We used Come-In, the 15- to 45-minute period before a show starts, when the audience is entering and finding seats, to practice our juggling. It was a little like street performing, in that we had to get peoples' attention, then do something which we hoped they'd enjoy watching. By trial and error, we developed our comedy bits, testing one idea after another, or simply improvising, until we got a consistent response. We learned a lot, but when we left that show after two seasons, it could still be said that we did not have an act.

 

Our next job, working on a Wild West show in Japan, forced us to come to terms with that, as we were cast as "Comedy-Western Jugglers" in the show. We spent 5-1/2 months there, and by the time we came home, we had an act. It was still long on comedy, but our juggling skills had come along. We worked balls, cigar boxes and clubs, and our passing was strong enough that we were beginning to throw tricks as we passed.

 

To this day, throwing tricks while passing clubs remains the crux of our act. The comic interplay throughout the act leads up to the passing at the end. It is still, in my mind, very much a street act. Our use of wireless microphones makes it easier for us to maintain personal contact with the audience in the circus context, where we work the act with music, and are sometimes competing for attention with shouting vendors, or even with other acts setting their props behind us as we work in the ring.

 

As we gain skill, we seem to be inclined to delete the balls and cigar boxes and just work with clubs. We've been practicing seven club passing, and we pass torches, but we haven't figured out how to integrate them in what we continue to bill as a comedy act.

 

Bob and I also have practiced ball spinning for some time. Bob frequently performs it as an audience warm-up during Come­In, using an audience volunteer. Again, having evolved outside the main body of the show, it is more of a street act than a circus act. I would like to see us integrate ball spinning with club juggling in some future act.

 

In addition to clowning and juggling, we also present trained animal acts, using dogs and pot­bellied pigs. It's hard to single out which is our "first" act, and which is the second, because we are usually hired to do it all - animals, juggling and clowning. It could well be said that we've spread ourselves too thin, especially as we strive to keep the quality of our presentation high. On the other hand, versatility has been a key to our ability to stay employed in a business whose opportunities

appear to be shrinking.