TBT: The Chippendales Dancers

Established in 1979, Chippendales was the first all-male stripping troupe to make a business performing for mostly female audiences. Through the quality of its staging and choreography, Chippendales also helped legitimize stripping as a form of popular entertainment.

After operating a gas station, Somen Banerjee and his partner, Loyola Law School student Bruce Nahin, bought a failed west Los Angeles disco, and turned it into a nightclub featuring female mud wrestling and exotic dancing. The idea of featuring male dancers came from nightclub promoter Paul Snider, while the club name Chippendales because of the Chippendale style furniture at the club.

The concept of the male strip show was brought to Banerjee and Nahin by Snider (later notorious for killing his estranged wife, Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten and then himself) who was desperate to revive his nightclub business because other ideas of backgammon and female mud wrestling were failing. They packaged the idea of a male burlesque show with the name of elegant furniture in a night club venue that was clean and refined, and allowed women to feel comfortable watching men strip down to a G-string. The concept immediately gained a huge female following and expanded to New York, London, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Thailand, Australia, Philadelphia, and Florida.

In 1990 a Saturday Night Live skit featured guest host Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley competing in an audition to become a Chippendales dancer.

In the 1997 English comedy The Full Monty, the characters' plan to form a striptease group are inspired by the Chippendales.

They were featured in the 2001 film Just Can't Get Enough.

Chippendale dancers Jaymes Vaughan and James Davis competed in the 21st season of The Amazing Race, ultimately finishing in 2nd place. 

Other notable Chippendales dancers are the actor Ian Ziering, The Bachelor star Jake Pavelka, actor Joey Lawrence, singer Jeff Timmons, and professional wrestler Kenny King.

The Chippendales, though still popular, continue to suffer from legal troubles and conflicts with "copycat" companies. Kevin Denberg bought Chippendales in 2000 with several other investors, and immediately set about distancing the company from its somewhat risqué past.

We thank Chippendales for their contribution to Americana, and for entertaining horny women across the globe.

Continue to keep those abs chiseled gentlemen. Thatisall.

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