The marriage of chili and stripping was a lucrative enterprise for Athens’ burlesque troupe last year.

Therefore, Effie’s Club Follies Vaudeville Burlesque Revue will host its second annual chili cook-off Saturday at Little Kings.

After contestants’ chili undergoes professional survey by a panel of judges, chili-tasting and voting opens to the public at 7. Judges announce their selection, as well as the winner of the popular vote at 9:30, followed by the burlesque show at 10.

“There’s singing, dancing, sex, comedy. Every girl comes up with her own number,” said Amanda Knisely, who also goes by Miss Effie. She is both founder and creative director of the troupe.

“We really strive in our setlist to create a balance between the sexy and the comedy,” she said.

The troupe’s members, all volunteer performers who create their own stage names and characters, hold fundraisers to pay for shows. But their first attempt of distributing cookies at bars downtown in costume didn’t generate enough funds. The cook-off, however, was a hit.

“We had such a long line of people, we ran out of chili . so this year, more chili. Lots more chili,” Knisely said.

Three categories exist: beef, vegetarian and “other,” including anything not covered by the other two categories (such as last year’s gator chili). People are confused when they hear a burlesque troupe is having a chili cook-off,” said Andrea Boyd (Scarlett Noir), the troupe’s media liaison. “It’s a weird combo. We like chili. We like the element of competition,” Boyd said.

Knisely created the troupe in 2005. She wanted to fuse a “slapstick, shticky” flavor of entertainment with modern-day burlesque, she said.

“Every troupe that we’ve ever performed with has been a little bit more retro burlesque, a 1940s pin-up look and act. We’re very much not that,” she said. “Burlesque is all about mocking society and holding a mirror up and making you laugh at the sad truth.”

“We have more in common with weird sketch comedy and bizarre, half-naked improv than the vintage ‘pose-and-turn’ burlesque. We come out, we’re running around, we’re throwing stuff at people,” Boyd said.

The chili cook-off is the troupe’s fundraiser for their next show, “Effie’s Does America,” which will show twice March 8 at the Georgia Theatre: one show at 8 p.m., and one at 11:30 or midnight.

“We’ve actually found that we have two very different crowds. We definitely have a draw with the professional, nine-to-five crowd, and then we have a whole other kind of townie, works-at-the-bar-and-the-restaurant kind of crowd, and in order to allow for both, we have two different shows,” Knisely said.

She emphasized the camaraderie within her troupe, which has between 12 to 24 women (and a few men).

“For as many girls that are in this troupe, I am constantly amazed that the level of drama is not higher,” she said.

Participation in Effie’s Club Follies is easy. No audition is necessary. Most members have no performing experience, said Kelly Myers (Lemmie Lickett), who does graphic design for the troupe.

Neither Boyd nor Myers intended to become burlesque dancers. Myers caved to Knisely’s repeated invitations to join the troupe.

Boyd attended the first Effie’s Club Follies show with a friend, who signed both of them up while Boyd was in the bathroom. Despite initial reluctance, both women became enthusiastic members.

“Someone was like, ‘How can you get up there and make fun of yourselves, and then get naked?’ I think it takes confidence in making fun of yourself,” Myers said. “You have to first be okay with yourself to then be able to make fun of it. I think that’s why a lot of women like us too, because we’re not up there competing with them. None of us have had any surgery . We let ‘em flop around, you know what I’m saying?” she said.

“I think the one thing we have in common is there’s something in us that we all like,” Myers said, “And we think everyone should witness it . covered in glitter.”