Last night I had the pleasure of visiting Comedy Club Kookaburra for an evening of burlesque and cabaret entertainment titled "Fish and Whips". Sometimes in life you just have to accept that there are people who are naturally more charismatic, funnier, more verbally talented (like Stephen Fry etc.) This is the case for Fish & Whips founder Jack Woodhead who beamed on stage last night in a beautifully ornate hat with feathers and pearls and other kind of sparkly objects that sent all the fagpies (gay man who likes anything shiny) in the audience eyes into a flitter.
The line up went as follows, Starting with Julia Chalfin, a beautiful young lady from New York singing Soprano, she enters the stage glistening from head to toe in what I imagine to be Swarovski jewellery, and a black dress which, like her earrings and other accessories, sparkled in the stage lights. Her piece consisted of her singing Mozart, Puccini and other opera classics and likening them to pop culture tracks such as Madonna, Wham and more in a hilarious take on how music over the years is basically the same. She appears later to sing a song like a southern American about being "unable to say no to men" and then her and host Jack Woodhead perform the final song together, a classical piece which wowed the audience with her unbelievable voice and ability of not having to use a micraphone.
Then Jack Woodhead sat at the piano and played a song, which I can only describe as a song about catching STDs and STIs, it was hilarious and the audience was gagging with laughter. 
What followed next was unexpected, having been to Fish and Whips once before I did not imagine that peoples minds would be read, the internationally acclaimed mind reading Duo Sonambul took to the stage, where they picked two ladies from the audience, gave them keys on a chain and made the chains move "with their minds" and then told them to write down the name of a famous person, to which the names, of course, was correct. I left still wondering how it was done as it was obvious the ladies from the audience were not in on the trick. I am a sucker for magic, illusion and anything which messes with the mind so that was a real highlight for me.
Next to perform was Greg the Hangman. A young man dressed smartly comes out with what looks like a cross between a UFO and a tin drum, he sits and puts the drum on his lap and Jack Woodhead takes to the piano where they do the most interesting rendition of "Hey, Big Spender" from musical Sweet Charity that I have ever heard, the instrument he is playing, we are told afterwards, is called a "hang drum" and is a very rare swiss instrument with an absolutely beautiful sound, the instrument was invented only 12 years ago and here is a link to what the instrument sounds like.
The winners of the last Burlesque competition joined the line up, Les Femmes Brachiales, two beautiful young ladies Coco Clownesse and Rosie Riot who have a real talent for classic burlesque styles, both did a seperate pieces during the evening and then came together at the end of the night to do a performance. Les Femmes Brachiales really knew how to use facial expression and slight of hand to perfect quite a dark take on classic burlesque where they end up fighting over fruit which resembles their breasts and bleeding from their mouths after a fight where they end up ripping eachothers clothes off and spanking eachother, all in gorgeous nipple tassles and corsets and other burlesque essentials.

I had a really entertaining evening and after the show finished it's host Jack Woodhead told me about the Fish and Whips Burlesque contest this summer which is a 4 day event from July 11th - July 14th, which is a gargantuan event with the judges being Lady Lou, LaLaVox and Beatrix Von Bourbon, so to warm you up for that event we at BangBangBerlin would like to give two of you lucky titty tassling tasties two tickets to see the next Fish and Whips... All you have to do is email Jackee@bangbangberlin.com and tell me why you deserve the tickets, the most origional answer wins. Unfortunately I can not accept bribes.

Fish and Whips is every 3rd Tuesday and saturday of the month, 
Tuesday - 8:30pm
Saturday - 11:45pm
Comedy Club Kookaburra
Schonhauser Allee 184
Nearest Ubahn: Rosa Luxemburg Platz / Senefelderplatz (U2)