I don’t want to scare anyone but I’m a
clown yeah terrifying I heard some gas
I went to the Ringling Brothers Barnum
Bailey Clown College I traveled with the
greatest show on earth I lived on a
train I’ve slipped in tiger poop I’ve
been booed by 20,000 people at Madison
Square Garden I’ve made kids laugh and
adults cry and I’ve worn more spandex
than you can even imagine are you
imagining it you you don’t have to I
have a slide you can see sorry about
that but ladies and gentlemen I am here
to tell you today that the circus is
alive and well in America
okay now I’m not a circus historian I
don’t know all the facts about the
circus I’m just an artist a collaborator
a divisor somebody who fell in love with
an art form a high-flying spectacle
called the circus and I want you to fall
in love with it too so in its heyday the
circus it brought the unusual and the
exotic it brought spectacle it brought
clowns it brought live music it got
people out of their houses and into
their communities it was the
entertainment I mean people needed the
circus it connected them to the outside
world there was no TV no movies no
national Broadway tours when the circus
came to town it was something special
but now some people think the circus is
irrelevant boring a relic of Catan gone
by outdated but I would argue that in
this time of Netflix HBO and YouTube I
mean we literally have entertainment at
our fingertips and because of that we
are isolated in a totally different way
our sense of community is limited to
Facebook followers and instagrams
stories we need the circus more than
ever so take this TEDx event for example
that’s happening right now I mean this
video that’s being shot right now I mean
let’s be honest it’s going to be viewed
by millions and millions and millions
and millions of people right please like
and share like and share thank you but
well they feel the same level of
engagement that we feel in this room huh
I mean we could connect with each other
in here in a way that we just cannot
online I mean I could come out there and
shake somebody’s hand or I can come out
there and sit on somebody’s lap or I can
come out there and
kiss somebody on the head I mean I can
really do anything I want to right now
you know play the music I don’t know how
tell me your name sir can we have a
round of applause for Jake please ladies
and gentlemen okay so this is the thing
that is truly unique to me about this
circus this level of engagement this
interaction right here okay I’m sure
some of you are terrified that I might
pick you for that act and when I picked
Jake we altogether let out a sigh of
relief right and then we laughed at him
we rooted for him we were so thankful
that we were not him but we were
connected in that experience so there
was a study that came out last year led
by the University College London
Division of psychological and language
sciences now the team monitored the
heart rates and the electrodermal
activity of 12 audience members at a
live production on the west end of the
musical Dreamgirls and what they found
was that not only did the audience
members sync up emotionally during the
show but they found that their heart
rates synced up as well with their
pulses speeding up and slowing down all
at the same time I mean that’s
incredible
I mean can you imagine if they were
watching somebody shoot an apple off of
somebody’s head with a crossbow I mean
it was a sad day when Ringling Brothers
and Barnum Bailey closed of course
another piece of the American landscape
has just faded away but with the closing
of Ringling there is an opening there
are a lot of little fun funky shows
traveling around right now the ver
Nardo’s circus the bindles de Family
Circus the whiz-bang theater the Flynn
creeks circus the leti grow tent these
shows are going back to the same
community year after year to engage them
right they are trying to inspire
communities to communicate with each
other all right now my wife and I on our
two partners we have one of these little
tents it’s called the petit palace
seeds about 150 people around a circular
8 foot stage okay our idea is to present
jaw-dropping spectacle that feels as if
it’s presented by people that you know
we want to reawaken the playful spirit
of everybody that walks inside that tent
and a great example of that is a few
towns ago technology a few towns ago we
were doing a show and there’s a moment
in the show that I need to pull an
audience member up onto the stage to do
an audience member dance solo so Jake
will you please join me I’m just kidding
stay in your seats you did you got your
sucker you’re just fine okay so I looked
around the tent and I lock eyes with
this one young man I reach over I grab
him by the hand I drag him up onto the
stage I set him there and he goes
bonkers he set the place on fire it was
amazing and the audience fell in love
with him and then as any seasoned
performer does who’s being upstaged by
somebody I kicked him off the stage then
after the show my friend came up to me
and she said that she had brought him
and some other people with her to our
show and that she works with them in a
drug and alcohol rehabilitation program
and that everybody in their group was
just floored by the way this kid
extraverted himself on the stage I guess
he had been a bit withdrawn or something
from the group as of late but in that
moment in that tent in front of a
hundred and fifty strangers he felt like
that was the place that he could freely
express himself physically that’s the
kind of connection that we want that’s
the community building that we want we
went to go in and serve communities so
we can get to know you and cater to you
and try to create content for you we
want to draw audiences in so that we can
cultivate a relationship we want to
inspire young people to think of the
circus arts as a career choice could you
imagine and for their parents to think
of that as a valid choice can you
imagine that
so I got to tell you when I went into
the circus I had found my calling and my
parents were so proud right dad okay
what is supposed to come out exactly
like that so I know you’re sitting there
you’re asking yourself what can I do how
can I be a part of this amazing way that
is sweeping America called circus well
you can write me a check and or just go
to the circus take your kids your
grandparents your family your friends to
the circus encourage your kids to
participate in the circus arts that’s my
son right there
second-generation circus performer
ladies and gentlemen or a doctor I just
hope he doesn’t become a mime so the
next time that you’re driving down the
road and you see a circus tent I’m gonna
ask you to stop get out of your car walk
up to the box office ask them about the
show ask them about the last town that
they were in and how long they’ve been
on the road and then buy a ticket and
know that you’re putting money directly
into the hands of the hard-working men
and women who built that show then go
see the show and if you like it tell
everybody you know about it and remember
most clowns aren’t scary thank you and
good night [Applause]
