The Den Theatre today announced its lineup of March 2026 comedy shows at the theatre’s Wicker Park stages at 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., This month’s highlights include Kristin Key on March 6; Trae Crowder on March 7; Liza Treyger on March 8; Jacqueline Novak: 2026 Tour on March 12; Rafi Bastos on March 14; Emily Wilson on March 19; Dan Mintz on March 20; Hans Kim on March 21; The We Hate Movies Podcast on March 22; and Mo Amer March 26 – 28. Tickets are now on sale at www.thedentheatre.com or by calling (773) 697-3830.
Top Row (L-R): Kristin Key, Trae Crowder, Liza Treyger, Jacqueline Novak, Rafi Bastos
Bottom Row (L-R): Emily Wilson, Dan Mintz, Hans Kim, The We Hate Movies Podcast, Mo Amer
Kristin Key
Friday, March 6, 2026 at 7:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Tickets: $30 - $50
Kristin Key is a nationally headlining, queer, musical comedian with sold-out shows nationwide. Her hilarious viral videos — including the iconic Lesbian National Anthem — have garnered more than 92.2 million views from over 800,000 dedicated followers across social media. Using comedy as a way to uplift her community and create safe spaces for comedy fans from all walks of life, Kristin also donates to local nonprofits with every tour date. Kristin is honored to be the North County LGBTQ Resource Center’s 2024 Award of Merit recipient, as well as a 2025 Curve Power List recipient, in recognition of her impact. More than a fandom, this is a movement. Kristin has six full-length comedy albums and one Dry Bar Comedy special and has appeared on NBC’s Bring the Funny and Last Comic Standing, VH1, SiriusXM and more. She hosts Kristin Knows Blank, a popular comedy podcast featuring exclusive interviews and games with pop culture icons and rising comedy stars, available on all major streaming platforms.
Trae Crowder
Saturday, March 7, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.
Tickets: $27 - $55
Trae Crowder first gained international attention (or notoriety, depending on your politics) in 2016 for his hugely viral series of “Liberal Redneck” comedic porch-rant videos. Since then, Trae has written a best-selling book, The Liberal Redneck Manifesto: Draggin Dixie Outta the Dark, toured the country three times over playing sold-out theater shows under the WellRED Comedy Tour banner, and appeared on HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher, ABC’s Nightline, The View, MSNBC’s The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell, NPR, WTF With Marc Maron, MTV, CNN, HuffPost and in the Veronica Mars reboot as “Chattanooga Charlie,” among many others.
Originally from rural Celina, Tennessee, Trae now lives in Los Angeles and has developed and sold five scripted pilots for Warner Bros. Television, ABC and Fox, and continues to work as a writer. Trae stars in and produces regular sketches for Comedy Central, Funny or Die, ATTN, Facebook Watch and New York Daily News, which have garnered tens of millions of views online. Crowder also co-wrote and produced the hourlong documentary Inherent Good, featuring Crowder and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, about universal basic income.
Additionally, Trae co-hosts the hugely popular WellRED, Evening Skews and Puttin’ On Airs podcasts. His debut 30-minute stand-up comedy special was taped in 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee. He also continues to rant and rave on the internet to the mostly delight of his lovely fanbase.
Liza Treyger
Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 7:15 p.m.
Tickets: $22 - $40
Liza Treyger is a stand-up comic who was most recently seen in the Judd Apatow film The King of Staten Island and HBO’s Pause With Sam Jay. She has half-hour specials on Netflix and Comedy Central and has appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Chelsea Lately, @midnight, Lights Out With David Spade, This Is Not Happening and Horace and Pete, among many more fun things. She is the co-host of the podcast That’s Messed Up: An SVU Podcast and the host of her own podcast, Enemies. What makes her most proud is that she regularly performs at The Comedy Cellar and The Comedy Store.
Jaqueline Novak: 2026 Tour
Thursday, March 12, 2026 at 7:15 p.m.
