ETYM French.
1. A series of acts at a night club; SYN. floorshow, floor show.
2. Provides entertainment (as singers or dancers); SYN. nightclub.
Theatrical revue traditionally combining satire and song in cafés or bars. Originating in Paris in the late 19th century in venues such as the Moulin Rouge, cabaret was embraced by avant-garde writers and artists. In Germany, Berlin became a center for an increasingly political cabaret in the 1920s, which was later suppressed by the Nazis. In Britain, satirical revue was revived by the Cambridge Footlights theater group in Beyond the Fringe 1961, before cabaret and alternative comedy combined to provide a new generation of stand-up entertainers during the 1980s, notably from the Comedy Store group in London.