intimate room inside the awesome new Virgin Hotel Chicago, and you can RSVP right here.
Finally, we just announced a pre-fest headlining set by the fantastic Brody Stevens, taking place Friday, May 22 at Schubas. You may have seen Brody on Conan, Craig Kilborn, and in The Hangover. Get tickets for that show right here.
I think that’s it! It’s a lot. It’s going to be a damn fun week, and we need to thank the following entities for helping us make it happen: MailChimp, Lagunitas, Silvercar, Groupon, GrubHub, Virgin Hotel Chicago, and 1871.