Cabaret Au Lapin Agile

Cabaret Au Lapin Agile is easily one of the most authentic French experiences I have ever had. The moment you step inside, it feels like you’ve entered a different century - the room is small, dimly lit, and decorated with old portraits, wooden benches, and worn-in charm that hasn’t changed in decades. The intimacy is part of the magic. It almost feels like you’re inside a living piece of Parisian history. The performances were genuinely top-notch. Singers, musicians, and poets rotating effortlessly, all of them unbelievably talented. What surprised me the most was how the entire crowd joined in. People were clapping, singing, laughing, and you could feel this warm, communal energy filling the room. It was quintessentially French - raw, emotional, a bit chaotic, and beautifully unfiltered. I don’t speak French, and honestly, it didn’t matter at all. Somehow the music and the delivery made everything understandable. The emotion carried it, and it felt like I knew exactly what was going on without needing the language. The drinks added to the whole atmosphere. A small but solid selection of wine and classic French spirits served in a way that feels old-school and perfectly in tune with the setting. A week later and I’m still replaying the night in my head. It felt like a fever dream in the best possible way - intimate, historic, passionate, and absolutely unforgettable. A must-do in Paris if you want something real, something with soul, and something you’ll remember long after the night ends.

During our 7 day/6 night trip to Paris we saw all the major sites, walked all over the city, visited many museums, and ate in many great restaurants and bistros, but the highlight of our stay was our 4 hours at Le Lapin Agile. The evening and the performances were excellent, warm, sincere and genuine. IF you are looking for an authentic Paris experience, this is it. My French is pretty good and I was familiar with many of the songs that were performed the evening we were there – but my wife’s French is very limited – but she enjoyed the evening as much as I did. The cost of entry is well worth it and there is no pressure at all to buy extra drinks. Be there when they open at 9pm – and only leave when the evening is over! (Yes, the Metro will be closed but Ubers, etc. are available and not expensive)

In Year 10, I played the Countess in a VCE Theatre Studies production of Picasso at The Lapin Agile and when I finally went to Paris at the end of 2023 and again in June 2025, I went to the real Lapin Agile both times and it has been continually esoteric. The crimson room, the whole audience joining in song singing in French, the sherry shots, the charming, truly stunning voices of the performers, the fascinating instruments they play and their multi-instrumentalism. Four straight hours of bliss! I wish I could have stayed right to end! But I was twenty one years old travelling alone and was worried about getting to my hostel by the metro before the metro stopped 💌❣️

Oh...the atmosphere & the artists!! An evening well- spent au lapin agile! We enjoyed the songs and music for around three hours and of course we stayed till the end! The artists sing all together and afterwards each one makes a performance on his/her own. Piano, violin, acordeon, guitar and the talented artists created a sentimental trip to french culture. Mille merci !!

This is a very small authentic place and they mostly (or only) sing, which is great, however if you are not french it gets a little bit boring after a couple of hours as you are not coming from the cultural background. If you go, I would recommend to order a bottle of champaign with your ticket as if you order by glass, the glasses are very small and the service is not always there as they perform continuously

It’s a nice place to discover the French culture, lots of stories you can learn from those old songs, about Montmartre, about Paris. They sang so well, amazing atmosphere. But I must say that it would be difficult for those who could not understand French.

I had no idea what to expect from Au Lapin Agile—but it turned out to be one of the most unique, entertaining, and heartfelt evenings I’ve had in Paris. The performers were incredible—so much talent, humor, and passion in one small room. Seeing a 97-year-old performer still singing and having fun on stage was genuinely inspiring. I unfortunately had to leave halfway through due to a bad jet lag headache, and I felt terrible about it because it had absolutely nothing to do with the show—it was fantastic from start to finish. I would highly recommend this experience to anyone visiting Paris looking for something authentic, lively, and full of soul. Bravo to everyone involved!

