Find Annoyance at PHIT Comedy for a special residency

These days, Philly is becoming its own comedy destination, and after more than a decade of sporadic visits to PHIT Comedy from the performers of the Chicago/Brooklyn-based Annoyance Theatre, the stars have aligned for the biggest Annoyance showcase in Philly yet.

Annoyance boasts alums like Vanessa Bayer, Stephen Colbert, and Jane Lynch, and comedy hits like Co-Ed Prison Sluts, The Real Live Brady Bunch, and You Darn Antichrist! Their monthlong residency at PHIT Comedy will feature eight performances, running every weekend from April 7 through April 29.

It turns out to be a win for Annoyance as much as PHIT. Last month, the collective lost its home venue in Brooklyn. “As soon as we heard they might be vagabonds for awhile, we reached out and offered up our space,” says PHIT founder and executive director Greg Maughan.

The upcoming residency is a result of the shake-up at the New York venue, but Maughan notes that with the groups’ longstanding collaboration, Annoyance would’ve been welcome at PHIT either way, as “the bleeding edge of bizarre emerging comedy in the United States for almost 30 years.”

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The lineup begins with Just for Laughs comedy festival alum Anthony Oberbeck, whose one-man sketch-comedy show Bleech is coming up Friday, April 7, at 10:30pm. The following night, catch Postmen at 9pm, an “unrelenting” sketch performance featuring Matt Barats, Carmen Christopher, and Oberbeck.

The next weekend promises a special treat, with Nervosa: The Musical, “an original sock-puppet musical comedy about body image,” on Friday, April 14. Disco Demolition follows on Saturday night. It’s “a comedic recreation” of an unparalleled event in the history of baseball promotions. In 1979, a flagging Chicago ballpark lured thousands of extra fans to a White Sox/Tigers doubleheader with a promise to blow up a crate of disco records. Vinyl rained from the stands and the night ended with a riot of disco-haters on the field, with the White Sox forfeiting the planned second game.

Disco Demolition performer Charlie Walden says they’re “pumped as hell” to bring the show to PHIT, live organist and all.

PHIT and Annoyance get coy about the following weekend, with acts TBA, but promise “something special.” The residency will close with The Moon Crew on Friday, April 28, and Saturday, April 29 -- an original comedic play about “an ill-fated group of Amazon.com employees sent to Mars on what turns out to be a far-from-routine mission.”

The residency will also include a spate of five workshops for Philly performers from instructors new to the Philly scene throughout April, covering improv and sketch comedy.

The Annoyance Residency at PHIT Comedy (performances at the Adrienne Theatre; 2030 Sansom Street, Philadelphia) runs April 7 through 29. Tickets ($12 general admission for all shows) are available online.