comedy Hannibal Buress
Back when we first wrote about him in July 2008, this homegrown comedian still had a couple of game changers ahead of him: He’s since appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and signed on as a Saturday Night Live writer. Can we pick ’em or what? See him this week when Buress returns to town to headline the Lakeshore’s Make Chai Not War comedy showcase.
GO: Dec 13 at 6 and 9. $25. Lakeshore Theater, 3175 N Broadway. lakeshoretheater.com

ALSO THIS WEEK: Tickets are still available for some events on The Second City’s blowout 50th anniversary weekend schedule, including a screening of the documentary The First Cast with Bernie Sahlins, with cofounder Sahlins and original cast members in attendance.

concerts The Flat Five
Kelly Hogan, Scott Ligon, Nora O’Connor: There was a time when you could hear these luminaries of Chicago folk-pop practically weekly at the Hideout. Between having babies and touring with the likes of sometimes-Chicagoans Neko Case and Andrew Bird (whose own quartet of local shows is sold out, save for no-view seats), that time has come and gone, but you can catch them together again for one night only, with fellow musicians Gerald Dowd and K.C. McDonough.
GO: Dec 11 at 9. $10. The Hideout, 1354 W Wabansia. hideoutchicago.com

ALSO THIS WEEK: On Dec 12, the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival convenes top talents (Béla Fleck, Eddy Clearwater) and a ton of lesser lights; plus, participatory picking (BYO banjo).

theatre Whining in the Windy City: Holiday Edition
On off nights from The Addams Family, Jackie Hoffman—aka Grandma in the Broadway-bound musical—moonlights as a cabaret artist. A self-proclaimed holiday-hating Hebrew, Hoffman just might be the anti-hit of the season.
GO: Dec 14, 21, and Jan 4 at 7:30. $25. Royal George Cabaret, 1641 N Halsted. theroyalgeorgetheatre.com

film Make No Little Plans: Daniel Burnham and the American City
If you missed this documentary’s summertime preview in Millennium Park, here’s a chance to see its Chicago theatrical premiere, in the last month of the 100th anniversary year of Burnham’s city-shaping Plan of Chicago. Director Judith Paine McBrien will lead a discussion following both screenings. (Real slackers can catch the flick Dec 17 at 8 p.m. on WTTW.)
GO: Dec 13 at 3; Dec 14 at 6. $7-$10. Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N State. siskelfilmcenter.org