Chicago: Home of Comedy and Stinky Onions

It’s the city of big shoulders, home of some of the tallest skyscrapers in the country, base of the infamous mobster Al Capone, the first city in the world to have a Ferris Wheel and the start of the iconic Route 66. But did you know that Chicago is also the capitol of comedy?

You’ve probably heard of Saturday Night Live. Well your SNL-filled evenings of hilarity would not be possible without Chicago. That’s because many of the original founders of SNL—John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner, and Bill Murray—began at Second City in Chicago. Even the name Chicago has funny origins, coming from the French version of the Miami-Illinois word shikaakwa, meaning “stinky onion”.

So when you’re visiting Chicago for work, don’t forget to leave your business at your conference, meeting staycation, or event and go out at night to experience some of the greatest comedy happening in the world. Here’s where you can go.

Second City is probably the most famous improvisational sketch-comedy theater in the country. You can see shows there every night of the week, but make sure to get your tickets ahead of time because they sell out fast.

iO or ImprovOlympic isn’t second to second city, but portrays a different comedy technique based on entirely improvised, long story-form shows. It’s where comedians Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Fallon (to name a few) got their start. You can choose from a huge variety of shows every night and for many of them, you can walk up and buy a ticket but for the more popular ones like Improvised Shakespeare, you should reserve tickets in advance.

The Neo-Futurists combines raw, emotional stories with comical life observations to create a memorable, interactive, partially-improvised and extremely enjoyable show. You can see their normal show, The Infinite Wrench, every Friday and Saturday night at 11:30pm or Sunday at 7:30pm.

If you prefer stand up, then you should check out The Laugh Factory, featuring different comedians every night of the week.

For kids and all ages, ComedySportz is the place to go. It’s the “longest-running, game-based, short-form Improv comedy show” and has performances every weekend.