Stir Friday Night, Chicago's longest-running Asian American and Pacific Islander comedy organization, is celebrating its 31st year with a two-night return to the stage on October 16, bringing sketches and improv back to the American Blues Theater.
The milestone was detailed in a segment from WGN-TV's Spotlight Chicago, which airs weekdays on WGN from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and featured Jonathan Lee-Rey joining the segment to share more about the anniversary show. Lee-Rey serves as Stir Friday Night's Executive Artistic Director and is based in Chicago, according to his own professional site, jonathanleerey.com. The troupe, founded in 1995, has built a three-decade history around sketch comedy and improv rooted in the AAPI experience.
A Long History on Chicago Stages
Stir Friday Night's official site describes the company as Chicago's longest-running AAPI comedy team, a reputation reinforced by alumni rosters that include Steven Yeun of The Walking Dead and Minari, Danny Pudi of Community, and Mary Sohn of AP Bio, per the group's own show listings on stirfridaynight.com. The group has also taken its work beyond its usual home, having presented Rice to the Occasion, an AAPI comedy showcase, at Steppenwolf's 1700 Theater as part of the LookOut Series.
Last year's 30th-anniversary celebration offers a sense of what audiences might expect from this year's follow-up. That show, titled Best of Stir Friday Night, ran October 17 and 18, 2025, at 7:30 p.m., also at the American Blues Theater, and was billed as two nights of AAPI comedy excellence featuring material pulled from the group's previous three decades.
Mixing Throwbacks With New Material
Stir Friday Night's recent programming shows a pattern of blending nostalgia with fresh writing. While the 30th-anniversary show leaned entirely on a retrospective format, a separate fall sketch revue from the group advertised 60 minutes of brand-new material, with weekly Friday performances running from September 26 through October 25. That mix of old favorites and new sketches has become something of a signature for the company as it approaches its fourth decade.
The 31st-anniversary show is scheduled for October 16 at the American Blues Theater, as part of a two-night celebration featuring sketches and improv.
