You may have read my article about the Las Vegas based male strippers known as the Aussie Hunks. Well, this lucky lady got the chance to experience the show of one of their competitors: Thunder From Down Under.
In 1991, a group of erotic dancers in Australia banned together to show ladies a good time. At the time they went by the name ‘Man Power’, but they later became known as Thunder From Down Under. Sixteen years ago, Thunder From Down Under came to Las Vegas. There are currently a total of 27 men in the company, 7 of whom perform on the Strip.
This establishment became the first male revue ever to have permanent residence on the Las Vegas Strip. In 2001 they found their home at The Excalibur Hotel and Casino, where they perform in a showroom named after them.
As the longest standing male revue on the Strip, Thunder From Down Under set the standard for male strip shows. Their sole mission is to empower women. Every single man in the show is required to be Australian, and conveniently for the ladies in the audience, they also all happen to be straight. Women can tell when a man is attracted to them, and it is nice the company does not have to risk their audience seeing falsified desire in the performer’s eyes.
The company performs a whopping 13 shows a week. Through their many years of operating, Thunder From Down Under has made numerous Film and Television appearances, such as: Drop Dead Diva, Project Runway, and most recently a Disney comedy called Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which starred Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner.
Their impressive accolades are evident, but what is their show actually like? To get to the Thunder From Down Under performance space, you have to go through the Excalibur Hotel and Casino – a building that replicates the appearance of a castle, leaving you to wonder whether you are about to experience a very kinky fairytale, or a nightmare.
When the seating area opens, you are ushered into the Thunder From Down Under showroom: a very sizable space with an abundance of seats and tables. There is table service and a bar, which is certainly necessary if you happen to need a bit of liquid courage.
The audience is typically made up of 95% women, and 5% males and couples. If you ever want to see evidence of the equilibrium of the world in motion, come to a strip club: the world certainly balances itself out. As always with strip shows, many women are celebrating bachelorette parties, and an equal number of women are throwing divorce parties.
At the front of the room is a stage, with small trampolines placed on each side. To the back of the stage there are video clips of the performers shown on a projector. The audience is presented with a comical video of all of the different media appearances the male revue has made, and then a countdown from 10 begins, notifying us of the start of the show. For every number that counts down, we see a GIF of a man taking off his shirt, preparing us for the naughtiness that is about to ensue. In line with the mission of the show, Beyoncé’s ‘Who Run The World’ plays through the speakers, giving every woman in the room a much-needed boost of confidence.
The show opens with a group performance, and then we meet our MC Dylan, who was a finalist on Australia’s Got Talent. He splits the room in half, and makes the audience compete to be the rowdiest. They are informed that whichever side is the loudest is the one that will receive the most attention from the male strippers – and as the audience was a wild group of women, the screams were deafening.
You may recall me mentioning the number of tables dotted around the room were plentiful. This is a very important feature of the show. Ladies, hold onto your drinks, because they are not safe on the tabletops. Throughout the show, the performers jump up onto the tables, and give you an up-close and personal show.
There are advantages and disadvantages to this layout. The benefit is that, even though the room is large, every lady will get a good view of the show. Furthermore, this allows anticipation to build; as you never know what direction the strippers will pop out next.
However, the disadvantage is that if you happen to be placed by a table, you may get slightly more leg action than you do body action. You are also at risk of getting wet, in more ways than one – get your mind out of the gutter – I am referring to water being dripped on you when the performers drench themselves with a bottle of water, or being hit by the fire-extinguisher-like substance that is sprayed out into the audience at one point in the show.
Over the span of the show, there are a number of different routines, varying between group dances, and individual performances. The opening individual dance is Tarzan themed (starring Alex, who we had the pleasure of interviewing). This dance was raw, and animalistic, focused on how the carnal male was searching for his Jane. Equip with long hair and a loincloth, this wild looking man made the women roar – and one lucky lady got a personal lap-dance on stage.
Another notable routine was my personal favorite: the SWAT team dance. I always do like a man in uniform, and the quality of dancing in this routine was certainly the standout of the show. The erotic dancer had found the perfect balance between push and pull that is required to keep an audience hot and bothered. This SWAT team member picked out a woman to bring up on stage, and a teasing seduction ensued. The performer would get tantalizingly close to kissing the girl, only to pull back, and dance suggestively some more. When you see a bit of humor, playfulness, and sex appeal all mixed together, you get a strip routine that cannot be improved upon. The tension of the routine built up into a satisfying climax, and the individual performance ended with a solo dance that made the ladies go crazy.
There were a number of other individual and group performances, including a fire-fighter routine, and a Mrs. Robinson dance from our MC, where he brings one of the older ladies in the audience up for a dance. The woman of the night, who was celebrating her 85th birthday, absolutely loved the special attention. If you take the slight fear that she may suffer a heart attack away, then the dance is incredibly fun to watch. Clearly a theme for strip shows currently, the performance songs from Magic Mike and Step Up were both featured during the show.
Audience participation is encouraged and required throughout the show. There was one part of the performance when three self-proclaimed wild ladies are brought up on stage. They then perform a 10 second fake orgasm, and the audience chooses the winner. The clear winner of our night took the mic from the MC, bent over in front of him, and mimicked a humorously lack-luster orgasm, and proceeded to thank the MC afterwards. She, along with the other participants, won prizes based on the position they placed in the competition.
There was a final group performance, and then the show came to an end. Afterwards, you have the option to get a photo with every single one of the attractive male strippers. There are three options to choose between: 1) the ‘normal’ photo, where you get a photo by yourself sitting in the middle of all of the men, 2) the ‘gang bang’, where you take a photo with the strippers and a few of your friends, and 3) the ‘fuck you ex-boyfriend’ photo, where you take a photo with all of the shirtless men with six packs, and every participant in the photo holds their middle finger up to the camera.
If you wish to socialize with the performers after the show, they come to the bar outside the showroom to chat and sign photos. You may hope to embark on a romantic encounter with one of the strippers after a one-on-one interaction, and your wish is not totally invalid. A little birdie told me that some of the male strippers met their wives at the Thunder From Down Under show, so best of luck to you.
Thunder From Down Under will be touring Mexico, Europe, and Canada in the near future. If you would like to purchase tickets to any of their shows, follow this link:
Evidently I clearly had a fantastic time at both Thunder From Down Under, and the Aussie Hunks, so if you are deciding between the two shows, here are the main differences:
Thunder From Down Under: There is a shorter run-time of 1 hour and 15 minutes, so you can fit more into your evening before and after the show. There is no tipping, and there is a part of the show where you are allowed to take photos for free, so you can go home with a memento of the men dancing. If you are looking for a big, flashy performance, with big names, and dancers with lots of experience, this is the one for you.
Aussie Hunks: This is a longer show, so you get more performance time, and this allows for a higher likelihood to get one-on-one time with a dancer during the show. There is tipping, so if you wave your Hunk Buck up high, you are guaranteed a lap dance. The space is smaller, and as there are less people, the dances feel more personal. If you are looking for a more intimate performance, dancers with a sense of humor, who don’t take themselves too seriously, and a guaranteed chance to participate in the show, then this is the one for you.
