Photo from Puke and Snot’s Timeline:

This is how I remember Puke & Snot when I first saw them at the MN Renaissance Festival as a patron in 1975.  I happened upon a crowd of people encircling two sword fighters who were already in the middle of their show. It was fractured Shakespeare, combined with pop culture references to the recently released, Monty Python and The Holy Grail. As the years passed most of their jokes changed, and the quality of their comedy became refined, but the chemistry between them was already well established that first year.

Because they only performed in the lanes it was impossible for the audience to find them except by accident. In fact even as a participant it was years before I ever caught the beginning of their show. I was siting alone on a hay-bail eating my lunch when suddenly Puke & Snot walked up and began an impromptu comic banter of insults back and forth, until I found myself on the inner circle of a huge crowd that spontaneously appeared.

In 1982 their show times were finally printed in the program due to audience complaints. Because Puke & Snot still only performed in the lanes the Festival scheduled them at landmarks that people could easily find like the Bear, or the Maypole. The audience would gather a half-hour early to get a good seat. It was surreal to see a giant crowd silently looking at a pole.

In 1983 they were finally given stage slots and the rest is history.

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Photo by Peter Dansky:

Pictured here are two of my contemporaries, Terry Foy and Todd Menton. Terry started at the MN Renaissance Festival in 1975, and Todd began the same year as I did in 1976. Today at the Festival Todd opens for Puke & Snot, as well as touring internationally with the band Boiled in Lead. Terry is of course Zilch the Torysteller, who performs at Renaissance Festivals across the United States.

When we began our Renaissance careers Monty Python and The Holy Grail had just been released, and I remember waking up to Terry Foy’s gravedigger character, Zilch pushing a squeaky wheelbarrow, and ringing a bell shouting, “Bring Out Your Dead!” every morning at sunrise.

In those days it seems we livid out the fantasy of the Festival every waking moment.

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MRF Promo Photo:

In 1983 I performed with Penn & Teller on the Treetop Stage at the MN Renaissance Festival. In the beginning Penn was primarily a juggler, and Teller was the magician. The routine pictured here was called “Sharing.” Penn juggled two knives and an apple while Teller ate the apple.

I remember first seeing them as a patron at the Festival in 1975, when they were performing separate solo acts. I had already learned how to juggle and unicycle, but after seeing Penn’s unique juggling act, and Teller’s brilliant silent magic I was hooked. The next year I auditioned for the MN Renaissance Festival and was hired.   Penn & Teller left only after my second year, but they were a key inspiration for me becoming a performing artist.

When Penn & Teller returned to the Festival 1983 as a team, I was working with my first clown partner, David Harper. We would perform most of the time at Witchwood, but our last performance of the day was at Treetop just after Penn & Teller’s final show.  I remember backstage Penn looking us up and down from our handmade Renaissance slap-shoes, to our leather clown noses, and saying, “I get it… you two are natural clowns. It works.”

Today I invited David to put together a new juggling routine for an upcoming project to be announced soon.

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Promotional Photo:

Avner the Eccentric started at the MN Renaissance Festival in 1976, the same year as me.  However, he was older and much more experienced than I was at the time.  He had just returned from studying with Lecoq and performing street theater in Paris. I remember watching in awe as he gathered his crowd by simply stringing a rope between two trees.  I must say as a young performer Avner’s influence dominated my early work, until I had the maturity to find my own center as a creative artist.

Just like Penn and Teller, and The Flying Karamazov Brothers, Avner first appeared on Broadway in the 1980s.  He also starred as the Jewel in the movie Jewel of the Nile, with Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito, and Kathleen Turner in 1985.

I was fortunate to study with him in New York when he was teaching for Bond Street Theater on Shelter Island.  I understand he still teaches master classes and workshops around the world.  If you ever have the chance to learn from this master clown I recommend that you seize the opportunity.  Both Rosie and I went through the Shelter Island program, and we each gained tremendous insight on the clown’s art of failure through Avner’s teachings.

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Photo by Peter Dansky:

This morning Peter Dansky, who took that great photo I posted yesterday of The Flying Karamazov Brothers sent me a second vintage photo of the FKBs. This one is from 1978, which was their last year at the MN Renaissance Festival, and their first year performing at Dudley Riggs. I’m guessing this picture behind Witchwood was taken just after their last show of the day at the Festival, and just before driving to Minneapolis to perform at Dudley’s that night. Clearly burning the candle at both ends takes its toll.

Ivan who is the second from left seems to be having an especially rough day.  This afternoon Howard reminded me that he was still recovering from 5-stitches in his left thumb from an accident while rehearsing with a new set of sickles for their Dudley Riggs show.

