Sideshow Freak? I kinda wanna be..

[Christopher Clown]

See if you can add Chris Allison as a friend on Facebook.

[Harpoetta]

Try to get in touch with Todd Robbins, he does all of those things (Human Blockhead, Eating lightbulbs, and fire breathing/eating), and he is most likely involved with the school at Coney Island. Tricia had him at a Moose Camp on the Road that she did in Mass. back in '05, and he is pretty cool. He was the entertainment for the Circus/Sideshow themed evening that everyon had to dress up for. (He's 1 of only 2 people that knew what I went as: Barnum's greatest hoax.)

[Matt_Rambles]

So you went as a Unicorn? just the thing I remeber seeing as a kid during the late 80's or something like that

[Harpoetta]

http://www.barnum-museum.org/pdf/barnumbuilding.pdf

I just did some reading, it was his 'biggest hoax'. His 'greatest hoax' was the pet rock. And no, not the unicorn (though it was another taxidermy wonder): it was displayed alongside a platypus (sp?) to lend credibility.

Unicorns of sorts actually do sometimes occur in nature, usually as a fluke, and usually among goats and sheep. Sometimes tricorns also occur in similar cases.

[mr. bag-ends]

i do the nail in nose thing "human blockhead", and "fire-breathing"...

[Knute]

I've tried the human blockhead with various objects and i have gotten it about a couple inches in.. ive not used a nail yet, and i havent really tried too hard with it since ive not been shown the propper way to do it.. thanks to whoever revived this thread! and chris i added chris allison back when he was still on AGT but he never accepted haha

[Happy Chappy & Daisy]

I think the big thing, you need to learn it from somebody who already knows it. I'm not sure I'd like to learn the "blockhead" bit from a book - you could die from a misprint!

[Dylan]

I would suggest getting the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow book if you can. It is an interesting biography about him and his show as well as the appendix has information on learning a lot of those tricks.

Here is some information that I remember from my days performing these types of tricks for drunk people at frat parties. I do not in any way suggest that anyone learns these but here is what you need to do for these tricks. All of these are dangerous and potentially dangerous to your health, they are however pretty neat and if you are a street performer can make you a lot of money.

Human Blockhead- there are two holes in each nostril, one goes up the other goes back. The only real difficulty is with the little hairs in your nose that get irritated and make you want to sneeze. What I did was used the ear piece on my glasses and just started going back further and further until I couldn't go any further. DON'T FORCE!!! The human block head trick is all about building it up and most people not knowing about the hole that goes back. Using a nail isn't any different then using anything else. You can also do Face Flossing with a string or 260q if you really wanna gross people out.

Eating a Lightbulb- Break the bulb up in a bag first and remove the metal and the filament. Then take smaller pieces of it and bite into them slowly. You want to chew it until the glass has turned into sand, then swallow, not before. That is very important. Your system can handle sand but not little shards of glass.

Breathing/Eating fire- Breathing fire is all about the fuel and the spit. Practice with water. You want to buzz you lips like a trumpet player so that the water sprays out in a fine mist. The fuel I used was unscented lamp oil. It taste bad, but not as bad as others and it is the liquid that is flammable not the fumes. That is very important. Hold the torch well away from you face and buzz the fuel over it in short bursts. Have a fire extinguisher ready to go. NEVER USE GASOLINE.
Eating Fire- Get a length of wire and wrap it in wicking, dip in lamp oil and slowly lower it to your mouth while looking up, make sure that the wicking is so wet that it drips burning fuel on to you face. When you get the fire to your mouth close you mouth over it an exhale. This extinguishes the flame before it has a chance to burn your mouth. However, the first couple of times you do it you will burn your lips/tongue/mouth, so be ready for that.

[Knute]

I've figured out and do the blockhead on occasion since this was last updated. I haven't attempted fire play or glass eating since i've not been shown the proper way to do it. i don't wanna kill myself trying it with no supervision.. haha

[Mr. Boe]

Hey Knute I have taught several people over the years fireeating and blowing, I also use to do a straightjacket escapes