A chainsaw mounted to a sword. Seventeen pumpkins in a minute. And a philosophy that says a show only becomes real when the audience completes it. That’s the ride we take with Jelly Boy the Clown—writer, record-setter, and sideshow artist who turns chaos into craft.

We start with the surprise aftermath of America’s Got Talent: millions of viewers, zero promotion allowed, and a door opening from an unexpected direction—Guinness World Records. From there we go inside the workshop, where ideas live first in a sketchbook, then on a bench with bolts and cork, and finally on stage. Why pumpkins beat watermelons, how to create negative space with pitchforks, and what three points of contact do for stability when the saw is humming in your throat. It’s engineering, rehearsal, and risk management wrapped in clown logic.

The heart of the talk is presentation. Tools are level one; meaning lives in timing, character, and framing. Jelly Boy shares how he disarms fear—pairing eye hooks with Careless Whisper, mixing menace with sincerity—so the audience leans in. We dig into act architecture: the tennis racket routine evolving through constraints, failed slapstick reappearing later as the perfect chaos engine, and why variety beats repetition for laughs and suspense. Along the way, we trace his films—from a B-movie to a raw fire-recovery doc to Dark Imagination Party—capturing how the pandemic pushed the work from stages to cameras and back again.

Threaded through is our host’s upcoming book, Facing The Other Way, a philosophy of showmanship that frames performance as a three-part system: performer, audience, and attention. Without a witness, magic isn’t magic. That idea lands as we talk edits, cuts, and voice—how slicing fifty pages can reveal the core, why a unified tone matters, and how community and small presses help art find its people. If you care about live arts, circus, clowning, sword swallowing, or the creative process of turning rough sketches into resonant moments, this one’s for you.

If the conversation hits home, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your attention is the spark—help us keep the fire bright.

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

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If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

What makes an audience lean forward before the first trick lands? We dive into stage presence as a lived practice, not a buzzword. From Jay’s house in Stockholm, Frodo and Jay unpack how real attention, honest emotion, and contextual awareness turn raw technique into connection you can feel in the room. No acting notes, no hollow smiles—just the hard, generous work of being here with people, right now.

We share the messy path many artists take from hobbyist to performer and why conviction matters before the material is perfect. You’ll hear how a modular show architecture lets you answer a crowd in real time, when quieting down tames a rowdy room, and how three loops—your inner state, the audience’s state, and the social relationship—guide moment-to-moment choices. We talk about reading the room beyond clichés: the corporate ballroom with chairs turned away, the school assembly building to a roar, and the town theater reopening after a flood. Context isn’t decoration; it is the content your presence must meet.

Words versus abstraction, authenticity versus mimicry, and the test that cuts through everything: would you want to watch this? We dig into teachable charisma, why about half of presence can be trained, and how to find an archetype that fits your truth instead of chasing someone else’s shine. Craft supports presence—framing, tempo, applause points—but love powers it. Love of practice gives you something worth showing. Love of the audience gives you a reason to share it well. That’s how feeling transmits, Tolstoy-style, from your center to theirs.

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

What happens when we lose touch with play, friendship, and authentic human connection? This episode dives into the surprising links between playfulness, friendliness, and showmanship – revealing how these seemingly "purposeless" activities might be the very foundation of what makes us human.

I explore Belyaev's groundbreaking fox experiment, which demonstrated something remarkable: when researchers bred foxes solely for friendliness, playfulness emerged spontaneously without being selected for. This suggests these traits may be facets of the same evolutionary adaptation – our innate drive to connect meaningfully with others.

The conversation takes a sobering turn as we examine the concept of "play deficit" – the documented decline in children's free play since the 1960s that correlates disturbingly with skyrocketing rates of anxiety, depression, and even suicide among young people. Could our efficiency-obsessed culture be robbing children of something essential to their development?

This leads us to consider a parallel concept: "show deficiency." Using the COVID pandemic as a natural experiment, we look at what happened when humans couldn't gather for performances, cultural events, and community celebrations. The resulting 25% increase in mental health struggles suggests these seemingly frivolous activities might be as necessary as food and shelter.

Throughout the episode, I challenge the capitalist notion that values only productivity and efficiency. What if Hobbes was wrong about human nature? What if we're not naturally selfish and cruel, but instead born to learn, bond, and play? Our cultural expressions – from singing around campfires to magic shows – might not be diversions from "real life" but expressions of our deepest nature.

Join me as we reimagine what truly matters and discover how embracing the apparently purposeless might be the key to living fully human lives.

