variety show burlesque show A kind of variety show derived from elements of Victorian burlesque, music hall and minstrel shows. Burlesque shows in America became popular in the late 1860s and slowly evolved to feature ribald comedy and female nudity. By the early 1930s the striptease element of burlesque overshadowed the comedy and subjected burlesque to extensive local legislation. Burlesque gradually lost popularity beginning in the 1940s. A number of producers sought to capitalize on nostalgia for the entertainment by attempting to recreate the spirit of burlesque in Hollywood films from the 1930s to the 1960s. There has been a resurgence of interest in this format since the 1990s. burlesque burlesque performance burlesque shows burlesque theatre