Est. September 23, 2006 • San Francisco
Our Story
Twenty years ago, Vau de Vire co-founder Mike Gaines and Gooferman/Circus Metropolus founder Boenobo Zjo (aka The Klown) cooked up a monthly immersive excuse to misbehave. It stuck like sexy goo, running as a monthly for several years. This is the story of Bohemian Carnival, the only & one indie circus and music showcase, and the ever-evolving cast of supreme beings of absurdity who keep it spinning.
The long haul
The monthly indie circus & music orgy
Bohemian Carnival premiered at San Francisco’s DNA Lounge on September 23, 2006, and came back every month for several years to fill the room and stages with up to 100 cast & crew along with the several hundred SF Bay Area freaks that consistently graced and amplified every show.
With Vau de Vire Society, the Bay Area’s renowned acrobatic subculture avant-cabaret troupe, and Gooferman, the sexy-stylie circus kings of klown-fi, as resident hosts, the show regularly featured an eccentric, eclectic blend of top-tier local, regional, national, and international acts.
The propellant philosophy was simple and the first of its kind in San Francisco: demolish the walls between the entertainment and the attendee guests, making the latter almost as much a part of the show as the lineup itself.
“A gloriously irreverent explosion of live music mischief, raucous circus theatrics, and sexy vaudeville shenanigans.”
Supreme beings of absurdity
Who’s taken the stage
A typical Bohemian Carnival show was anything but: phenomenal circus, cabaret, vaudeville, burlesque, and sideshow acts performing alongside and with live bands and DJs — and a costumed, effervescent crowd adding to the bonkers mix of ‘what the hell’s going on here?!’. Over the years, the bill has included:
- Resident hosts
- Vau de Vire Society and Gooferman
- Masters of ceremony
- Jamie DeWolf, Jello Biafra, Kingfish
- Bands
- Bambi Killers, Busdriver, Diamond Daggers, Extra Action Marching Band, Gun & Doll Show, Kid Beyond, Lafa Taylor, Madd Vibe Orchestra with Angelo Moore of Fishbone, Mark Growden, The Mutaytor, The New Eccentrics, One Man Banjo, The Phenomenauts, Planet Booty, Sambadrop, Tim Barsky, Tornado Rider, TrashKan Marchink Band
- Circus, sideshow and variety
- Andrew Jones, Black & Blue Burlesque, Bronkar Lee, Circus Metropolus, Cirque Berzerk, El Circo, Flynn Creek Circus, Fou Fou Ha!, The Nekia, Shadow Circus, Shamanic Cheerleaders, Shrine, Sisters of Honk, Squidling Brothers Family Circus, The Suicide Girls, Trapeze Worldwide, Vatra, XENO
- DJs
- An-Ten-Nae, Coop* & Audilew, Delachaux, El Papachango, Eric Sharp, Global Ruckus, J Boogie’s Dubtronic Science, The Klown, DJ Laird, DJ Majitope, DJ Mancub, Motion Potion, DJ Smoove
...plus innumerable aerialists, fire-breathers, contortionists, klowns, and costumed troublemakers whose names never fit on the flyer. Thanks to every one of you, and especially to our crew for helping glue it all together.
On the road
From DNA Lounge to the big top
DNA Lounge was home base, but the Carnival travels. We brought the show to Anon Salon’s Sea of Dreams New Year’s Eve in 2008, rang in 2010 at CellSpace in the Mission, and took the show up to the North Lake Tahoe’s Crystal Bay Room in February 2011.
Later, the show moved under canvas at the Tortona Big Top in Alameda, which is where we’re throwing our biggest party yet.
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Sep 23, 2006
Premiere at DNA Lounge, San Francisco
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Sep 29, 2007
One Year Anniversary Party with The Mutaytor
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Sep 12, 2008
Madd Vibe Orchestra with Angelo Moore of Fishbone
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Dec 31, 2008
Sea of Dreams New Year’s Eve
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Jul 24, 2009
The Punk Rock Circus with Jello Biafra
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Dec 31, 2009
New Year’s Eve at CellSpace
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Feb 19, 2011
Crystal Bay Room, Crystal Bay, NV
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Mar 29, 2013
Broadway Studios, San Francisco, CA
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Aug 6, 2016
Tortona Big Top, Alameda
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Nov 21–22, 2026
20th Anniversary Weekender, Tortona Big Top, Alameda
Don’t take our word for it
As seen and heard
“An “indie circus orgy.””
“The Bohemian Carnival One Year Anniversary Party … featuring The Mutaytor, Vau de Vire Society, Gooferman, Motion Potion and An-Ten-Nae.”
“Circus troupe & live music spectacle Gooferman & the Vau De Vire Society along with a bevy of live bands & DJs.”
Listed among DNA Lounge’s award-winning regular events, alongside Bootie, Death Guild and Hubba Hubba Revue.
From the archives
- Laughing Squid: Bohemian Carnival One Year Anniversary Party (2007) (opens in a new tab)
- SFist: SFist Today (May 19, 2007) (opens in a new tab)
- SF Funcheap: Bohemian Carnival New Year’s Eve (2009) (opens in a new tab)
- Anon Salon: Sea of Dreams NYE archive (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia: DNA Lounge (opens in a new tab)
- Internet Archive: DNA Lounge Flyer Collection 2002–2011 (opens in a new tab)
- The original bohemiancarnival.net (2007 snapshot) (opens in a new tab)
- Bohemian Carnival on Yelp (seriously) (opens in a new tab)
Some yesteryear action
The usual suspects
Partners in mischief
Bohemian Carnival is a co-production of friends who have been building San Francisco’s circus underground for decades.
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Vau de Vire Society (opens in a new tab)
Resident hosts, co-producers, and the crew behind The Soiled Dove, The Edwardian Ball, New Bohemia NYE and Lagunitas Beer Circus.
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Gooferman (opens in a new tab)
Resident hosts and the house band of klown-fi.
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Circus Metropolus (opens in a new tab)
Founding co-producer.
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DNA Lounge (opens in a new tab)
Our first home, 375 Eleventh Street, San Francisco.
Twenty years and still jumping
Come make the next chapter
Join us November 21–22, 2026, under the Tortona Big Top at Radium Runway in Alameda for the 20th Anniversary Weekender: two days of circus, music and beautiful chaos, with old friends, new freaks and a few surprises we’re not allowed to talk about yet.