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

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If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

In this episode I talk to Morgan James about our collaborative process in creating his, now, multi-award winning show A One Man Circus. I have had the pleasure of hanging virtually with this driven and entrepeneurial showman for the last year and I had a lot of fun exploring and revisiting some of the insights and the ways we arrived at the decisions taken in creating a one hour family show. It's a solo performance as the title points out, yet there is more than one character appearing in the show. If that is surprising to the audinence, they're not nearly as surprised as I, or we, were when another character emerged in the process.

The regular episodes of season 2 are about the philosophy behind a way of looking at performance. In episode 41 where I talked to Jay Gilligan and episode 23 where I talked to myself and now this episode with Morgan I find there are patterns and techniques emerging and becoming visible on how the philosophical ideas and the Way manifests itself in the world.

...

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.
If you want to  contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Support the show

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

This episode explores the moral implications of Attention on us showfolk, it also delves into how Showmanship is present in monkeys and the great apes, it explains how Attention allows oddballs and how individuals that might appear to be evolutionary dead ends can climb the ladder of social hierarchies.

Most importantly this episode expands the concept of Attention to give a better understanding of how important it is in Showmanship. To the attentive performer Attention is really the cash value of what performance is about. I try to show that by pointing out that it is Attention which infact determines you entire reality and how it is what makes your life and your relationships meaningful.

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

This episode explores the supremely important phenomena of Attention. This faculty lies at the core of what a performer does. For at its most fundamental what a performer does is to manipulate time and Attention. We are given some Attention by an Audience and what we do with their attention through the time that it is given to us is all we can do.
First I try to paint a picture of what Attention is then we expand our understanding by looking at Attention like three different kinds of light.

This is all very important for us showfolk, and for those that still remembers, or have taken into their daily work on the Craft of performing, from episode 35 on the Anatomy of Showmanship Attention is one of the four foundational elements that makes up Showmanship.

Links:

James William - expert on attention
not to be confused with William James - which was an american philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first exucator to offer a psychology course in the United States. A supremely interesting thinker, but not immidieately relevant to this episode.

...

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.
If you want to  contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:
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Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

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If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Today we use a section of Goethe's faust as a lens through which to view our noble craft. I believe there is a suprisingly deep mataphorical connection between this monumental book from literature and what we do as performers. Although we start in the highbrow world of literature we end with one of the most practical application of esoteric exploration we have had along the way.

...

 If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.
If you want to  contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Support the show

...

After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

I work my way to an expanded idea of what Entertainment is. By further examinations on the idea that entertainment has "enjoyment for the Audience" as a necesity in its definition.  I find this to be a valuable concept to understand what I do personally but also as a fundamental  aspect of what we as artists delivering art on varying parts of the entertainment spectrum.

"Entertainment is anything which allows the audience to effortlessly pay attention.
This all means that whether something can be defined as entertainment is dependent on the Audience’s experience of it. This places no restrictions on what you do, only how it is perceived and experienced by those watching the show. In this sense entertainment is a kind of limitation placed not on the material or content of the performance but on the on the nature of the Audience response. Art on the other hand is not affected by the response it gets from an Audience."

...

 If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.
If you want to  contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

There is a hidden move made in the popular imagination in regards to the relationship between work and what we do in our leisure time. This links up to the value judgment which lies implicit in how the world sees Art and Entertainment.
From there I sketch out a key difference between art and entertainment. To properly understand this helps the Way we look at what we circus performers, sideshow freaks, and performance artists do.

...

 If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.
If you want to  contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Support the show

...

After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

What kind of emotions and attitudes do you nurture for your Audience? How powerful would you say your feelings are? How does this affect your performance?

In this episodee I share some stories of how I arrived at my own personal attitudes. And explore in some detail how and why the personal feelings we have can benefit directly on the decisions we take in creation and the style we have as performers as well as in the way our Audience experience us.

...

 If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.
If you want to  contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Support the show

...

After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

What's your relationship to the Audinence? Have you considered that as a thing in itself? Something that can be worked on and cultivated? Also, have you considered how this relationship goes both ways? That you can create a mirroring in your relationship between the feelings you have for the Audience being mirrored back at you?
These are the topic I raise in this episode through some stories from my career as a Showman.

...

 If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.
If you want to  contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:
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Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Today we move the focus of our explorations to the next pillar of Showmanship, namely the Audience. The last many episodes has been exploring the idea of the Showman, ot the One who Faces the Other Way, but now the lense is pointed squarely at the ones who we stand before.
We talk about the generous position it is to be an audience. We might think that all they do is passively reveice, but that is not the case. To be an audience is to open yourself up to another. We look at some of the implications of this perspective.

Here's a link to the Clown Truth essay from Masters of Magic that I talk about in the introduction.
...

