Countless TV show plots involve raising money to save a beloved institution, like when the Brady Bunch won a talent show to save their home from foreclosure, which in turn raised a question: why did you have so many friggin' kids if you couldn't afford to house them? Huh Mike? Staging a three-ring circus of the absurd to save a local independent venue in real life, the 941 Fun-Raiser.

After operating just within the bounds of the law and financial sustainability for the past two years, Northern Liberties' 941 Theater was recently slapped with a series of heavy fines, threatening the existence of the 200-capacity venue that played host to everything from independent film screenings to Live Arts/Fringe performances, all setting the stage for Friday's blowout at the Starlight where local musicians, burlesque performers, and sideshow freaks'll gather to fight for the one place that doesn't fear them. Slated performances include the comedy stylings of the Pickle Man, whose act begins with the a 61-year-old local pickle vendor taking the stage on a tricycle w/ a toilet for a seat, and Scott "Count Scotchula" Johnston & Christa D'Agger of the Peekaboo Revue combining burlesque and Bowie with their cheeky rendition of "Heroes", highlighted by a sultry striptease by D'Agger sure to get the attention of your own thin white duke. Things get really strange when the Disgraceland Hook Squad moves in with their display of cringe-inducing "modern day flesh suspensions", where they're held in mid-air via hooks through the skin, before the headlining bikini wrestling segment, featuring the vixens of Burning Angel writhing around in an oversized kiddie pool filled w/ baby oil, where they'll battle tourney-style, with the champ facing off against a lucky raffle winner -- lucky, until he's gotta take the El home with Johnson & Johnson around his johnson.

Booze'll flow from two fully stocked bars and hot dogs and other munchies'll be on hand to complement free Herr's chips for crunching on through sets from local bands (Sideshow Prophets, Three Four Tens, Tsunami Rising...) punctuated by emcees raffling off gift certificates from Delicious Boutique, Jinxed, and A Full Plate, which is clearly exactly what Mike had when he had three kids, and he had to just keep pushing it, and pushing it...

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Do your part to save one of Philly's true independent performance venues -- or just go for the bikini oil wrestling -- get your tix at BrownPaperTickets.com