All images credited to: Hubba Hubba Revue

One of San Francisco’s most iconic variety shows, Hubba Hubba Revue, is celebrating two decades of dancing, unforgettable characters, and bringing us some of SF’s most entertaining performances.

On September 20th, Hubba Hubba Revue will mark its 20th anniversary with a special event at DNA Lounge, bringing together burlesque legends, aerialists, pole dancers, musicians, comedians, and some of the biggest names in the Bay Area’s performance scene.

With Hubba Hubba Revue having been a part of San Francisco nightlife since 2006, we thought it’d be fun to celebrate their 20-year milestone by looking back and learning about how they were able to keep the party going.

The Unexpected Beginnings of San Francisco’s Hubba Hubba Revue

We started off our interview by asking Jim Sweeney, the founder, producer, and host (known on stage as "Kingfish"), what was the inspiration to create the show in the first place. How did this all get started?

“I got a call from DNA Lounge, asking if I could book a show on a Saturday night in September of 2006. My friend, Eddie Dane, and I scrambled, put together a line-up of our friends in the Bay Area burlesque community, signed-up our pal, Lee Presson, and his 10-piece swing band, and suddenly we had a show! We had absolutely no idea we were ever going to do another one.”

Sweeney is not just the founder and producer of the event; he also considers himself a fan first. He approaches each show by thinking about how the audience will experience it from their point of view. Their eyes dart from the stage to the air, taking in one dazzling performance after another after another and another. No two performances are replicas of one another, which means every Hubba Hubba Revue always offers something new and exciting to see. We asked Sweeney what it is about this mix of performances that makes the show distinctly “Hubba Hubba.”

“It's partly from a desire to stretch what we offer at the shows, keeping things interesting for our audience, but it’s a little bit stagecraft, too: changing the audience’s perspective from a floor act to an aerial act to a pole act, to keep their eyeballs moving and their minds engaged.

But it’s also because I’m a fan first, and I love seeing and hosting different types of performances. I’m the same way when I go to a friend's show. I’m a total fan-boy, clapping and cheering in the audience. None of it ever gets old to me, and I love seeing what both the old pros and the brand-newbies come up with.”

Keeping San Francisco’s Burlesque and Nightlife Community Alive

While the show’s beginnings may have been a little chaotic and unexpected, over the years, Sweeney and his crew have learned to navigate an ever-evolving nightlife scene with calculated grace. They’ve made it through the past two decades by staying true to a few key ingredients: always having fresh, unique, and fun performances that give audiences something they can’t find anywhere else and keeping the crowd guessing. For Sweeney, the longevity of Hubba Hubba Revue is also about creating a space where performers and audiences can come together, build community, and celebrate the wonderfully weird spirit of San Francisco that we all know and love.

Sweeney: “I think the city was ready for our kind of entertainment when we first started. It was an era that gave birth to some really fantastic and enduring shows and events. At that time, on the heels of the dot-com crash, warehouse raves, and sort of the same ol’ same ol’ in the bars and clubs, I think people were looking around for fresh ideas and things to do. A new generation of burlesque, circus, and variety performers stepped in and created a new kind of Bay Area nightlife."

People in the Bay Area are still fun, still engaged, and still interested in live entertainment, but challenging times, inflation, a terrible government and, pretty recently. a whole entire plague, have understandably left them a little less adventurous, a little more risk-averse, and that’s too bad.

With gas and food prices skyrocketing, live shows tend to be the first thing that people chop out of their budget. The problem with that is, it takes years and years to build those communities, and if they go, it is far from easy to get them back.

When you lose your locally created arts, you lose the unique character and soul of where you live. Corporate entertainment can’t replicate that, and San Francisco deserves to hang on to its character.”

Hubba Hubba Revue’s 20th Anniversary Show Brings Burlesque Legends, Aerialists and More

So what can we expect to see on the 20th for Hubba Hubba Revue’s 20th anniversary? A star-studded lineup that is bigger and better than ever!

Featured Performers:

Kitten de Ville (Los Angeles, CA)
Queen Lolita (Tampa, FL)
Burlesque Legend, Viva LaFever
Aerialist Joanna Animal
Qu’in de la Noche
Szandora LaVey
Pearl E. Gates
Bo Vixxen
Lady Satan
Babraham Lincoln
Dorian Deitrich
Ophelia Couer de Noir
Charlie Duneaux
Sgt. Die Wies
From Flux Vertical Theatre,
Aerialist Mz K
Pole dancer Leah Marie
Live band burlesque with musical guests
Dr. Abacus

Hosted by
MC Kingfish & Qu’in de la Noche
With HOORAYS by Shiza Minnelli!

20 Years of Hubba Hubba Revue: Keeping San Francisco Weird, Wild and Wonderful

Finally, we asked Sweeney… After two decades of putting on some of San Francisco’s wildest nights, what does Hubba Hubba mean to you now? What’s ahead for the next 20 years?

“I hope we’re still here! Everybody is hanging on by a thread these days, and live shows are on the front line of all of that. I hope San Francisco is able to re-ignite its soul and its energy, hang on to the things that make it special, and not give in to the encroaching “blandification.”

As I say all the time at our shows, let’s keep the Bay Area (semi)-nude, weird & awesome. If we as a show, an audience, and a city can manage to do that, we’ll all be alright.”

And who or what has been the most memorable to Sweeney over the years? While he initially thought of a few performers to mention, he used the moment to thank all of the people who have helped keep the event going behind the scenes.

“There are way too many moments to do this question justice, but working with Eddie Dane and Sparkly Devil, two of the greatest of all time, being a significant part of DNA Lounge, and, until it closed, the wonderful Uptown Nightclub in Oakland, Meeting performers from literally all over the country and the world… All of those things are what make Hubba Hubba Revue important to me.

Honestly, though, at the end of the day, my greatest joy is working with the people who make Hubba Hubba Revue happen: our tech crew, our stage crew, the artists, performers, and the whole community of people who found this show and decided to make it a part of their life. That’s what I love the most. That’s what keeps me going.”

If you’ve never been, it’s time for you to put Hubba Hubb Revue on your calendar and step into their world for a night to remember.