This summer, one of those real locals is coming home to do something that has never been done before.
The Main Event: John Mulaney at Wrigley Field
July 11 | Wrigley Field, Wrigleyville
John Mulaney is bringing his Mister Whatever Tour to Wrigley Field on July 11, and it will be the first comedy show ever hosted at the Friendly Confines. The Cubs have hosted concerts and legends before. A stand-up comedian headlining a baseball stadium is a different category of thing, and the fact that it’s a Chicagoan doing it makes it feel correct in a way that’s hard to explain. Mulaney grew up here. He went to Georgetown, broke in New York, became a Netflix name. And now he’s coming back to do stand-up in the same park where Cubs fans have been rooting for underdogs since 1916. The symmetry is almost too clean.
Tickets are available now. This one will be talked about for a while.
Get John Mulaney at Wrigley Field tickets →
The Chicago Theatre Is Working Overtime
While Wrigley is the marquee event, The Chicago Theatre, the gorgeous 1921 landmark on State Street, is running a near-continuous comedy season this year. Here’s what’s coming:
The Kevin Langue Show
June 18 | The Chicago Theatre
Kevin Langue has built one of the most genuinely joyful fanbases in comedy. His show is less a stand-up set and more of a celebration, and The Chicago Theatre is exactly the right room to let that energy grow to full size.
Kevin Langue at The Chicago Theatre →
Laura Ramoso: The Calm Down Tour
September 25 | The Chicago Theatre
The title is aspirational. If you know Laura Ramoso’s material, you know the show will be precise, filthy in a way that somehow works, and the kind of night where you’re still quoting jokes three weeks later. Tickets are available now up to current pricing for front-of-house packages.
Laura Ramoso at The Chicago Theatre →
Bassem Youssef: The Belly of the Beast Tour
September 26 | The Chicago Theatre
Bassem Youssef is the Egyptian-American comedian and former host of the most-watched satirical show in Arab television history, and he’s bringing The Belly of the Beast Tour to Chicago the night after Laura Ramoso. Two consecutive nights at The Chicago Theatre that are going to generate actual conversations. Do not skip either of these.
Bassem Youssef at The Chicago Theatre →
Brad Williams: The Tall Tales Tour
October 16 | The Chicago Theatre
Brad Williams has one of the most loyal followings in stand-up, built tour by tour and city by city for the better part of two decades. Chicago is always a strong market for him, and The Chicago Theatre is the right room for where his career is right now.
Brad Williams at The Chicago Theatre →
Ben Schwartz & Friends
October 17 | The Chicago Theatre
Back-to-back weekends at The Chicago Theatre with genuinely different vibes. Ben Schwartz’s live variety show has been a surprise hit of the touring season. The “Friends” component changes city to city, the energy is unpredictable in a good way, and Schwartz is one of those performers who can hold a large room on charisma alone.
Ben Schwartz & Friends in Chicago →
Nikki Glaser: The Stunning Tour
November 14 | The Chicago Theatre
By November, Nikki Glaser will have just wrapped her Las Vegas residency with David Spade, headlined or appeared in roughly half of the year’s major comedy events, and will still be bringing the tightest hour of material she has ever written to The Chicago Theatre. She is genuinely one of the best stand-ups working. This one closes out the year correctly.
Nikki Glaser at The Chicago Theatre →
The Fall Closer: Matt Rife at United Center
October 25 | United Center
United Center holds roughly 21,000 people for basketball. Matt Rife is selling it out for a comedy show. This is objectively unusual. And it is happening in Chicago. The city’s entertainment calendar is full of big events this year, but a comedian filling an NBA arena is the kind of scale shift that deserves to be named directly.
Plus: Joy Gamby at Reggie’s
May 20 | Reggie’s, South Loop
Not everything needs to be a 20,000-seat moment. Joy Gamby and Friends at Reggie’s on May 20 is the kind of show that keeps Chicago’s grassroots comedy scene honest: local talent, a beloved South Loop venue, and a room full of people who showed up because they like stand-up, not because something told them to. These are often the nights you remember most.
Daniel Sloss: BITTER at The Auditorium Theatre
November 22 | The Auditorium Theatre, Chicago
Daniel Sloss closes out Chicago’s comedy year at The Auditorium Theatre, the 1889 landmark on Congress that is one of the genuinely great rooms in this country. His BITTER tour has the same structural ambition and willingness to sit with uncomfortable truths that made Dark such a conversation piece. A fitting way to end a stacked year.
Daniel Sloss: BITTER at The Auditorium Theatre →
Chicago’s Moment
From a grassroots South Loop show to a history-making night at Wrigley Field to a November closer with Nikki Glaser, Chicago’s comedy calendar this year covers the full range. That is what a real comedy city looks like.
Browse all Chicago shows at ComedyCalendar.com.
