"It's not a difficult trick—I can tell from your reaction."

May 3, 2017 4:10 PM

Michael Davis has been juggling objects and audience expectations for many years. Here are a few of his routines: My Philosophy Of Juggling, a ping pong ball trick, and a mostly-musical appearance on the Tonight Show.
posted by Johnny Wallflower (15 comments total)

See also.
posted by lozierj at 5:31 PM on May 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

Holy shit, I probably stole 75% of my juggling routine from that first video. Interestingly he either stole some of it from Steve Martin or vice versa (or independent invention) with the grapefruit bit.
posted by bfootdav at 5:35 PM on May 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

This is NSFW, in the sense that I had to hurriedly stifle my laughter and pretend to be doing something else and I was laughing too hard to be very good at it.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 6:19 PM on May 3, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm having the same reaction as bfootdav. I remember doing the juggling from a motorcycle gag at an improv night when I was an undergrad (more than once, probably). I had literally no idea where I picked it up.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 6:44 PM on May 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

I remember that guy. Could he possibly have originated the "buttered bread strapped to a cat" joke? That would be a claim to fame if so.
posted by fungible at 6:49 PM on May 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Amazing comic timing, in ALL senses.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:32 PM on May 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

I saw him perform live at my college back in 1987 or '88 and it was amazing. He did the ping-pong balls, and the routine with the apple, egg and bowling ball. IIRC he added a line to that one: Once they all were airborne, he said, "my mission, if I choose to accept it, is to eat the apple, without eating the bowling ball or the egg."

But the best part of the night was a routine where he juggled three random objects provided by the audience. The word was out on this - I think he had done it on Carson or Letterman or something - and so some wiseass college kid handed him a flail, that oddball medieval weapon of a spiked ball on a chain, attached to a pole.

Lewis looked at him, took the flail, and said, deadpan, "So you always carry one of these around with you, huh?"

(PS - he somehow coiled the chain around the pole, with the ball tucked under the wrapped chain, and managed a few tosses with the other objects. Bravo, sir.)
posted by martin q blank at 8:03 PM on May 3, 2017 [4 favorites]

Thirty years later, "The Howling Cowboy" still cracks me up.
posted by MrBadExample at 8:25 PM on May 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

For some reason he reminds me of Gene Wilder.

He's very funny in a timeless way.

He has a lovely singing voice.
posted by ashbury at 8:34 PM on May 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

I have learned today that I am the kind of person who laughs harder at a juggling routine than almost any other form of comedy. It's a good lesson.
posted by abulafa at 10:29 PM on May 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Here he is on the UK's Bob Monkhouse show from back in the 80s. Many elements from "MyPhilosophy of Juggling" as above - but also some more. For me, it is only on viewing his routine for the second time that I can really appreciate how well put together it was.
posted by rongorongo at 4:21 AM on May 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

The talk page of the buttered cat paradox is Wikipedia at its best and worst.
posted by empath at 5:31 AM on May 4, 2017

Ron & Nancy think he's hilarious.
posted by chavenet at 5:56 AM on May 4, 2017

The difference (as it's been said elsewhere) between a mere juggler and an entertainer. I really don't want to know anything about him personally, as I'm afraid it would spoil my enjoyment of his act if I learned something untoward about his personal life...
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 8:09 AM on May 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

See also: This bit on Letterman.
posted by booth at 1:12 PM on May 4, 2017 [1 favorite]