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.
If you want to  contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:
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Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Do we have a greater responsibility as performers? Once we get the Attention from our Audiences have we got  a role to play in making the world a better place? Because we can. We can make our shows count by following one simple rule. This is the topic of today.

...

 If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.
If you want to  contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:
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Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

There's a profound paradox at the heart of play – we're told it's "apparently purposeless," yet this very quality might reveal its deepest value. This episode dives into the second criteria of play and examines how it mirrors the essence of showmanship in fascinating ways.

When we attend a circus show, comedy performance, or music festival, we don't go primarily to learn something or accomplish a task. We go to have a good time – to experience life fully in the moment. Yet society has conditioned us to view such experiences as frivolous, less valuable than "productive" activities. The Protestant work ethic and educational systems have trained us to be suspicious of enjoyment, to dismiss it as "mere entertainment" without serious purpose.

This dismissal of pleasure as a worthy purpose is precisely what creates the illusion that play is purposeless. When we recognize that experiencing joy is itself a profound purpose, the apparent purposelessness dissolves. As Tolkien's Gandalf wisely notes, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time given us." Filling our limited time with experiences that make existence enjoyable seems not just reasonable but essential.

George Saunders' epiphany about Kurt Vonnegut's work provides a perfect parallel – he discovered that profound truths could be communicated through humor and accessibility, challenging his assumption that "great writing was hard reading." Vonnegut's toilet-plunger aliens conveyed more about the absurdity of war than many serious treatises. Similarly, JF Martel's distinction between art that astonishes versus didactic art designed to teach specific lessons shows how the most transformative experiences often appear to lack obvious purpose.

When performers focus primarily on delivering messages rather than creating authentic shared experiences, audiences sense this ulterior motive. Captain Frodo shares a personal example of his own show being rejected by educators but chosen by students, demonstrating how authentic playfulness creates experiences that resonate deeply even when – or perhaps because – they appear purposeless.

Ready to bring more playfulness into your life and performances? Subscribe to The Way of the Showman and explore how embracing the "purposeless" quality of play might unlock your most meaningful creative expressions and life experiences.

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

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If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Today we take a look at eyes. Why does our eyes look the way they look? What can this tell us about our ancestors evolutionary past, and thus about human nature?

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.
If you want to  contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can support the podcast financially at:
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Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

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If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

This episode gets to the core of who the Showman is. One who Face Others. From this simple starting point in a picture of Many looking at one, and the One looking back we touch on topics such as stage fright, practicing with mirrors and with video, on how something has to be seen or experienced by a human being to be art at all, how a meeting can transcend a Face to Face and become a Heart to Heart dialogue, and how you Face the World literally shapes, and brings forth the world you are facing.
This is a long episode, because its a powerful and deep episode with a lot of good stuff to blow your mind.

If you want to help suport this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on itunes or Spotify.
If you want to  contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
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Show links:
The Poet and the Mystic a conversation with Poet David Whyte and Thomas Huebl.

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If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

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You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

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This episode starts quite personal and then moving through an examinations of what it means for some Material, or anything else for that matter, to be a Novelty Act, or new or for something to be a genuine creative innovation. To understand this I look at the difference between something being a novel creation by an individual in isolation and what that means in a wider cultural or community context.
Through this I end up bringing in the only phrases which repeats in the Showman's Manifesto which we looked at in episode 25. The Manifesto Poem starts with the epic words "I AM," and with this as a starting point we rocket off on some deep cosmic ponderings. As strange and deeply poetic as those explorations might be it pretty much leaves us right back where we started at the personal conundrum in my life of attempting to do the right thing for my Daughter, my Wife and myself. Three aspects of one whole who, as it turns out might be living a catch 22, dilemma situation based on our itinirant lifestyle catching up with us. A traveller citizen of the world migth eventually find themselves with a problem of geography.

Notes:
Poems:
Billy Collins: On Turning Ten
William Blake: Songs of Innocence and Experience and Augaries of Innosence
Books:
Henri Bortoft: Taking appearances seriously - the Dynamic Way of Seeing in Goethe adn European Thought. (Here's a link to a whole lecture series this man did at Schumacher Colleage in England.
Bjørn Kruse: the Thinking Artist. Here is a link to a lecture he held about his ideas from the book.
Hans Georg Gadamer: Truth and Method, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's entry on Gadamer's Aesthetics
Vincent Van Gogh: Painting of a chair

Theodore Annemann the Jinx magazine

You can contact me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

To celebrate that we have reched the magical and intensly meaningful number 42 broadcasts here on the carnival underground I have put together a special sonic treat for you all. I have written a poetic exploration encompassing the dawn of time and all the way up until to day seen through the lense of Showmahship. This is a humble, no doubt flawed and incomplete attempt at developing the mythopetic space of Showmanship.
I have written and played all the music and created all the soundscapes used in this episode.

