The Way of the Showman - III - Sideshow Part Two

Inspired by meeting John Kamikaze and getting invited to join his family of freaks, the Space
Cowboy, Shep Huntly, Tigerlil and myself decided we wanted to create our own sideshow.
The Kamikaze Freakshow was a hardcore experience for the crowds. John Kamikaze's art can be difficult to watch for even the most ardent sideshow enthusiast. So we wanted our sideshow to be a softer experience for the crowds. Personally I have always been drawn in the direction of laughter. A good laugh and gag can make the sideshow medicine go down easier. We wanted to create a show which could manage to convey just how fun and exciting we found the stunts and skills of the sideshows, and make the crowd feel that same excitement. In our talks we talked about wanting it to be a happy vibe show. Shep Huntly had, at the time a smiley face dyed into the hair on his head. He also played the Toothfairy song "You got to be Happy Now," at the start of each of his street shows. Eventually this idea of wanting to make a happy sideshow became our name, not just a description of what we wanted the show to be like.
This next episode in the Way of the Showman series shows glimpses from some of the early exploits of the Happy Sideshow, Australia's Premier Freakshow.
It shows a bunch of the madness arising when The Happy Sideshow opened for the extraordinary showbiz band Machine Gun Fellatio. It was some seriously good times. A deadly cocktail. Rock and Roll meets Shock and Roll.

The Happy Sideshow

From the now defunct Happy Sideshow website...

"The Space Cowboy, Shep Huntly and Captain Frodo had been talking about a name and wanted one that could describe the awesome energy that was created when we performed together. It became evident what it would be during the Lizard festival for the total eclipse of the sun in 1999 in Cornwall, UK, where the dudes were booked to perform and Tigerlil was along for the ride. After arriving and doing solo shows for two days the management called a meeting to tell us that there was no chance the festival was going to make it financially. There was not enough paying custumers. This meant none of the performers would get paid. A lot of the performers and bands cracked the shits. There was a whole lot of shouting, threats and bad vibes all around. At which point Captain Frodo raised his hand and asked the flustered organizers:
"If we all decide to stay and entertain those few thousand people that are here, will the ecclipse still be on?' This broke the ice.

The birth of The Happy Sideshow
photo by Tigerlil.

The three boys decided against doing solo street shows and in a collaborative evening with Howard Marks, The Happy Sideshow was born in a cabaret big top in Cornwall during a total ecclipse of the sun.
From then and for the next four or five years the Happy Sideshow consisting of Tigerlil, the Space Cowboy, Shep Huntly, and Captain Frodo toured the world with their sideshow revival under the slogan "The coolest, Slickest, and Happiest Sideshow on Earth!" The hyperbole was right, as the Way teaches us - with theater less is more, but with sideshow less is not enough.


From the archives of Carnival Cinema comes an almost complete performance of a show called "Torture for Fun." The show was filmed in Stockholm, Sweden in 2003 during Circus Cirkors circus festival called subørb.