Friday, March 13, 2026 at 7:15 p.m.
Tickets: $27 - $45
Jacqueline Novak brings her all new tour to Chicago for two shows at The Den. Novak is a touring comedian and writer. Her solo show Get On Your Knees sold out major New York runs at the Cherry Lane Theatre and the Lucille Lortel Theatre, toured nationally and internationally, and is now streaming on Netflix. The special, directed by Natasha Lyonne, received an Emmy nomination and was praised by The Hollywood Reporter as “one of the most intricately conceived and written specials I’ve ever watched.” She co-hosts the podcast Poog with Kate Berlant, named one of TIME’s Top 10 Podcasts of the Year at its launch and Best of 2025 by The New York Times. Novak is a regular on Late Night With Seth Meyers and The Tonight Show. Her depression memoir, How to Weep in Public: Feeble Offerings on Depression From One Who Knows, published by Crown, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Follow @jacnov on Instagram or join the mailing list at JokesNovak.com for updates.
Rafi Bastos
Saturday, March 14, 2026 at 7:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Tickets: $25 - $45
Rafi Bastos is a 6-foot-7 Jewish Brazilian comedian with an accent like Dracula and a rapidly growing social media presence of stand-up clips in English. Many of Rafi’s superviral stand-up clips come from nightly performances at the prestigious Comedy Cellar. In his home country of Brazil, Rafi is a trailblazer of comedy and media and was one of the first comedians to pioneer the art of American-style stand-up comedy in Brazil.
Rafi’s 17-year comedy and acting career before coming to the United States garnered many firsts and was covered in an interview on The Joe Rogan Experience. After setting more than a few records, he opened a stand-up comedy club and continuously created national controversy by challenging Brazil’s oppressive laws surrounding freedom of speech.
Rafi’s videos, including stage performances, music videos, interviews and sketches, now have more than 370 million views on his YouTube channel alone. In 2011, he was named by The New York Times as the most influential man on Twitter, at the time with 7 million followers, now at 11.4 million. In 2013, Rafi won the Shorty Awards, also known as the “Oscars of Social Media,” for Best Comedian. Performing in both English and Portuguese, Rafi continues to prove he is among the most talented artists of Latin America, always setting the bar higher for innovation, quality and influence.
Rafi’s quick-witted observational humor, intelligence and worldly view have made him a hit online and the first Brazilian comedian to become a regular at the world’s most renowned comedy clubs, including the Comedy Cellar in New York, the Laugh Factory and the Hollywood Improv in California. He is also the first Brazilian comedian to headline Just for Laughs, the world’s largest comedy festival, held in Montreal.
Among his many credits, Rafi has three comedy specials on Netflix: A Arte do Insulto, Péssima Influência and Ultimato. He has starred in films, hosted a controversial talk show, worked as an in-field journalist and hosted reality shows, including Ultimate Beastmaster for Netflix. He is the co-founder and owner of Comedians, the largest comedy club in South America. Rafi has done almost everything in Brazil and is now in the United States to do it all again with a fresh perspective — in unfamiliar territory.
Emily Wilson
Thursday, March 19, 2026 at 7:15 p.m.
Tickets: $22 - $37
Emily Wilson is a comedian, actress and writer based in New York. Her debut comedy special, Fixed: How I Got Rejected by Reality TV, was featured in The New York Times and garnered millions of organic views across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. She hosts the sold-out weekly show Tuesdays at the Red Room in the East Village, tours alongside Please Don’t Destroy as a featured performer, and was the only American nominated for the esteemed Best Newcomer award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2022. She will perform at the Moontower Comedy Festival 2026 in Austin, Texas.
Dan Mintz
Friday, March 20, 2026 at 7:15 p.m.
Tickets: $22 - $40
Dan Mintz is a comedian, writer and actor best known as the voice of Tina Belcher on Bob’s Burgers. Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, Dan started his stand-up career in Boston and has gone on to appear on Late Show With David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Late Night With Seth Meyers and Comedy Central Presents: Dan Mintz. His stand-up album, The Stranger, was named one of the year’s best by New York magazine’s Vulture.