I remember Howard describing how when he examined the wound he saw his thumb bone just before he buckled at the knees.  After an ambulance ride and 5-stitches he had to learn how to catch sickles between his ring finger and middle finger like a claw.  If he kept his injured thumb on the outside of his hand it worked pretty well, but if he let his thumb drift in he would be met with the excruciating pain of a sickle handle slamming against the tip of his wounded thumb.

Having said that, Dudley Riggs was a really important springboard for them.  Avner the Eccentric opened the show and the FKBs closed the show.  In the 1980s both act made it to Broadway, as well as star together in the movie Jewel of the Nile with Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito, and Kathleen Turner.

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Photo by Peter Dansky:

This photo of The Flying Karamazov Brothers is another golden find I discovered floating around on Facebook that was taken by Peter Dansky.  Captured here are the original members from left to right: Fyodor, Dmitri, Alyosha, and Ivan. Critics were often quoted saying, “They do not fly, they are not Russian, or brothers, but are the best juggling act I’ve ever seen…  go see for yourself.”

In this picture they appear to be holding full hats at the bottom of Witchwood. They would often gather together like this after passing the hat and joyfully exclaim in unison, “Every Crowd Has A Silver Lining!”

Ironically, the craft shop behind them in the top picture is now King Henry’s Hookah Lounge. Back in those days the Hookah Lounge could be found where the Flying Ks lived upstairs at what was called in those days, Witch Wood Inn.

Photo by Brian Alexander:

As I posted earlier this photo is of the Flying Ks performing at what is now called Witchwood Stage.  They would gather their crowd by standing abreast, with Dmitri simply crossing his arms, Alyosha juggling one ball while miming a three-ball pattern, and Ivan playing a pimply revelry on a broken bicycle horn. The scene was so surreal that every patron within visual sight would instantly gather.

I remember towards the end of the season when they needed gas money for the road the Ks performed about 23 shows in a single day. At that time the street was wide open so they were able to perform 10-minute kamikaze style shows all over the Festival. Their final show that day was at Witchwood. I was watching Alyosha juggle his one ball at the top of the show, when I witnessed him drop it out of pure exhaustion, and collapse into a fit of laughter. He then got up dusted him-self off, and went on to juggle steel hatchets, razor sharp sickles, and flaming torches.

The Karamazov Brothers final year at the MN Renaissance Festival was 1978. They went on to perform at Dudley Riggs, and eventually on to Broadway. 1979, was my first year performing at Witchwood.  I climbed up to the loft where the Flying Ks used to live, and saw a message painted on the wall in their classic Karamazov lettering that paraphrased an old Bob Dylan song, “We’re artists, we need nothing, we don’t look back.”

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This seems to be the year of nostalgia at the MN Renaissance Festival.  I came across this photo on Facebook of the Royal Court from the mid-1970s. Standing near center is Michael Brandt who played King Henry the Eighth when I first began.  Pictured just below the King is Tim Rudy who later became the General Manager of the Festival in the late 1980s. To the far left is the king in waiting, George Herman.

I remember auditioning before the King in 1976 at Prospect Park, which was the perfect location with its medieval looking Witch’s Tower. I began by riding my unicycle from the Witch’s Tower down the rough terrain to the Royal Court sitting at the bottom of the park. I then nervously performed my act before the King.  Michael Brandt never wore a crown, but he didn’t need one because his booming voice, Richard Burton-esque charisma, and sharp wit removed any doubt who the King was.

As I auditioned I was instantly drawn into the magic of the Festival.

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This is a classic photo that I found floating around Facebook of the original Bad Manor at the MN Renaissance Festival.  Patrons were required by the proprietor, David Christopherson to exhibit bad manners when entering his establishment.  It was one the best executions of living history that I’ve ever witnessed.  In the back there was a functioning metal forge, and out front wafted the smell of food slow cooking over the fire all day.

I remember once when someone tried to clean the windows, David Christopherson immediately stopped them, then scooped up a handful of mud, and began smearing it back on the freshly cleaned glass while muttering, “it took years to build-up the dirt on these windows.”

At night was when the real magic began.  As the forge cooled participants paid six-bits each to feast on the warm food that had been cooking over the fire all day.

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Photo by Patrick Rhone:

My friend Patrick took this photo on Saturday.  It was an amazing weekend at the MN Renaissance Festival.  Huge crowds and the perfect fall weather.

Only two more weekends before our magic kingdom vanishes into the mists of time like Brigadoon.

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Photo Lady Kae:

Today is our son Gabriel’s 20^th Birthday. I am blessed to have both a great son and remarkable daughter, but my greatest blessing is a beautiful wife, who I credit for raising our children to be the extraordinary adults that they have become.

The joy of a father’s love for his son is like no other experience in my life.

Happy Birthday Gabe!

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