CheekyChicago

Michigan Avenue shopping stressing you out? Take a peek at the comedy listings. December’s ticking away, friends and family need entertaining and the influx of seasonal improv and sketch comedy vying for your attention is enough to induce that brand of indecision once reserved for the Crate & Barrel kitchen aisle.

Enter Cheeky. Like a sassy sales lady with a funky veggie peeler, we’re here to slice and dice, with sugar and spice, December’s best funny – from naughty to nice.

Naughty. So the office party’s 20 minutes of open bar have ended, but your flirtation with the new guy in accounting has most certainly not. We suggest The Annoyance’s Frostbite. Billed as a cross between Frankenstein and Frosty, this is your typically raunchy, witty, Annoyance-style holiday fare; basically, a snowman goes mad and eats brains. Hello?! A snowman eats brains! Need we say more? So air-kiss the co-workers buh-bye, grab the beau by his reindeer tie, take the Red Line to Lawrence, laugh at the brain-eating snowman, indulge in the drink specials at the Annoyance’s well-appointed bar, go home giggling and put the naughty in naughty. It’s a no-brainer.

Saturdays at 10 p.m. thru 12/27, $15. The Annoyance Theatre & Bar, 4830 N. Broadway, 773.561.HONK.

Naughty-ish . . . and Santa-Free! So you’re looking to show off a legendary comedy venue to your out-of-town guests without seeing one frikkin reindeer? Yes, Virginia. Both resident companies of The Second City Chicago released brand-new, popular shows this month – and neither one’s about Santa. The Second City’s America: All Better! and the Second City e.t.c.’s Brother, Can You Spare Some Change? feature political and social satire written and performed by the brightest rock stars of the Chicago improv and sketch comedy scene. Stick around after the last show any night but Friday to watch bonus improvised sets. We categorize this as naughty-”ish” because you’ll have to leave the kids at home (and liquor up the more staunch conservatives in your group). But, all in all, it’s good, clean SNL-style satire, just in time for the real gift of the season: Blago-gate.

America: All Better!, Tuesdays – Sundays, $20-$25. Second City Mainstage, 1616 N Wells. 312.337.3992.

Brother, Can You Spare Some Change?, Thursdays – Sundays, $20-$25. Second City, e.t.c., 1608 N Wells. 312.337.3992.

Alterna-Nice. Hip cousin on break from art school? Crave some deep thoughts with your eggnog? Sounds like a job for A Very Neo-Futurists Christmas Carol. Featuring the holiday-themed vignettes of five writer-performers, this critically acclaimed evening ranges from the poignant to the quirky to the bizarre. So, crank up the NPR in the Hybrid and roll on over to Andersonville for some seasonal introspection, bitches! There’s vegetarian free food if you get there early. Of course there is.

Thursdays – Saturdays with some additional dates added, thru 12/23, $15. The Neo-Futurarium, 5153 N. Ashland.

Nice For the Kids. OK, so enough with the Cheeky scenarios: you legitimately have children and need to know where to take them for cultural stimulation beyond the elves at Navy Pier. How about some kid-friendly holiday improvisation? We suggest a jaunt up to Evanston this weekend for the Chicago Improv Festival’s Holiday Storybox at the renowned Piven Theatre. This totally improvised show uses audience suggestions to create child-friendly, fantastical journeys created right before your eyes. By spinning their tale with nothing more than sticks, fabric, some toy instruments and their voices and bodies, the talented cast reminds us that kids don’t need a Wii to imagine.

Saturday and Sunday afternoons thru 12/21, $10. Piven Theatre, 927 Noyes Street, Evanston. 847.866.8049.