Yes, there are world-famous cabarets like the Moulin Rouge and Crazy Horse in Paris, but they can't be compared to Lapin Agile. Juliette Dubois, our Cine-Balade tour guide, introduced us to Lapin Agile and this experience turned out to be the best evening during our stay in Paris. Very few tourists frequent Lapin Agile (90% of the audience was French and no English was spoken). The venue barely holds 80 people in a small room, a cherry liqueur was the house drink, and on this Tuesday night, the singers and musicians entertained the crowd non-stop for four hours until after 1am. The singers were talented, the atmosphere perfect, and all this would be a wonderful cabaret experience if taken at face value. But that's not what I saw. What I experienced was an extremely professional theater troupe mounting a well-rehearsed, interactive, site-specific avant-garde theatrical performance. When you enter the small tavern-like room, you are guided to your seat and offered your first drink. As the room started to fill up, someone started singing "spontaneously." Soon others joined in, and before you know it, you are now inside the play, You realize the singers are actors opening the fourth wall and inviting you onto their stage. The first songs were popular French songs, and most of the audience knew the lyrics and sang along. Once the cozy family tavern mood was established and everyone had at least one drink in them, individual artists did solos and duets, spoke to the audience in character, joked, clowned, and continuously engaged everyone in attendance. The best part: at one point, the waitress did a solo using her towel as a stage prop. Was this scripted? You bet. Was it improvised? You bet. Authentic or staged? It didn't matter, I was hooked. I had no idea what her song was about, but it sounded to me like her boyfriend had just cheated on her, so she left him, but now she wanted him back. She was so miserable that she just had to tell the audience, and so she burst into song. Okay, I just made that up, but she was so good I teared up. This is a must-see experience for fans of chanson française or live theatre.

Do you know Lapin Agile ? When I was junior high school student, I knew the Montmartre cabaret. Why did I know it although I was a young student ? Because very famous artists and chanson singers from the end of 19th to the beginning of 20th gathered at here to communicate with various people and drink alcohol and watch dancing of cabaret dancers. Picasso, Modigliani, Apollinaire, and Utrillo, and famous cabaret singer, Aristide Bruant. In 1875, the artist Andre Gill painted Lapin Agile's sign that was to suggest its permanent name. It was a picture of a rabbit jumping out of a saucepan, and residents began calling their neighbourhood night-club Le Lapin à Gill, meaning "Gill's rabbit." Over time, the name had evolved into "Cabaret Au Lapin Agile," or the Nimble Rabbit Cabaret. The original painting on canvas was stolen in 1893; a reproduction on timber was painted to take its place. The Lapin Agile was bought in the early twentieth century by the cabaret singer, comedian, and nightclub owner Aristide Bruant to save it from demolition. The Lapin Agile became a favourite spot for struggling artists and writers, including Picasso, Modigliani, Apollinaire, and Utrillo. The Lapin Agile is located in the centre of the Montmartre district in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, behind and slightly northwest of Sacre Coeur Basilica. Since this was the heart of artistic Paris at the turn of the twentieth century, there was much discussion at the cabaret about "the meaning of art." The Lapin Agile also was popular with Montmartre residents including pimps, eccentrics, poorer people, local anarchists, as well as with students from the Latin Quarter and a sprinkling of upper-class bourgeoisie. Pablo Picasso's 1905 oil painting, Au Lapin Agile ("At the Lapin Agile") helped to make this cabaret world-famous. The cabaret was often captured on canvas by another Montmartre artist, Maurice Utrillo.

Wow, Carissa M. could not have been more accurate. This place was bad, really bad. So many things need to be different to make this good entertainment, and a properly run business. Do yourself a favor and don't be the rabbit trying to jump out of the pot. Such a waste of time and money. I literally had to run past the performers to escape! Good luck if you want a drink, or have to go to the bathroom.

A memorable experience at a place where famous artists such as Picasso used to visit. One can imagine that the place has remained essentially untouched for about a century. The singers had great enthusiasm & great voices to boot. Even Though I could. understand just a few words in their songs, I could tell from the audience's responses thatenthusiasm & humor were aplenty. I did learn a little by pestering the Belgian lady next to me for some brief translation on the lyrics. If you really want to experience a different part of Parisienne life, head to Montmartre to visit the art scene & a panoramic view of Paris a few hours earlier by taxi or Uber. Be sure to grab a crepe or eat something before you go to the show. The cons? No food or snack served, the drinks are very petite in size , & the wood benches are 100-year old hard.