clown yeah terrifying I heard some gas
I went to the Ringling Brothers Barnum
Bailey Clown College I traveled with the
greatest show on earth I lived on a
train I’ve slipped in tiger poop I’ve
been booed by 20,000 people at Madison
Square Garden I’ve made kids laugh and
adults cry and I’ve worn more spandex
than you can even imagine are you
imagining it you you don’t have to I
have a slide you can see sorry about
that but ladies and gentlemen I am here
to tell you today that the circus is
alive and well in America
okay now I’m not a circus historian I
don’t know all the facts about the
circus I’m just an artist a collaborator
a divisor somebody who fell in love with
an art form a high-flying spectacle
called the circus and I want you to fall
in love with it too so in its heyday the
circus it brought the unusual and the
exotic it brought spectacle it brought
clowns it brought live music it got
people out of their houses and into
their communities it was the
entertainment I mean people needed the
circus it connected them to the outside
world there was no TV no movies no
national Broadway tours when the circus
came to town it was something special
but now some people think the circus is
irrelevant boring a relic of Catan gone
by outdated but I would argue that in
this time of Netflix HBO and YouTube I
mean we literally have entertainment at
our fingertips and because of that we
are isolated in a totally different way
our sense of community is limited to
Facebook followers and instagrams
stories we need the circus more than
ever so take this TEDx event for example
that’s happening right now I mean this
video that’s being shot right now I mean
let’s be honest it’s going to be viewed
by millions and millions and millions
and millions of people right please like
and share like and share thank you but
well they feel the same level of
engagement that we feel in this room huh
I mean we could connect with each other
in here in a way that we just cannot
online I mean I could come out there and
shake somebody’s hand or I can come out
there and sit on somebody’s lap or I can
come out there and
kiss somebody on the head I mean I can
really do anything I want to right now
you know play the music I don’t know how
tell me your name sir can we have a
round of applause for Jake please ladies
and gentlemen okay so this is the thing
that is truly unique to me about this
circus this level of engagement this
interaction right here okay I’m sure
some of you are terrified that I might
pick you for that act and when I picked
Jake we altogether let out a sigh of
relief right and then we laughed at him
we rooted for him we were so thankful
that we were not him but we were
connected in that experience so there
was a study that came out last year led
by the University College London
Division of psychological and language
sciences now the team monitored the
heart rates and the electrodermal
activity of 12 audience members at a
live production on the west end of the
musical Dreamgirls and what they found
was that not only did the audience
members sync up emotionally during the
show but they found that their heart
rates synced up as well with their
pulses speeding up and slowing down all
at the same time I mean that’s
incredible
I mean can you imagine if they were
watching somebody shoot an apple off of
somebody’s head with a crossbow I mean
it was a sad day when Ringling Brothers
and Barnum Bailey closed of course
another piece of the American landscape
has just faded away but with the closing
of Ringling there is an opening there
are a lot of little fun funky shows
traveling around right now the ver
Nardo’s circus the bindles de Family
Circus the whiz-bang theater the Flynn
creeks circus the leti grow tent these
shows are going back to the same
community year after year to engage them
right they are trying to inspire
communities to communicate with each
other all right now my wife and I on our
two partners we have one of these little
tents it’s called the petit palace
seeds about 150 people around a circular
8 foot stage okay our idea is to present
jaw-dropping spectacle that feels as if
it’s presented by people that you know
we want to reawaken the playful spirit
of everybody that walks inside that tent
and a great example of that is a few
towns ago technology a few towns ago we
were doing a show and there’s a moment
in the show that I need to pull an
audience member up onto the stage to do
an audience member dance solo so Jake
will you please join me I’m just kidding
stay in your seats you did you got your
sucker you’re just fine okay so I looked
around the tent and I lock eyes with
this one young man I reach over I grab
him by the hand I drag him up onto the
stage I set him there and he goes
bonkers he set the place on fire it was
amazing and the audience fell in love
with him and then as any seasoned
performer does who’s being upstaged by
somebody I kicked him off the stage then
after the show my friend came up to me
and she said that she had brought him
and some other people with her to our
show and that she works with them in a
drug and alcohol rehabilitation program
and that everybody in their group was
just floored by the way this kid
extraverted himself on the stage I guess
he had been a bit withdrawn or something
from the group as of late but in that
moment in that tent in front of a
hundred and fifty strangers he felt like
that was the place that he could freely
express himself physically that’s the
kind of connection that we want that’s
the community building that we want we
went to go in and serve communities so
we can get to know you and cater to you
and try to create content for you we
want to draw audiences in so that we can
cultivate a relationship we want to
inspire young people to think of the
circus arts as a career choice could you
imagine and for their parents to think
of that as a valid choice can you
imagine that
so I got to tell you when I went into
the circus I had found my calling and my
parents were so proud right dad okay
what is supposed to come out exactly
like that so I know you’re sitting there
you’re asking yourself what can I do how
can I be a part of this amazing way that
is sweeping America called circus well
you can write me a check and or just go
to the circus take your kids your
grandparents your family your friends to
the circus encourage your kids to
participate in the circus arts that’s my
son right there
second-generation circus performer
ladies and gentlemen or a doctor I just
hope he doesn’t become a mime so the
next time that you’re driving down the
road and you see a circus tent I’m gonna
ask you to stop get out of your car walk
up to the box office ask them about the
show ask them about the last town that
they were in and how long they’ve been
on the road and then buy a ticket and
know that you’re putting money directly
into the hands of the hard-working men
and women who built that show then go
see the show and if you like it tell
everybody you know about it and remember
most clowns aren’t scary thank you and
good night [Applause]
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