JW: Were there any others you admired?

KK: The first personality I liked in the way he was selling an act was Eric Brenn. He was one of the greatest plate spinners. That was the first time I said, "I want to do something like that." His personality I liked, and his suit and all that. Later, much later, the first juggler I was really influenced by was Francis Brunn. I was 18 or 19. My father and I were doing a lot of club dates in France and Germany and people would all tell me about Francis Brunn. The way they described him, I thought he he was the juggler who juggled the most of all objects. So I had a completely different idea about Francis Brunn before I saw him. Finally my father and I did a television show together in Paris and he took me to the Lido to see Francis. But in general jugglers never influenced me too much. There was just my father.

 

I did get some inspiration for performance. I got a box idea from the Dancing Devils. They're Argentine gauchos, cracking the strings with wooden balls on the floor. I saw them in the Lido and they were so dynamic, they have this great rhythm. It gave me an idea for a sort of rhythm section for my boxes. I started to practice with that in mind. But the point is that I got influenced by a completely different act.

 

JW: Well then, did you get inspiration for the comedy in your act from comedians?

KK: My father told me I was too young for comedy, I shouldn't do comedy and I didn't need comedy. But I always wanted to do comedy! I do agree you can't do it when you're young, you have to reach a certain age to start doing it. I was influenced by Victor Borge. What he does with the piano I wanted to combine with juggling. Doing silly mistakes and trying to get out of it, pulling out the medal, going to the edge of the spotlight and practicing, being human.

 

JW: Also, the entertainment industry has changed since you started as a solo perforner in 1975, hasn't it? Isn't comedy more acceptable for a stage juggler now? Could you have dreamed of doing this on stage 19 years ago, or would the entertainment directors have vetoed it?

KK: The demand for comedy is bigger now. It used to be six or eight acts in one show so they would hire comedians to do comedy and jugglers to do juggling. Now, the shows may have two acts besides the dance numbers, so they want them combined in comedy. With less acts they try to get as much in the show as possible. But I was too young to do comedy 19 years ago.

 

JW: You say you can't do comedy when you're young. But most street jugglers and non-stage jugglers start out with comedy because they haven't got the technique.

KK: Let me interrupt. There's a difference between talking comedy and visual comedy. Talking comedy is pretty easy. You tell a joke and people react to it. Visual comedy is very hard. You have to put a lot of character and personality in. Stand-up comedy is much much easier than doing visual comedy.

 

JW: You learned as a stage juggler and adapted the comedy to it later. Now jugglers start out performing early by telling jokes and juggling three balls. Are they not learning the proper techniques?

KK: It depends also on what you want to do. I want to be an international act. If you do a talking act you cannot perform internationally. You can't go next week to Japan and perform the same act, or go to Sweden or go to Mexico. I always wanted to be international. Ninety-percent of audiences all over the world will understand what I'm doing. But they don't all speak the same language, so a talking act can't be an international act.