A fun and worthwhile place to visit for an evening's entertainment. We were somewhat hampered by not speaking French (I am not suggesting projected translations!). The night we went, attendance was very sparse, but the songs and atmosphere were pleasant. Our problems: 1) they didn't try hard enough to sell drinks. There was no offer for another glass of wine, and no interval in which we could order one. 2) we couldn't stay for the whole performance. We would have liked to stay, but the Paris Metro does not run all night, and we had to leave in order to catch a train -- or else we'd be stuck paying for a taxi. Since there was no interval, we had no choice but to get up and walk out during the performance. We regretted doing this, but there was no interval allowing us to leave discreetly.The owner caught us on the way out and wanted to know if there was a problem. He was polite (and spoke English), and concerned as any proprietor ought to be. We assured him no problem, and explained our situation. Very enjoyable music and songs.

An amazing and most memorable experience. Don't listen to the one star bummers below. This is a taste of true cabaret experience and the French chanson culture. Enjoy a shot of cherry brandy and sing along even when you do not know the words.

This place was constantly listed on my travel guides as a taste of bohemian Montmartre. Unlike the Moulin Rouge, the Lapin Agile still maintains a lot of its bohemian nature. The setting was almost surreal as you sit in a darkened reddish room surrounded by old wooden furniture and paintings from the 1920s. The various singers are entertaining and did a wonderful job of getting the crowd involved. I thoroughly enjoyed my self here despite not knowing a word of what everyone was singing. I also enjoyed the nice stroll back to the metro and got to see Montmartre and Sacre Coeur lit up at night.

Named after the bar Picasso used to frequent I'm not sure that this is actually the same place but it sure is cute and it's easy to come in, relax, order a drink and pretend.

Rude, rude, rude! Complete sauna, impossible to be served a glass of wine or drink, humiliating non french customers and having tantrums during show from lack of customer participation. I decline! -1 rating.

The two men at the front door were very kind and helpful. But once inside I had an awful experience overall because, as I just read some other women had a similar experience on this site, the older male singer near the end of the night made fun of me not speaking a lot of French, was aggressive towards me, and seemed to want to embarrass or make fun of me for his and others entertainment. It is too small a space to speak or look at your phone if you feel lost and need to find your way home while the metro is about to close. I am a performer myself and understand it can feel disrespectful for an audience member to have a phone out. That said, this was an evening in this very small space, with no breaks, and it was after midnight when the metros start to close and I didn't have service before arriving. They don't have WiFi either. So I turned on my international service while there to be ready to find my way home. The singer having sat directly in front of me and after having asked if we all speak French in French, yelled "get off your fucking phone" in English twice and then sang the next song staring at me primarily with a very evil face. I left once he was done with that first song and obviously he was continuing to speak and make up things to try to hurt. He was a child and unprofessional and unempathetic.

Friend of mine and I went for an evening recently at the Au Lapin Agile, we thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment. It was a great "French" experience. We arrived by metro which was easy from Pigalle, where we were staying. The cherry brandy was nice. The only downside were the charming antique chairs (super uncomfortable for 2 hours) and it was difficult to get drinks. When we finally did order a round, the brought us the wrong drinks! The drink prices are always expensive (7-8€) and the quality is not good. But heh, we came to experience a fun night and they did deliver that!

If you want to do something very different, this is place. the theater itself is just a small cafe room. There about a dozen performers do a series of traditional French songs, and encourage people to sing along. Its all very good natured. The obvious problem is that most of the tourists don't really know the songs, or know French, but the performers do their best to bring you along. Its all served up with some cherry brandy...

this former cabaret takes its name from the sign painted by Andres Gill of a rabbit escaping a cooking pot.This club was very popular at the beginning of the1900's. Today it still has the same type of atmosphere of painters and artists.A lively nightspot.

Au Lapin Agile is a great place to go out to eat with a few friends. I got a carefully made and delicious turkey sandwich and got to listen to a great jazz band perform. I would certainly go again if I am in the area.