Northland psych major dazzles with magic Farewell performances Friday

Printed April 20, 2005

By NIKOLAI GURDA
Daily Press Intern

At age 12, Jason Schneider performed his first unicycling clown act in a Kenosha parade, and soon after started a business called Bigfoot Entertainment.

Seven years later he found himself under a bed of nails in front of a crowd on the streets of New Orleans. And now as his time at Northland College draws to a close, he brings his talent and experience to one last show at the Ashland High School auditorium Friday.

It was books that started Schneider performing during grade school. He spent copious amounts of time in the library, poring over books telling of impossible fetes and slights of hand. He found that the line between sideshow performance and circus acts, clowning and magic were blurred, that there were common themes, and he pursued them all.

Schneider describes his shows as a mixture of sideshow, circus, and magic. He chooses not to use the word "clown" because it creates expectations about a specific makeup and routine; he uses "comedy" instead. Although all of his acts have performance in common, they are distinct from one another.

Schneider describes sideshow as "a mixture of circus and magic," it is "impossible fetes." It can sound more like masochism when the routines in this category are listed: fire eating, bed of nails, human blockhead (pounding a nail into his nostril). "Some of it is just taking the pain," he says when asked how he does it.

Circus acts are "less dangerous and more physical comedy." Juggling and the unicycle are both tried and true acts, but Schneider has developed a new balancing act in which he walks across the blade of a sword. Magic is, of course, making the impossible possible, it is slight of hand and illusion.

Schneider's shows combine many aspects of performing under the headline of comedy, but there is plenty of fantasy involved as well. "It is the mixture of acts that makes you question what is illusion and what is reality," he said.
Schneider's career really began when he and his partner Jeff Lang went to clown camp in La Crosse three years ago. Schneider focused on comedy and magic in this week-long program, but was also interested in the business side and took a class called "funny business 101."

While all the other students were itching to get on stage during the camp's talent shows, Schneider and Lang were in town performing magic for free pizzas and entertaining the late shift at Denny's. Both magicians got their first taste of real street performing soon after camp when they went to the Wisconsin Dells to show off their new talents and were almost arrested for their efforts.

Since clown camp Schneider and Lang have performed in a wide variety of settings. Applefest and Pumpkinfest have both seen their acts, and for spring break last year they went to New Orleans for two weeks of street performing. The bed of nails and human block head were Schneider's main acts, while Lang was in clown costume making balloon animals for the tourists.

Lang experienced the danger of street performing firsthand when a very large bone reader got upset that Lang was making balloons in his spot and "decided to take action." The voodoo man pulled out a three-foot pipe and proceeded to chase Lang, in full clown regalia, screaming through the crowded streets. Lang escaped with his life and a good story.

After many seedy experiences, Schneider also found what he loved about performing. After all the tourists had gone home and the throngs of street performers had cleared out, Schneider sat on a park bench and listened to the stragglers playing music and dancing, just having a good time. It was this late night city frolic that has Schneider saying that he can see himself performing on the street. This year he and Lang are going to Daytona Beach which "should be a very different scene," he said.

Last summer Schneider wanted employment a little more solid than what he made in New Orleans, so he and Lang got a job at "Ricki's Believe it or not Freak Show" in Pennsylvania.

Although they were supposed to perform every night, the most action Schneider saw was getting hit in the face with a rock by an angry customer with horrible aim when he was selling balls for the dunk dank. Ninety percent of the time he ended up working on a rickety roller coaster that his boss had just bought. At the end of the summer Schneider was stiffed by the owner for half his money. Judge Judy is interested in the case but the show can't find "Ricki."

Schneider is graduating from Northland this May with a degree in psychology, which seems funny at first but actually makes a lot of sense.

"It helps to know how people work in getting them to come to your shows and getting hired,” he said.

Performing is all about "reading peoples reactions and being adaptable to the crowd,” he

said. "You have to find the balance between disgust, humor, and fascination, and make people feel different emotions and know how to change their energy."

One of his lines when asking for money from street crowds is that he is a "poor college kid trying to get home." Schneider says people always laughed when they found out his major is psychology after he had just pounded a nail into his head.

The plan after graduation is to perform full time for a while, but Schneider wants to eventually get into being an agent for other performers and teaching. He's already well on his way toward that goal. Performing on the streets of Daytona Beach in April, Switzerland in May, and going to a side show convention in September are his plans for the immediate future.