freak show

noun

1. a display of people or animals with unusual or grotesque physical features, as at a circus or carnival sideshow.

2. any ludicrous, bizarre, or dehumanizing occasion, function, performance, etc.; grotesque, circuslike event.

   endless interviews and auditions that became a ridiculous freak show.

Word History and Origins

Origin of freak show¹

First recorded in 1885–90