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Annoyance Theater
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. History The Annoyance Theatre was founded by Mick Napier as "Metraform" in 1987 and changed its name to the Annoyance after moving into a new building in 1989. The Annoyance moved again in 1994 to a theater on the 3700 block of North Clark Street, where it would remain for six years. In 2000 the Annoyance was forced to move out so the building could be demolished to make room for a temporary parking lot for nearby Wrigley Field, which was later the site of a mixed commercial/residential building containing ...
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Theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe"). Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the theatre of ancient Greece, from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its themes, stock characters, and plot elements. Theatre artist Patrice ...
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Splatter Theatre
''Splatter Theatre'' was the first show for The Annoyance Theatre. The show was first performed at the Cabaret Metro, on October 31, 1987 and directed by Mick Napier. Performers involved in the original production included Joe Bill, Marguerite Hammersley, Doug Hartzell, Kim Howard Johnson, Kaluah, Richard Laible, Geoffrey Lantz, David MacNerland, Jill Meyerhoff, Brett Paisel, David Pasquesi, Lyn Pusztai, David Razowsky, Al Rose, Barry Saltzman, Tim Slagle, Faith Soloway, Ellen Stoneking, Elizabeth Trask, Eric Waddel, and Harlan Wallach. Plot A spoof of gory slasher films, along the lines of ''Friday the 13th'' or ''Halloween'', Splatter Theatre features thirteen characters, all clichéd horror movie characters—the high school jock, the virgin, the class jerk, the bimbo, the nerd—killed in various creatively disgusting ways. The stage itself is freshly painted white, and the actors wear white costumes, allowing the red blood to stand out for the audience. Remounts With the ...
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Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to 2014 and the CBS talk program ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' beginning in September 2015. Colbert originally studied to be a dramatic actor, but became interested in improvisational theater while attending Northwestern University, where he met Second City director Del Close. Colbert first performed professionally as an understudy for Steve Carell at Second City Chicago, where his troupemates included Paul Dinello and Amy Sedaris, comedians with whom he developed the sketch comedy series ''Exit 57''. He wrote and performed on ''The Dana Carvey Show'' before collaborating with Sedaris and Dinello again on the television series ''Strangers with Candy''. He gained attention for his role on the latter as closeted gay history teacher ...
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Beth Cahill
Beth Cahill (born September 15, 1963) is an American television actress who is best known for having been a featured cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' during the 1991–92 season. Life and career She began her career doing improv comedy at the Annoyance Theater in Chicago and starred as Marcia Brady in their production of ''The Real Live Brady Bunch'' in 1990. Cahill along with castmate Melanie Hutsell (who played Jan Brady in the show) were both hired as cast members on ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') after producers were impressed by their performances in the ''Brady Bunch'' stage show. They both reprised their roles as Jan and Marcia Brady on ''SNL'' as well. During her time on the ''SNL'', Cahill impersonated Pam Hurn and played recurring characters such as Denise Swerski, the daughter of Bob Swerski in the Bill Swerski's Superfans sketches and Pam, one of the "Delta Delta Delta" sorority girls, which Cahill performed alongside Melanie Hutsell and Siobhan Fallon. C ...
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Aidy Bryant
Aidan Mackenzy Bryant (born May 7, 1987) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the late-night variety series ''Saturday Night Live'' (2012–2022), beginning in season 38, and leaving at the end of season 47. For her work on the series, she has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, including two nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Her other work includes a voice role in the animated series ''Danger & Eggs'' (2017) and the Netflix adult animated series ''Human Resources''. She played a starring role in the sitcom '' Shrill'' (2019–2021); for the latter, she also served as writer and executive producer and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Early life Bryant was born in Phoenix, the daughter of Georganne (née Vinall) and Tom Bryant. Her mother owns a boutique called Shop Frances in Phoenix. Bryant is of English, Irish, and German descent. She has one bro ...
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Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves as the program's showrunner. The show premiere was hosted by George Carlin on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title ''NBC's Saturday Night''. The show's comedy sketches, which often parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers the opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, with featured performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", properly beginning the show. In 1980, Michaels left the series to explore other opportunities. He was r ...