Dan began his television writing career on Comedy Central’s Crank Yankers. He was both a performer and writer on Comedy Central’s Important Things With Demetri Martin and Fox’s Mulaney. Dan has written for Comedy Central’s Nathan for You, MTV’s Human Giant, the HBO series Lucky Louie and Fox’s Son of Zorn, where he earned a 2017 WGA Award nomination for his script “A Taste of Zephria.” Most recently, he wrote on the Emmy Award-winning HBO series Veep.
Hans Kim
Saturday, March 21, 2026 at 7:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Tickets: $22 - $40
Hans Kim is a regular on Kill Tony and has opened for Joe Rogan and Tony Hinchcliffe. He is a prominent presence on social media, including Facebook, where he has amassed more than 100 friends. Hans Kim is strong both physically and emotionally. He was voted the third most improved indie one-liner comic in North Austin in June 2016.
The We Hate Movies Podcast
Saturday, March 21, 2026 at 7:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Tickets: $22 - $40
The We Hate Movies podcast features comedians and co-hosts Andrew Jupin, Eric Szyszka, Stephen Sajdak and Chris Cabin in discussion about all things movies, from the good and gory to the bad and boring. The We Hate Movies crew has been riffing on the worst and weirdest movies around for more than 11 years and looks forward to bringing their raucous discussions to the live stage once again. They record as part of the HeadGum podcast network.
Mo Amer
Thursday, March 26, 2026 at 7:15 p.m.
Friday, March 27, 2026 at 7:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 28, 2026 at 7:15 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Tickets: $30 - $60
Mohammed “Mo” Amer is a celebrated Palestinian American stand-up comedian and award-winning writer. He currently stars in the acclaimed second season of Netflix’s Mo, a semi-autobiographical series. Season 1 of Mo was certified fresh by Rotten Tomatoes with a rare 100% from critics and was named one of the best shows of 2022 by The New York Times and New York Magazine. The series also garnered Amer a Gotham Award, a 2023 Peabody Award, AFI Honors and a Television Academy Honor.
Mo is currently on his El Oso Palestino Tour, with dates across the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In November, he was named GQ UAE’s Man of the Year, and in December he was honored at Variety’s second annual Faith & Spirituality in Entertainment Honors with the Variety Faith and Spirituality in Entertainment Visionary Award.
Amer also co-stars in the Hulu series Ramy, playing Ramy’s cousin, who owns and operates a diner where many of the show’s characters congregate. Alongside his television success, Amer co-starred with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the DC blockbuster Black Adam. Known for his global reach, Amer has toured in more than 40 countries, and his stand-up specials Mo Amer: The Vagabond, Mo Amer: Mohammed in Texas and Mo Amer: Wild World are available on Netflix.
About The Den Theatre
The Den Theatre opened in 2010 in the Wicker Park neighborhood with just a single theatre space. Now celebrating its thirteenth year, Co-owners Ryan Martin and Carol Cohen, along with their talented and dynamic staff, have developed The Den into a multi-level, live entertainment venue that boasts five intimate and unique theaters ranging from 50–300 seats. In addition, the first floor houses The Den Bar & Lounge – a full-service bar where audiences gather before and after performances to share a drink and commune with like-minded culture-hounds. Today, The Den is focused on providing world-class stand-up comedy and cultivating its first love – the theatre. The Den is home to four resident theatre companies including About Face Theatre, The Artistic Home, First Floor Theater and Haven. Hundreds of other companies, artists and comedians from Chicago and beyond have called The Den home – from national names to local stars, and The Den consistently plays host to a lineup of exciting and diverse talent. As a building created for interdisciplinary arts, The Den has accommodated a wide variety of programming, including plays, musicals, stand-up comedy, improv, dance, film screenings, seminars and speaking engagements. For additional information, visit www.thedentheatre.com.
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