In 1908, John L. Metoyer and members of a New York mutual aid society called "The Tramps" attended a vaudevillian comedy show called There Never Was and Never Will Be a King Like Me. The musical comedy performed by the "Smart Set" at the Pythian Temple Theater on the corner of Gravier and Saratoga in New Orleans included a skit where the characters wore grass skirts and dressed in black makeup. Metoyer became inspired by the skit and reorganized his marching troupe from baggy-pant-wearing tramps to a new group called the "Zulus".