The Funniest Time of the Year?

By Justin Sondak in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 14, 2007 10:00PM

After a week of having holiday music stuck in our head, we need to laugh. Luckily, there are plenty of comedy shows this weekend...

The Bicycle Men are back in Chicago, presenting a loving tribute to “le bicyclette” and a tribute of sorts to all things French. Dan Castellaneta joins the cast as American tourist Steve, lost in a sea of nutty Frenchmen performing dirty puppet shows and an “unauthorized” talent show, among other things. Here, the actor best known for voicing Homer Simpson sounds more like Springfield traffic reporter Arnie Pie and is frequently upstaged by his wackier cohorts. The silly show, strongly performed, rolls though the Lakeshore Theater through Sunday.

We bitch and bitch about the CTA. Finally, a comedy troupe models a show out of our transit troubles: No-EL or How the BlagojeGrinch Stole Christmas, makes light of all those lost hours on the Blue Line and all those bad ideas coming out of Springfield. The show plays Friday-Sunday through December 23 at Gorilla Tango Theater, 1919 North Milwaukee. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased on the GTT website.

Team Submarine charmed the hell out of us a few weeks back at The Sound of Young America’s Chicago comedy show. Relive that performance here, then see them with No Outlet tonight, 10:30 p.m. at iO.

Chemically Imbalanced Theater’s new home is the old Artistic Home’s space. Come see what they’ve done to the place Saturday night, then throw down $10 for their weekly Comedy Showcase. This week features the always hilarious and rarely politically correct Pimprov and is hosted by the frequently hilarious and somewhat more politically correct Brady Novak. Show starts at 10:30 p.m. at 1420 W Irving Park.