Juggling in the Rain

This is my most recent video. It was shot a little while ago (thus, no snow). I purposely left in a drop or two. I am still working and this video shows that I have not reached "it" yet. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did making it. If you listen closely you should be able to hear the tornado siren in the background.

FCM Party

The Fellowship of Christian Magicians annual Christmas party this past Sunday night was a blast. I was able to perform with DonB! on the show and enjoyed the company of friends. Thanks to all who made the night special.

Nursing Home Visit

I recently performed at New Life Christian Center's "God is Greater" party and a couple other venues, but the performance that I remember best was this past Sunday. Jamie Doyle, Matt Fish, and myself did a vaudeville performance (open to the public) in a nursing home. The majority of the attendees were residents, yet they were a lot of fun. Cookies and drinks were also served with the live show. It was great to get out and see some of them having fun.

World Record

As a full time student I try hard to continue to stay motivated in regard to performance while I do homework, attend classes, and read a lot. I have recently decided to set goals for myself. One of these is the accomplishment of breaking a world record. The record that caught my eye was the three ball endurance. It is currently just over 11 hours, my goal would be 12. I am currently doing research in how to train for this feat of endurance. I would like to officially break it next spring.

New Videos

I am having some trouble uploading videos. If you would still be interested in seeing the Cirque clip you may at www.youtube.com/bencomedy

I recently uploaded another video to the same site in which I am juggling in a downpour. While at school, at North Central University, I had my roommate tape me during a rainstorm. It was an experience I will never forget. I was soaked from head to toe and I loved every minute of it.

Cirque Imaginings Behind the Scenes

This is a behind the scenes video of the Cirque Imaginings tour that I shot and edited with the help of others on tour. This is the ten minute version of an hour long DVD. It gives a good taste of life on the road.

Cirque Imaginings

As soon as I arrived home from doing a kid's crusade in Benson, MN, we started to prepare for a 2 week tour called Cirque Imaginings.

It was a crazy time as the team arrived and details were taken care of. The team consisted of Darren and Heather Stevenson (PUSH Physical Theatre), Don Bursell (former Ringling Clown and Disney Performer), Deanna Bursell, Greg Phillips (Magician, opened for Robin Williams), Micah Phillips, Les Chermak, Emily Chermak, my father Randy, and myself.

We practiced and reworked the show as we prepared for the five shows scheduled. Life on the road can be rough but the tour bus we road on made the trips much more enjoyable. We were in Willmar, MN, Princeton, MN, Little Falls, MN, Sioux Falls, SD, and Des Moines, IA. We averaged a few hundred people a night and had very positive feedback.

I loved being able to perform and hang out with the team. I also filmed a behind the scenes video. Portions of it will be shortly loaded onto YouTube. Feel free to check it out at www.youtube.com/bencomedy

Faribault

I had a fun time at Faribault. I was there for a kid's crusade Mon.-Thurs. night. I was privileged to be with Pastor Donn there at the Assembly of God church. We had pretty good sized crowds and most of the people were not from the church. I was able to do about an hour and 20 min. each night and had a very responsive crowd.

Food was served after the service each night and they had an inflatable bounce house to use at this time as well.

I stayed in a near-by hotel and was able to swim and relax after the program each night.

On my way home I stayed overnight at Adam Zvanovec's house. He is a friend from school and it was great to hang out again. That has been one great advantage to being on the road. Although I'm not home I still get to see many friends I would not see otherwise.

TNT '07

Welcome to the first post on the BenComedy blog. I just got back from Georgia where the annual TNT clown convention was held. I was able to teach and perform on staff for around 150 clowns. We had a great time. Others that were there included my friends Don Bursell, Randy Christensen, Brenda Marshall, Sandy Noe, and Tony and Nikki Jones.

During the trip I had the honor of meeting and performing for Jim Howell, a Clown Hall of Fame inductee. I was then able to talk with him and listen to some amazing circus stories.

I have also uploaded some photos from the conference. It was a blast!