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Vanessa Bayer
Vanessa Bayer (born November 14, 1981) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for being a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2010 to 2017, which earned her an Emmy nomination. She co-created, co-executive produces, and has the lead role in the Showtime (TV network), Showtime comedy ''I Love That for You'', which is loosely based on her experience as a survivor of childhood leukemia. Bayer has appeared in such films as ''Trainwreck (film), Trainwreck'' (2015), ''Office Christmas Party'' (2016), ''Carrie Pilby (film), Carrie Pilby'' (2016), ''Ibiza (film), Ibiza'' (2018), and ''Wander Darkly'' (2020). Early life Bayer was born in Orange, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, and raised in nearby Moreland Hills, Ohio, Moreland Hills.Moynihan, Rob. "''SNL''s Fab Four", ''TV Guide'', March 7, 2011, Pages 44-45 She is the daughter of Carolyn and Todd Bayer. Bayer's family is Jewish, and she has stated that her Jewish upbringing "influenced [her] life and comedy". She h ...
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MADtv
''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by '' Mad'' magazine. In its initial run, it aired on Fox from 1995 to 2009. After a one-off reunion show in 2015 to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the series, one more eight-episode season was produced and broadcast on The CW in 2016. Development William Gaines, who owned EC Comics and published the American humor magazine '' Mad'' from 1950 until his death in 1992, refused to sell the rights to the magazine as he despised television. In 1995, following Gaines's death three years prior, EC Comics sold the rights to ''Mad'' to Quincy Jones-David Salzman Entertainment (QDE), which was owned by record producer Quincy Jones and television producer David Salzman. Fax Bahr and Adam Small began working as staff writers on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'' in 1992 after David Alan Grier informed Bahr that showrunner Keenen Ivory Wayans had fired the ...
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Ike Barinholtz
Isaac Barinholtz (born February 18, 1977) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer. 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) and '' The Afterparty'' (2022). Barinholtz also appeared in films, such as ''Disaster Movie'' (2008), '' Neighbors'' (2014), '' Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising'' (2016), ''Suicide Squad'' (2016), ''Snatched'' (2017), '' Blockers'' (2018), '' Late Night'' (2019), '' The Hunt'' (2020), and '' The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent'' (2022). He co-wrote the action comedy film ''Central Intelligence'' (2016), and directed, wrote, produced, and starred in the comedy film ''The Oath'' (2018). Early life, family and education Barinholtz was born in the Rogers Park area of Chicago, Illinois, and was raised in its Lakeview neighborhood, the son of Peggy and Alan Barinholtz, an attorney. His brother Jon ...
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Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania
Punxsutawney (; Unami language, Lenape: ' ) is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in southern Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. Punxsutawney is known globally for its annual Groundhog Day celebration held each February 2, during which thousands of attendees and international media outlets visit the town for an annual weather prediction by the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, though the actual prediction location, Gobbler's Knob, is actually in adjacent Young Township, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Young Township. The borough, located northeast of Pittsburgh and northwest of Altoona, Pennsylvania, Altoona, was incorporated in 1850. With a population of 5,962 as of the 2010 census, Punxsutawney is the largest incorporated municipality in Jefferson County. History Shawnee wigwam villages once occupied this site on the Mahoning Creek. The first settlement that included non-indigenous people was in 1772, when Reverend John Ettwein, a Moravian Church missionary, arrived with a band of 24 ...
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Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day ( pdc, Grund'sau dåk, , , ; Nova Scotia: Daks Day) is a popular North American tradition observed in the United States and Canada on February 2. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat to its den, and winter will go on for six more weeks; if it does not see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early. While the tradition remains popular in the 21st century, studies have found no consistent association between a groundhog seeing its shadow and the subsequent arrival time of spring-like weather. The weather lore was brought from German-speaking areas where the badger (german: link=no, Dachs) is the forecasting animal. This appears to be an enhanced version of the lore that clear weather on the Christian festival of Candlemas forebodes a prolonged winter. The Groundhog Day ceremony held at Punxsutawney in western Pennsylvani ...
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Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. Of the roughly 780 people detained there since January 2002 when the military prison first opened after the September 11 attacks, 735 have been transferred elsewhere, 35 remain there, and 9 have died while in custody. The camp was established by U.S. President George W. Bush's administration in 2002 during the War on Terror following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Indefinite detention without trial led the operations of this camp to be considered a major breach of human rights by Amnesty International, and a violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments of the United States Constitution by the Center for Constitutional Rights.
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