“Sorry I’m dressed like an S&M nanny, ” Susan Messing announces in her smokily enticing voice as she takes the stage. She’s introducing the weekly improv show in which she and a fellow improviser (the titular “friend”—a new person each week) “fuck around for a while” on a set consisting of a door and two chairs. It’s been running late on Thursday nights for almost a decade now, originally at the old Annoyance space on Broadway and now in their new space on Belmont. And she’s still as fresh and foul-mouthed as ever, tapping into her own darkly funny psyche with a rambling set that gets better the darker and later it goes. If there’s a constant theme, it’s laughing at the inappropriate, but there’s no overarching storyline or continuation of characters from scene to scene—just good old-fashioned dirty improv, kicked off with a suggestion from the audience. (Zach Freeman)
The Annoyance Theatre, 851 West Belmont, (773)697-9693. theannoyance.com. $5. Thursdays at 10:30pm. Open Run.
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