the Way of the Showman

The brutal part of juggling isn’t the hard trick. It’s the simple demand that never changes: once the object leaves your hand, you either catch it or you don’t. From a snowy, sleety Malmö cabaret week at Victoria Theater, we sit down in a hotel room surrounded by ribbons, feathers, and confetti while Jay Gilligan rolls his legendary Ivar Balls, and we ask the mid-career question that every performer eventually faces: does life actually get easier, or do you just get better at carrying it?&nbs...

In this episode I read the first chapter of the Paradoxes of Juggling by Michael Staroseletsky, a book published by NDjuggling.com which of course is run by Niels Duinker who was a guest on the podcast back in episode 135. If you are interested in ways to view the world through a craft this is a book you should check out. If you're interested in advanced practice and the technique of juggling this is a great read. It is also part of the brand new Compendium of Soviet Juggling Wisdom. What if ...

Step aboard the Punky Steamer and watch everyday moments turn into portals. -> listen to the fantastic tale here! I highly recommend checking this audio play out before listening to the episode. For one it’s awesome and for sure lots of what we talk about will feel deeper and make even more sense. We sit down with Clay Hillman—once a Lutheran minister, now the imagination behind a toy-and-coffee shop and the audio adventure KC Bonker’s Road to Joy—to explore how play can be bo...

A chainsaw mounted to a sword. Seventeen pumpkins in a minute. And a philosophy that says a show only becomes real when the audience completes it. That’s the ride we take with Jelly Boy the Clown—writer, record-setter, and sideshow artist who turns chaos into craft. We start with the surprise aftermath of America’s Got Talent: millions of viewers, zero promotion allowed, and a door opening from an unexpected direction—Guinness World Records. From there we go inside the workshop, where ideas ...

Some performers step into the light and the room leans in. Others work just as hard and leave us cold. We wanted to know why. Together with juggler and performance thinker Jay Gilligan, we unpack stage presence without the fluff—what it is, how to build it, and why authenticity beats polish every time. We start by challenging the myth that presence is a gift you either have or don’t. Yes, some people radiate charisma from day one. But most of us can raise our baseline by choosing the right l...

Ever wondered where the line between inspiration and appropriation lies in performance art? Captain Frodo welcomes comedian-magician Nick Diffatte for a candid exploration of originality in magic that will resonate with creators across all disciplines. Nick takes us behind the scenes of Tannen's Magic Camp—an intensive gathering where 120 young magicians (ages 10-20) immerse themselves in the craft under the guidance of working professionals. You'll feel like you're wandering the Hogwarts-li...

Step back in time to a vanished world of state-run circus schools, train journeys across the Soviet Union, and the dramatic moment when the Berlin Wall fell. In this captivating conversation, foot juggler Antje Pode shares her remarkable journey from a young gymnast in East Germany to an internationally acclaimed circus artist. Antje reveals the fascinating, rarely-discussed reality of the communist-era circus system, where performers were government employees with guaranteed lifetime positi...

What if imagination isn't just fantasy, but the very faculty that brings our world into existence? In this philosophical deep dive, we explore the fifth and final criteria of play: that it is imaginative and improvisational. Unlike previous episodes in this series, I'm not arguing that imagination benefits performers—that connection is self-evident. Instead, we're examining imagination as the arena where showmanship unfolds. From the initial creative impulse to the finished performance, imag...