I hope you like it.


If you want to help suport this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on itunes or Spotify.
If you want to  contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Support the show

...

After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Support the show

...

After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

In this episode I propose a new way of looking at the distinction between Audience and Showman. I also use this new inclusive view inform me in my pursuit of meaning in life.

You can contact me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
suport the podcast:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Support the show

...

After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

In this episode I take a deep look at what the mechanisms are of finding ones way in life. I do it through a metaphorical exploration. How do we find what we love in life? This is not something that should be taken lightly. I do not give a step by step set of instructions that will allow anyone to find THEIR way, but I do believe that understanding some of the structures involved in this undertaking give anyone a leg up in achieving this important life goal.

Support:
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Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

In this episode I tell the story of how I really discovered that a triangle would be a good symbol for Showmanship. I also reveal how Attention is perfectly represented in the symbol. The Eye. What could be more perfect. My enthusiasm of the esoteric and occult, the philosophical finds a lot to work with in this episode.

links:
Michael Tomassello - Becoming Human: A Theory of Ontogeny
Support:
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Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Support the show

...

After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Metaphoric thinking is fundamental to our understanding of the world. It is by likening one thing we understand to something else which we might not quite understand that we learn about the world. This makes us active participants in the creation of the world. Along the Way we have called this Map Making. They are never perfect but they do illuminate the world.
The best metaphores, or in fact all metaphores, are dynamic and goes both ways. If we say someone is like a mountain, then it's not only the person which takes on mountain characteristics, the mountain is also coloured by the human. We learn about both by looking at them with the intent of seeing what each has in common with the other, or the ways which they are the same.
When I first started to imagine a way to illustrate the pillars of Showmanship (Showman, Audience, Show and Attention) I landed on a triangle. This has one immidiate shortcomming, as it has three points and the pillars of Showmanship is four. The serendipitous thing about this though was that through exploring the nature of a triangles and what geometry has to tell us about them, I realised that I had landed on a very fruitful metaphore.
In this episode we focus mainly on the triangle as a symbol for the process of Showmanship, and next week we shall look into how I found the fourth pillar could be beautifully illustrated in the triangle.

Support:
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Contact me:
Thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com

Support the show

...

After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Have you ever wondered why some performances captivate you completely while others leave you checking your watch? The secret might lie in the ancient art of play.

In this expansive exploration of showmanship through metaphor, Captain Frodo delves into the profound connection between performance and play. Drawing on both philosophical underpinnings from Aristotle to modern cognitive scientists like Lakoff and Johnson, this episode reveals how metaphorical thinking shapes our reality—not just in language, but in thought and action.

At the heart of this discussion is a powerful insight: successful showmanship transforms audiences from experiencing clock time (Kronos) to being fully present in experiential time (Kairos). When performers approach their craft playfully—keeping their audience's experience central, making presentations gripping rather than boring, and inviting participation rather than merely demonstrating skills—they create those magical moments when everyone stops and thinks, "Oh my god, this is it, I get it."

The episode unpacks the first of five criteria of play—that it's fun, enjoyable, and something we don't want to end—demonstrating how this maps perfectly onto the performer-audience relationship. Both audience and performer enter a sacred space where ordinary objects and actions take on extraordinary significance, creating a shared experience that benefits everyone involved.

Whether you're a performer seeking deeper connections with your audience or simply fascinated by the psychology behind captivating experiences, this episode offers fresh insights into how metaphorical thinking transforms our understanding of performance arts. These aren't abstract musings but practical approaches that can elevate any presentation from merely impressive to genuinely transformative.

Subscribe to The Way of the Showman to continue this journey through the metaphorical landscape of performance and discover how embracing play might be the most serious thing a performer can do.

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

In this episode I explore what the essense of Showmanship is. What is the difference between a Show and Showmanship? How are they related? What are the fundamental aspects of performance? These are the questions we explore today, and for me these are what I found on the next level up, after last weeks exploration yielded that Showmanship is a process. This episode I build on that flowing foundation a structure I believe is fundamental not just to Shows and performing but to all aspects of human experience.

Links:
Jack London's story To Build a Fire.
A reading of To Build a Fire from youtube.

Support me:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo
Contact me:
Thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Now we start looking at the heart of the Way, what is Showmanship. This episode and the next we look into this. The faithful listener might recognise some of this episode from the first season where we discovered that Showmanship is a process and not a thing. This is the flowing bedrock of, not just Showmanship but also, as I see it, the world. From this firm but flowing foundation we shall next week explore the anatomy of Showmanship.

