In 1978-80 I was a 25-year-old hitchhiking street performer, working primarily out of New Orleans. It was fun, I made incredible money, made new friends (Cellini one summer) and it wound up being a wonderful training experience for my move to stand up comedy and the comedy clubs that would become my life for the next 25 years. Sadly, I injured my back 12 years ago (broke the darn thing) and had to retire from performing.

Now, after several surgeries and years of therapy, I'm probably about 95% of my old self again. I moved to Mission Viejo, CA last year for a change in my life; diet, exercise, weight loss, sunshine and a new mental outlook. I decided to go back to my roots, which was magic, and got back into the art. At first, it was primarily close-up magic. Then this spring I was over in Laguna Beach just to the west of me and saw some kids busking around town with various music acts. Well, at age 61, the bug hit me to do some magical busking again. Most of my comic friends thought I was crazy; wasn't this a step down in the career ladder? I headlined comedy clubs, toured with Jay Leno, Ellen, Jeff Foxworthy, (an unknown Carrot Top was my opening act in Aruba one summer) etc. and had worked my way up to a door-deal level performer when I injured my back. Why on earth would I become a lowly street performer again? Why not go back into the comedy clubs? It was simple. The truth was, I had become totally burned out on them; Zombified Fried. I wanted the freedom to go work when I wanted, not getting stuck in some 12-week tour I was contractually obligated to do. I had the freedom to write and perform new material without the nightly pressure to kill and carry the show as a comedy club headliner must do, especially if the opening acts bombed because the audience wasn't buying their "f-bombs are comedy" every 10 seconds. Working with really bad comics, stuck on the bill with me from "talent agency politics", got old. If you have to listen to young comics, week after week, present only the obvious to open your show; airline jokes, McDonalds jokes, Wal-Mart jokes, post office jokes and bodily functions jokes, you just become numb. Having a brilliant young up and coming comic on the show with you became a rarity and joy. Usually, the material was the same every week, just the faces changed. Busking on the streets suddenly looked new and refreshing compared to the same old format of 3 comics, a brick backdrop, bar stool, and microphone that Mitzi Shore basically created at The Comedy Store in 1975. It was just what I needed to get back on the proverbial performing horse again after the doctors told me I probably never would again.

So I put together some old stuff with some new stuff and a couple of weeks ago I suddenly appeared out of nowhere to the community of Laguna Beach. I guess it's like riding a bike; there are some things you just never forget. I was rusty the first few hours, but it all started to slowly come back to me as I got into that busking rhythm. There had been changes in the 35 years since I last was a street performer too. Probably the major one for me was how I handled children in the audience. At age 25 I had little patience for them and had a tendency to ignore them. I became a father since then, and the experience I had raising my own son was now obvious. I included and adored having children in the audience this time around.

Another difference was the money. In 1978, the crowds threw a lot of pocket change, mostly quarters, with a few dollar bills added to the hat. I came up with a money pitch that became my trademark at that time. I didn't pass my hat. I had found an old bedpan at a thrift store and passed that. I'd tell the audience that they were so great, the best I had experienced in about 15 minutes, that they weren't "Hat Worthy" (gee, did I Seinfeld them before Seinfeld back then?), but even better, they were "Pan Worthy", and I'd whip out the bedpan, hidden under my table. I'd bang the bedpan with my stick, yelling "Look, Johnny Cash" or "Why yes it is a pay toilet" and so on. People loved to toss change into that bedpan and I'd average about $100 per hour, which was a lot of money in 1978. In my most recent comeback though, they rarely threw change. My hats are still lucrative, but it was paper currency they toss now; clumps of single dollars, $5's, $10's and even $20's. It also may have been the community; Laguna Beach is a wealthy community that attracts a more affluent tourist, but the new bedpan I had found on Ebay, was not the funny hit it was in 1978. After one day, I shelved it in favor of the more traditional money pitch and doffing of my hat at the end of the performance.

