Cabaret Mado

About this place Cabaret Mado

Cabaret Mado is the institution of Québécois drag culture — a nightclub and cabaret on Rue Sainte-Catherine Est that has been operating since 1995 and is built around the persona of Mado Lamotte, the drag queen who founded the venue and whose performing style, wit, and cultural presence define what the cabaret is. Mado is to Montreal drag what RuPaul is to American drag television: a figure whose influence on an entire generation of performers is impossible to overstate. The shows at Cabaret Mado are performed primarily in French and rooted in Québécois comedy and performance traditions — broad, physical, linguistically playful, and culturally specific in a way that makes them a window into Francophone queer culture rather than a generic drag night. The venue itself is intimate by club standards, which means that the performance reaches every table; the interaction between performers and audience is a feature rather than an accident. Visiting Cabaret Mado during a summer weekend in Montreal is one of the most distinctly Montreal LGBTQ+ experiences available.