A version of this article appeared in The Rotunda (archive)
Last Wednesday, in Jarman Auditorium, the circus came to Longwood, but with a new twist: it only had one performer.
Michael DuBois a performer and comedian who has previously showcased his talents on The Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and he is literally a one-man circus. He performed countless stunts with increasing danger and difficulty, ending with walking on a slack wire, which is a metal wire similar to a tightrope, except it isn’t taut.
Many of his acts were “combination tricks,” meaning he combined several different feats into one performance. For example, he jumped rope while bouncing a ball on his head and spun several plates (the expensive ones, not the paper kind) while juggling up to four balls at once. Other tricks included walking on the slack wire while spinning hula-hoops on his arms and right leg and catching the balls he juggled on the nape of his neck.
He was also very funny and used a lot of physical comedy, such as pushing a balloon through his nose and out of his mouth. Physical comedy like this made up the vast majority of his humor, but he told some jokes as well. All of this was very well received by the audience, which very much enjoyed his comedy.
He also used several audience members as assistants, including freshman Garret Reese. Reese helped with a number of acts, including laying on the floor while DuBois bounced between his legs on a unicycle, as well as helping DuBois onto a six-foot unicycle so he could ride it while escaping a straightjacket.
Reese said that his favorite trick was the one in which DuBois bounced the unicycle in between his legs, because he “had to really trust him,” and “it was cool that he knew what he was doing.”
One of the most incredible performances he did was when he walked on the slack wire while juggling machetes. A close second would have to be when he put lit torches in his mouth.
The audience seemed to very much enjoyed the performance, and they filled a significant part of Jarman Auditorium’s seats. It was very well done, and it would be great to see him come back.
David Pettyjohn 