Links:
-the School of Athens, the famous painting by Raphael of the philosophers of Athens
-Henri Bergson on Duration. This is a great introduction to Bergson's concept of duration. (this is a lecture in philosophy by Nathan Hohipuha, who's channel Absurd Being is a gold mine for those interested in existentialist philosophy.)
-an example of how little is captured of the Kamikaze Freakshow at the Institute of Contemporary art in february 1999.
- a little more about the Freakshow captured on my old blog, the Illuminated Showman

Support:
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Contact me:
Thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

In this episode I share what I see as the essentials of what makes a show. I divide it up into three constituents which helps me to analyse and to understand my own shows and shows that I see. From these constituents I can easily get quite deep quite quickly after even just a first viewing. I immidiately get questions in my mind about where the work is at, what is its focus and where I see room for development. This abstract otological exploration is perhaps THE most practical tool I have revealed, thus far along the Way. This is a core part of what makes up my lens through which I view the world.

links
Joseph Campbell and his Hero with a Thousand Faces
Zirkus Nemo - duck taming, and the world famous Smashing Man
Hermeneutics
Chekov's Gun
Ian McGilchrist The Matter With Things

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Contact me:
Thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

This episode explores what makes us human in a way that will become a practical tool for asking questions about our work and art. The understandings we will journey through is an important key to my personal way of approaching creation. As I have worked more and more as a director and co-creator with others I have come to understand that the things we talk about in todays episode is part of make my point of view and thus approach unique. First we look at perception then we go on to what I think of as three peak human faculties of thinking, feeling and doing.
These things might seem abstract but as we shall see in the next couple of episodes they will in very direct and real, practical ways be tied to what makes up the anatomy of what a Show is.

Links:
Ian McGilchrist is a very interesting man of considerable wisdom and knowledge. This links to a real short animated overview of the central idea in is monumental book The Master and his emisary.
If it sparks interest in you here is a link to more talks by this fine chap.

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Contact me:
Thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Today I talk about inner exploration. We look at a few ways of mapping our internal geography and then how to mine it for use in creation. I also talk about developing a sense of ones inclinations and desires to use them like the true north of a compass. True north is not necessarily the same as the course you set for yourself and where you want to go, but by knowing your own natural inclinations you can better take a step back from yourself to assess where you're really heading.

This episode and the next couple is heading about as deep into the foundations as we will get. This is not practical how-to advice, this is working of the human aspect of the performer, the Man part of the ShowMan. By taking some steps to explore ourselves in the deepest ways we can build our creations and ourselves of firmer ground.

 -

You can contact me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
suport the podcast on
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Some links:
The end of Faith by Sam Harris
Jung on Synchronicity
an interesting article on synchronicity

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

When we take the two geographies of Inner and outer space seriously we immidiately see that their landscapes are quite different and that to journey within them would need different approaches. Much like we need different ways to travel on sea and in mountains, what is appropriate for one is unsuitable for the other. Today we look a little at the different ways we can most fruitfully navigate these to different terrains.

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

In this episode we look at how  being an artist and performer affects both our lives and our livings. These to domains  merge for many of us. There is often very little separation between what we do for fun and because we can't stop ourselves from doing it, and what we do for work. I don't think what we do can be adequately described as being a job. What we do is more than a job, it's a Way of life. 

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

I believe we find authenticity at the frontier between our inner and outer geographies. Todays leg along the Way explores what that means, and to understand that we have to look at what authenticity means, at least what it means when I talk about it. We also look back at an essay I published in 2012 where I talked about Originality, and I look at that with the hindsight of this leg along said frontier.

Links:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo
http://Captainfrodo.com
Thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

This is an episode that's a little more personal, just a little catch up really. A few people have said they miss the little bits of personal updates about my current situation. I have decided to not include this in the long form project of our bi weekly exploration of what an outline of a map of the Way of the Showman would look like. SO, here it is. A random encouter in a hobo jungle by the wayside, a little catch up and a call to action for you to send me some stories, in writing or as recording and I could interact with them in future encouters by the wayside.

link:
Hideaway Circus Podcast episode 107 where Josh and Lyndsay talk about Lost Futures and their new show Stars Above. 

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

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If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Today we set off and our trailhead will be the word ShowMan. As we ask ourselves not just what that word means from an etymological point of view but more importantly as a way pointer towards the two geographies we will be travelling simultaneously as we walk the Way. The word Show-Man becoms like one of those signs with many arrows each pointing towards different aspects of meaning.