The final difference I've noticed is the total societal change in accepting a busker on your local street corner. In 1978, I was mostly shunned, harassed and even arrested by police if I performed anywhere that wasn't the busker-friendly sanctuary of Bourbon St, Jackson Square, Key West, FL or Washington Square Park in NYC. I was labeled a bum, a "filthy hippie" and a scourge upon society. We had to really fight for our rights and freedom to perform back then. There was a reason Cellini advised to only bring what can be packed up in a handful of seconds. We got chased all the time. Now, it's just the opposite. Maybe it's the David Blaine/Criss Angel effect that their television exposure has created. The merchants and Café's in Laguna Beach welcomed me. The audiences were excited to see a street performer. The police HELPED ME SET UP! I see websites with busking supplies and busking information and what's really cool, I see a new generation of youngsters getting out there and doing it. I love it.

Other than those differences, the laws of street performing were still the same; choreograph the show for the crowds to stop, stay, pay, and comedy is still King.

Now this week, I'm working on my new show stopper. I won't know if it's a winner until I get it polished and refined, but I'm confident I'm on to something unique (Or maybe not. I'm never surprised by parallel creativity anymore). I'm designing and writing other things too that I'm not sure if other street performers are currently doing, but I'll share that success if it occurs. I do have those decades of comedy writing and improvisation skills to fall back on so hopefully I can develop this new street act rather quickly. Will I ever go back to my comedy club act? I dunno. Life is fun again right now without it!

Lastly, I'm hoping somebody in here can help me with some resources I may have missed via Google. Are there any books or websites that have information about the history of busking? I'm looking for old terms, concepts, routines, famous buskers, etc. from a time period of the 1800's and on back. I need to add some historical references and terms to my script.

Thanks,
DD

Interesting read! I hope it continues to go well for you.

You could try the Busker Central reference site if you haven't already...

Check out Pop Haydn's book:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1937981339/ref=......MZDYRNM3

Thanks everybody!

D. Yoder - I'm glad you enjoyed the read. So far, things are still going good!

The Great Zoobinic - Yes, I've bookmarked that site and have referenced it while I was putting this new street show together. I found it from either previous posts of yours or in your signature when I was lurking. There's some good stuff in there!

imgic - Pop is one of about 20 magicians I have on my Facebook Friend's List, compared to the hundreds of old standup comic friends that dominate my list. We've messaged each other in the past over things like street performing and working at the old Magic Island nightclub in the 80's. He was one of the first I messaged again the other day and he had some interesting resources I never thought of using for the info I'm seeking.

Also, thanks to those that PM'd me with some sources. They were mucho appreciated.

Later,
DD

Hey Doug(!),
welcome to 'the Sidewalk'!
I also really enjoyed your Post.
It's nice hearing stories, experiences, obvervations,.....thoughts.
hey,.Hitch-hiking, also changed in the past 40 years, eh?(!)!?.

I wish you well,.
and hope you keep posting

Just curious, about. what you're 'researching',..
"the 1800's and earlier..''
Do you mean, like 'Middle Ages buskers'?
,..,or Streets Performers?
,..or,..?
in the Amricas?
,or European?
,was there anyone working the Streets, in the States,.. in that time frame?
(probably Pop Haydn is the guy to ask,...
I think he was already working in the Castle back then...)

Personally, in the States, I don't think there was much happening,
on the Streets,..back then.
I think traveling road shows,..
and Saloon numbers.
In the Thurston biography, there's some nice stories of him,
traveling with his wagon and Show,..

Europe, on the other hand,
has a lot of stories still floating around,
and many painting, of Streets Workers.
(Robert-Houdin wrote up one, in his autobiography)

Mike Caveney, I think, would be a good source,..
he sits on a pretty good pile,..
and has probaly read thru most of it!

again,
"Welcome"!
,and keep telling your story!!
smiles,
gallagher

Why thank you Gallagher!

I'm primarily interested in any Middle Age history. I'm adding a time travel bit to the show so actually any historical timeline tidbit will work.

I've got lotso stories...decades worth. If I get some more time, I'll post some oldies but goodies.

G'day Doug,

That was good read mate - all the best with the research and show development.

Troppo Bob (the Ultranormalist)

Thank ya sir!

In the book "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder (published in 1933) there is a short account of the three shell game at a county fair. This would have been in the late 1860s. Almanzo wanted to bet that he knew where the pea was, but his father wisely said "never bet money on another man's game."

I bookmarked that, last time I went to a "busker forum," they were very nice but I didn't feel like I was contributing anything.