Funny Girls: The Show, the Seasons and the Showgirls

What Funny Girls is

Funny Girls is a drag revue bar in the former Odeon cinema on Dickson Road, two minutes' walk from Blackpool North station. It is not a pub with a queen on a box in the corner. It is a full theatrical production on a proscenium stage, with a company of trained dancers, big choreographed numbers, comedy sketches, quick changes, feathers, rhinestones and a hostess who works the room between routines. It has run in one form or another since July 1994, and it is the show most people mean when they talk about drag in Blackpool.

The audience is famously mixed. On a Saturday night you will find hen parties, birthday groups, coach trips, couples, gay lads on a weekend away and pensioners who have been coming for decades, all in the same room. That has been the point from day one: founder Basil Newby built it as a place for everyone, gay and straight, young and old.

How a night works

The pattern of a Funny Girls night has stayed much the same for years:

• Doors open at 7pm. Many people eat first in Garbo's, the art deco restaurant in the building, which serves a three-course pre-show dinner.
• From 8pm the DJ and hostess warm up the room. This is when birthday shout-outs, hen-party teasing and general banter happen. Long-serving hosts Zoe and Carmen made their names in this slot.
• Around 8:30pm the cabaret starts. The show is built from a run of production numbers, roughly seven sections by one visitor's count, with breaks between them for drinks and chat. Expect high-kick routines in the tradition of the great dance lines, comedy skits, mega-mixes of diva anthems and a big finale.
• The night finishes around 11:30pm, when many people move on to Oscars in the same building for karaoke and live music.

Seating ranges from standing room near the stage, which is the cheapest and liveliest spot, to booths, stage-side tables and the dress circle upstairs. Drinks and snacks are served at your table. Some performances include a BSL-interpreting performer, and some packages include a meet-and-greet. The venue also runs backstage heritage tours. The shows are strictly 18+, and seasonal shows can include pyrotechnics, loud bangs and sudden noises, so talk to reception first if that is a worry.

Times and prices can change, so check before you go.

The seasonal calendar

Funny Girls changes its show several times a year, and regulars come back for each one. The company rehearses the next show during the day while the current one plays at night, in the old repertory style. The pattern for 2026-27 shows how the year runs:

• Spring show, from January to early May. The 2027 spring production is Hello Gorgeous!, with a short Spring Fling weekend to follow.
• Summer show, from May to early September. The 2026 summer show was Hot Girl Summer, opening with a Gloria Estefan mega-mix before a jukebox of Cher, Madonna, Britney and Tina Turner, comedy, surprise chickens and a disco finale. The 2027 summer show is Heatwave! The Summer Spectacular.
• Halloween show, from mid-September to the start of November. Coven Queens (2026) mixes movie monsters, Broadway witches, a Rocky Horror nod and a drag take on Frankenstein.
• Christmas show, from mid-November to early January. Christmas Sleigh Queens runs for the 2026 festive season, followed by a New Year's Eve party with a midnight countdown.
• January specials, such as Slay Another Day in 2027.
• One-off specials, such as the two-night Queens of the Knights diva-anthem show led by Phoenix Knights in November 2026, and visits from television drag stars.

Past shows have included a Space finale with silver boots and towering feather headdresses, and a La La Land number. Costumes, sets and props are often reworked from the theatre's own stock, and wigs are restyled for every new production.

The history of the show

Queen Street, 1994-2002

Funny Girls opened in July 1994 in a converted shop at the seaward end of Queen Street. The stage was tiny, queues formed outside from the start, and within a few years the bar had spread into the shops next door. Betty Legs Diamond, a dancer and London cabaret performer, created the first show and became its leading lady, choreographer and director. Zoe was the DJ and compère from the opening night.

Newspaper photographs from those years show Betty Legs Diamond and company opening the 1997 season, the bar's fourth birthday in 1998, and Zoe launching a new Wednesday show with fellow performer Lionel Vinvyl in 1999. The team also took part in seafront charity walks raising money for HIV causes.

The Odeon, 2002 onwards

In July 2002 the show moved into the restored 1939 Odeon on Dickson Road, a Grade II listed art deco building, with Joan Collins opening the new venue. The old cinema stalls became the show bar.

In November 2005 the company performed Swine Lake, a ballet spoof, at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen, joined by a dancer from English National Ballet. The cast has appeared at the Royal Variety twice. In 2013 a national newspaper's film-maker went behind the scenes of the Christmas show rehearsals.

Betty's departure and return

Betty Legs Diamond left Funny Girls in 2009 and starred in her own show in Newcastle before returning in 2016 to headline a new production. By 2017 the show ran six nights a week, with the main show headed by Betty and Zoe from Wednesday to Sunday and a Tuesday show starring Miss Amber, then Betty's understudy and a Funny Girls dancer of more than 20 years. Other leading names of that era included Alexis and Scarlett, who shared the Space finale with Betty and Zoe.

Thirty years and a new owner

Funny Girls marked 25 years in 2019 with a celebration attended by more than a thousand people, and 30 years in 2024. In the mid-2020s CeCe D'Vyne, who made her debut at the venue in January 2023, became leading lady. A 2025 feature on the company described a cast of trained dancers rather than a simple drag act, and a show of roughly four hours mixing drag, slapstick, acrobatics and dance.

In 2025 Basil Newby announced his retirement, and in 2026 the business passed to theatre and bar operator Kane Oliver. The new team installed a bigger stage and a runway to bring the performers closer to the crowd, modernised the show and welcomed back Miss Scarlett for the first time in six years. Long-time hostess Carmen took on a guest-experience role.

Who's who in the company

The current cast list changes from season to season, but these names are linked with the show in 2025-26:

• Carmen, host and DJ, with the company since 2006 and known for razor-sharp put-downs. See her profile.
• Phoenix Knights, who started as a bar queen and is now a lead performer. See her profile.
• Flexi Belle, a ballet-trained dancer who joined in March 2025. See her profile.
• CeCe D'Vyne, leading lady in the mid-2020s. See her profile.
• Miss Scarlett, a dancer and performer who returned in 2026.
• Luke, dance captain, trained in his home city of Leicester.
• Andrea, a dancer from Sicily.
• Jordan, a dancer with English and Irish roots, who also performs aerial work.

Two names from the original 1994 show are still touring together. Betty Legs Diamond and Zoe headlined Together Again at the Central Pier Show Bar in summer and autumn 2026. See their profiles.

Visiting stars

Funny Girls also hosts one-night specials by touring drag stars, usually on nights when the main show is dark. Drag Race UK's Baga Chipz brought her Bagz To Riches tour on 6 October 2026, and Tanya Hyde has also appeared. Specials like these sell quickly.

Tips for your visit

• Book Friday and Saturday well ahead, especially in Illuminations season and over Christmas.
• Choose standing if you want to dance and be close to the action. Choose a booth or the circle if you want to sit and watch.
• If you are celebrating, tell the box office. Hosts love a birthday or a hen, but be ready to be teased.
• See our drag night etiquette page for tips on photos, heckling and front-row seats.