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

What if embracing play could transform not only our perception of reality but also the world we live in? Join me, Captain Frodo, as we embark on a whimsical exploration of the intrinsic connection between play and showmanship. Together, we’ll question whether play unearths pre-existing truths or crafts entirely new perspectives. Drawing inspiration from cultural phenomena like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and thinkers such as Huitzinger, we’ll investigate how play might be the cornerstone of human constructs like law, art, and philosophy. This episode is an invitation to broaden your understanding of play as a key to unlocking human creativity, growth, and cultural evolution.

Next, we journey into the vibrant and surreal world of carnivals, inspired by Bruce Caron's book, "Inside the Live Reptile Tent." Imagine a realm where laughter and play serve as tools to conquer fear, much like an emotional boot camp. The mythopoetic nature of carnivals offers us a unique blend of reality and imagination, transforming them into metaphors for our own playful yet profound journeys. We'll reflect on the allure and deception of sideshows, questioning their authenticity and exploring how they encapsulate our deepest desires and dreams. Through the lens of both popular culture and personal experience, we'll unravel the carnival as a living testament to the power of imagination.

To wrap things up, we delve into the raw and sometimes controversial power of carnival attractions, reflecting on my personal experiences in uncovering the delicate balance between reality and performance. The intimate nature of sideshows provides a profound connection with audiences, challenging societal norms and inviting us to engage with the world in new and meaningful ways. I’ll share why staying "alive on the inside" through curiosity and social interaction is crucial for any performer and how embracing play can fuel creativity and authenticity. By connecting deeply with our craft, we redefine showmanship, unlocking new dimensions of joy and creativity in both our performances and our lives.

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

In this second trip down the Way of the Showman we will look at what the Way actually is. Right off the bat we discover that it has a kind of dual nature, which is revealed first around the fact that it is both a way to make a Living and simultaneously a Way to make a life.
We also establish that this Way is an exclusively human way. From that seemingly inane conclusion we get to the heart of what's at the foundation for every Act and every Showing and performance.

Links:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo
http://Captainfrodo.com
Thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

In this episode we begin our grand, exploratory journey of the Way of the Showman. In the last season I offered glimpses of what the world looked like through the lens of Showmanship. As this season unfolds I will try to give you a much more comprehensive view of the Way, what it is and the ideas, insights, wordgames, poems, techniques and methods that I have used to shape my own lens. The  distant and nebulous goal of this yourney is first and foremost to entertain you, but also to simultanously showing you that Showmanship and performing circus tricks for amusement and profit can be a profound affair indeed.
This is the introductory episode where I give you an outline and some thoughts on how I discovered and first began mapping the Way of the Showman.

Links:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo
http://Captainfrodo.com
Thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Welcome back to season two! This first episode is a response to the short bonus episode on I published on my birthday, which I share with the pandemic. In that episode I asked you listeners if you were interested in having me talk about my artistic process. I did get some resposes to that in the affirmative, so here it is!
This is an unscripted conversational episode that describes some of my thoughts and actions in creating a 1hr20min theater show in december 2020. The pandemic was raging and I was creating it very much in a bubble, a socially distanced and physically distanced state of mind.
As you will hear this podcast, and by extension you, dear listener, was a big part of my inspiration for pushing myself into areas outside of my comfort zone in this show.

Pedro Tochas, this episode is for you.

Links:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo
http://Captainfrodo.com
Thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com

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Happy birthday pandemic and happy birthday to me. My birthday and the day Showbiz Died is the same day. I told all about that in episode one. In this episode I reflect on my life in this crazy time. One year has passed. So much has changed, but the one thing that hasn't is my full on and full time dedication to the Craft of Showmanship. I am in the final stages of writing my philosophy on Showmanship. It will be about 400 pages when it finally finds its way onto printed pages. This crazy time has allowed me to delve deeper into the philosophical underpinnings of the Craft of Showmanship, as well as dive deeper into myself. All this will be revealed in the fullness of time.

Warning: ⚠️  This episode is more emotional than intellectual, there is no essay with deep and consice explorations on making meaningful Material, or scripting superb Structures, just me opening my heart a little.

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In this final episode of season one, I attempt to give a few indications of just how grand and sacred our Craft can be seen. I do a deep dive into symbolic and mythological territory unlike anything I have done before in any other episode. I try to spin a new kind of poetic, sometimes rhyming narrative to explore our Craft, our Secret and Sacred Vessel, the ShowmanShip.
This episode also has a soundscape to aid you in you inner recreation of the mythopoetic indications I am laying out.
I play the recording of a song I wrote and recorded in 2013 called the ShowmanShip, and I am amazed at how well it holds up with the themes of my current nautical dreaming during the pandemic.
I also play a recording of a song about myself written by the incomparable singing showman Mikelangelo aka Michael Simic. The song was recorded in a hotelroom we shared in 2008. I love Michaels music and its a supreme pleasure to share this song with you all, even at the risk of aggrandizing myself. But he is a true artist and there is no lie in his fire, and even though I stand very close to the subject matter, I am sure you will share my love of it. The song is called the Ballad of Captain Frodo.

Shownotes:
Sir Ken Robinson on finding your element. A longer talk, for those who want more, and "she's not sick, she's a dancer."
Mikelangelo aka Michael Simic has been a tremendous inspiration for me in my journey as a showman. It was watching him perform that first inspired me to express deeper and more complex throughts with my art. He is a good friend, even if the Way only brings us together on the rarest occasion. His band the Blacksea Gentlemen stands as one of my strongest inspirations from the australian contemporary performing art scene.
Walt Whitman.
Oh Captain, My Captain
Scurvy

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

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If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

I have been feeling lost, like so many of you.
My Show was My home, now its destroyd by plague and I can't get home.
The Showman has his home in the space that arises in the meeting between performer and audience. We are all lost. The virus-plague has attacked our ability to gather in groups which means its infected and isolated me from accessing a place that's been my home away from home for my entire life. I explore the term Solastalgia - the homesickness you have when you are still at home, but that home has been irrevocably been damaged and altered by negative changes to the environment. Originally conceived of to describe the emotional state experienced by people affected by open cut mining in Upper Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia, I look at how our inner, interhuman home of shows have been open cut mined and destroyed by the pandemic. Since our Show-home is an inner experience and the virus is attacking our insides the inner geography thats being open cut mined is our souls. We all hurt and with good reason. I feel your pain fellow showfolk.

Show notes:
Object Episodes - Jay Gilligan and Erik Åbergs podcast exploring what juggling is now and was through the ages and where it can go in the future.
The Happy Sideshow - Experpts from a show we did in Stockholm, Sweden for the Subörb Circus festival in 2003.
Hideaway Circus podcast - Josh and Lindsay interviews who's who of circus.
the age of Solastalgia - article by the coiner of the term
Tedx talk by Glenn Albrecht
Solastalgia and Wildfire - a talk by Glenn Albrecht

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

What will our firewall be between ourselves and the Svengali scamsters of the world? To day we look into science. We check out if there are any lessons to be learnt from looking at the Black Death in the middle ages, we discover a whole new tiny world through a home made microscope in 1683 in the Netherlands. This is the third and final episode in our explorations of how to get Carny Wise.

Show notes

Alexandre Yersin - the discoverer of the cause for the Black Death
On Unweaving the Rainbow - article by Michael Shermer
Lamia - John Keats' full poem where the unweaving the rainbow appears
Stephen Novella quote about science - Science definition
The Surgeon of Crowthorne - book about the murderer and madman who contributed the most word definitions to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Bifrost - rainbow in Norse Mythology
A short article on the Black Death
Anthony Leeuvenhoek - the original microscope master and discoverer of the world of the tiny all around us ( and on us)
Microscopic mites that live on your face
How the Easter Island Statues "walked" from the quarries to their final resting places.
Kitasato Shibasaburōthe - Japanese Co-discoverer of the pest bacteria
Yersinia Pestis - the bacteria which causes the Black Death
The Skeptiks Guide to the Universe book on skeptical thinking
Jim Stienmeyer - author and illusion designer

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

This week we talk about deception. By learning about the many ways our senses, our thinking, and our limited understanding of logic can be used to deceive us, I am hoping to get us all a little more Carny Wise. We look at how our senses can deceive us. We look at cognitive biases, and logical fallacies. I really think we need to get our ducks in order and use the Way to get Wise to see through illusions. There are deceptions everywhere along the Way, in real life, on social media, and any other media, the only way we can protect ourselves is to change our culture, to get wise to the machination of deception and illusion. This is our project, this is the Way.

Make sure you click the inattentional blindness link! Watch it before you get to it in the episode.

Show notes.
Some cool ways to explore the blind spots in your eyes.
Finland teaching kids about misinformation and fake news in primary school.
One of our senses beyond the five - the vestibular system - our balance organ.
What our eye's blind spots are according to Encyclopedia Britannica.
A chart of some cognitive biases.
An even bigger chart of 188 biases
Generally about cognitive biases.
Why change blindness happens to us.
Intentional blindness article.
List of logical fallacies
Awakening from the meaning crisis - this is a 50 hour course by University of Toronto professor John Vervaeke. It’s epic and I am really enjoying it!

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

After our mythic and imaginative explorations I think it would be good to remind ourselves that there is a real world out there. We must not get lost in day dreams and "As If" thinking. Social media is a carnival and we aren't really aware of that when we enter through their digital entrances on our phones. This is a rally call for getting wise to the tactics of carnies along any midway, real or digital.

Show notes:

Seeing Patterns
truth spreading slower than fake news
Anton LaVey's Church of Satan
the Making Sense podcast: Welcome to the Cult Factory
the Social Dilemma Netflix documentary.
Jimi Hendrix in a field rocking out

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

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If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

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If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

We go on quite a wander this episode. Starting with the satanic principle of the Intellectual Decompression chamber, we then do a little loop around the importance of employing and becoming aware of what you truly want, your true will. After which we look how this links into the familiar concept of suspension of disbelief only to dive head first into a truly remarkable phenomenon. Something which could have belonged perfectly in last weeks Kingdom of Childhood episode, it's the strange but real As If principle.
I leave you with a prod to seriously look into what you really want, and how to use your shows as acts of magick.

Show notes:

Anton LaVey

Aleister Crowley's magick philosophy: Thelema
Richard Wiseman reveals some totally sweet magic!
Richard Wiseman demonstrates attention blindness. Very cool.
Richard Wiseman
Richard Wiseman's As If book

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

What if the most profound aspects of human experience—from religious ritual to artistic expression—have their roots in play? In this thought-provoking exploration of serious play, Captain Frodo challenges the false dichotomy between seriousness and importance, revealing how playful engagement offers access to deeper realities than solemn endeavors often can.

Drawing on Plato's assertion that "life must be lived as play," we explore how imaginal play allows us to embody different identities and perspectives, transforming how we experience the world. When a child becomes Zorro or a martial artist imagines standing in flowing water, they're not merely pretending—they're accessing genuine transformative experiences that reveal aspects of reality otherwise hidden.

The connections between play, ritual, and religion run deeper than most realize. Scholars like Johan Huizinga have shown how ritual creates a "magic circle" where different rules apply—much like the stage creates a space of possibility for performers. This understanding elevates performance art from "mere entertainment" to a profound human activity that creates shared realities and offers new ways of being.

For performers, this perspective transforms how we approach our craft. Rather than apologizing for being "just entertainers," we can confidently assert that art forms the axis around which human culture revolves. By taking play seriously—recognizing its power to transform perspectives and access deeper truths—we honor the profound importance of what we do and strengthen our connection with audiences.

Whether you're a performer seeking deeper meaning in your work or simply curious about the hidden importance of play in human experience, this episode offers transformative insights that will change how you see both playfulness and purpose.

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

After I began releasing the episodes about the Mythopoetic Carnival I discovered a concept within the field of sociology which maps uncannily well onto our own project. I explore these similarities. The concept is the Collective Imaginary or social imaginary as its also called. One of the interesting things we learn from this is that it can change which excites me as I see us Showfolk as potential agents of change.
We then have a look at how circus has changed in the popular imagination in the barely three hundred years it's been around. We take a quick glance as to how this reflects, in a funhouse-mirror kind of way, the Way of the freemasons. 
To wrap up the episode we look at how Sherlock Holmes became realised, made more real, when a bank hired the imaginary detective a secretary to answer his mail for 70 years.

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

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If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

This time we take a short break from the Mythopoetic Explorations and instead take a look into the strange and beautiful Kingdom of Childhood. We try to understand the denizens with their peculiar vocation of play. Kids, as the inhabitants of the Kingdom are called, play for a living. Their weird, but also wonderful. I used to be one you know. I don't know when I left, but I know that I can't return.
We have to sneak a peak over the walls and through the keyhole of the gates since us adults have lost the ability to re-enter. Come join me on this trip to the exotic geography of Childhood.

Show notes:
Mitch Jones' excellent article.

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

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If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

The concept of the carnival of dreams seems so abstract. This is the opposite of a real world carnival. Today we explore the tarot as a possible tool for creating a mental midway, a carnival that comes to your town as you lay them out on the table, and thus by looking at them we can take a more concrete walk down a manifestation of the Mythopoetic Midway.

I want there to be some more practical aspects to this project. This is one such attempt.


Show notes:
Jung and Tarot
Jung's lecture on tarot
Alejandro Jodorowski on tarot
Jung's collective unconscious
T S Eliot Four quartets 

Support the show

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After a long abscence our Merch Shop is back! Check out t-shirts, hoddies, and hats! Show yourself as a Follower of the Way of the Showman.

You can also "listen" to the Way of the Showman at youtube.

If you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.

If you want to  contact me about anyhthing ou can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.com
You can find out more on the Way of the Showman website.

Follow the Way of the Showman on Instagram.

If you're compelled to suport the showes and have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo