Just hanging around

So I walk into the sideshow tent one night and it's kinda dark as the show power is off. So as i am walking through the tent I hear this voice...'Hey Mark' It's Batman Rick...but where is he?

After a little while I look over towards the knife board and there he is, hanging upsidedown from the knife board. Now wait, I know that shounds 'far fetched' but it is the truth.

So Batman Rick is hanging upside down on the knife board. He was doing situps and getting a good work out...but, well..he got a bit tired and fell asleep from exhaustion...just hanging upside down. Kinda weird huh...well, nothing is normal around a sideshow...or is it?

Mark Mysterrio
http://ultimatemagicshows.com

It gets sweeter...

So there is Doc with water on his tourches and no way he can eat fire at this point. I have not done my bed of nails stunts yet. Doc slips into the housetrailer and gets some sugar and he also gives some kid who knows how much money to get a bag of cotton candy.

As I am getting ready to do the bed of nail, Doc spreads out the cotton candy on this bed of nail. I am talking to the audience and when I get to the part: "I make my mind believe I am sleeping on a bed of fluffy clouds" Doc, spreads out this cotton candy on the spikes of my nails...I know i am in for something at this point.

He says to me: "Fluffy White clouds?" I say: "Yes, fluffy white clouds" and with that, Doc pours a a five pound bag of sugar on the cotton candy...he throws on some fruit to show the spikes are real...and just as i am on the nails in this sugar-rrry mess, Doc takes the water from the tourches and spills it all over me.

Man, I was sticky for the next several shows....and most of the next day.
This joke truely was ON ME!

Mark Mysterrio
http://ultimatemagicshows.com

So Ya Wanna Play Jokes Huh?

Okay, so on the show you never knew what was going to happen, we had a show that just kept going from open to close - act after act after act. Well, my cousin Jim always set the magic props for me and everything was loaded and ready to go. One night Jim and Doc Batman thought it might be fun to try some new things. In my dove pan they placed 5 live mice.

I do the show and as I am getting ready to produce my doves, out pops five live mice which run down my arm and all over the stage...I am sure I jumped a little and the audience...they jumped alot. Live Mice are now running everywhere and so are the people in the show....screaming.....Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

I get to the 'head chop' part of the routine where I bring a girl up - pretend to pull off her bra vai the baffling bra trick and put her in the stocks where she is looking down into an empty bucket. I get this girl all locked up and notice there is something in the bucket...it's a fish bowl full of live goldfish. I'm like what is going on here....Doc yells from the back of the house: "Watch her head, she might drown in that water. " I do my act and realize that everyone wants to have fun...so everyone does and it was great...until the next night...

The next night I start talking up the fire eatter. Now the fire eatter is Rick's wife (at the time) Shelly....but I leave that part out and tell everyone that Doc is the best fire eatter in the whole USA. (which might be true) Now, Rick has not eatten fire in a long time.....But I am cranking up the heat so bad that Jimmy Hofa could have came back and ate fire and the crown still would have wanted Doc to do his fire act. I am building him up very big...."he swigs the gas and throws a flame 10 feet wide and 5 feet high, you can see if from the earth to the sky." "Doc has been on Johnny Carson and ate fire at Donald Trumps Birthday party....and I just went on.

Doc knows he MUST eat fire - so he agrees...he takes out the tourches....takes out his lighter...gets ready for the big act. He touches the lighter to the tourch and NOTHING...He dunks the torch into the bucket of fuel...light the lighter...NOTHING....

I never did tell him - Water in place of fuel does not burn....HaHa Doc. 2 funny

Mark Mysterrio
http://ultimatemagicshows.com

Every Doctor Needs A Nurse

And when there are sharp objects like a bed of nails around...I might need one too. Both Batman and I have come along way since our 20 year meeting. Batman has been married five times (more on that later) Batman tells me he fell in love with this 'nurse' (also a sideshow term for lady) from the Maryland area and he tells me he loves her alot.

I say...every Doctor needs a Nurse.

Mark Mysterrio
http://ultimatemagicshows.com

Bed Of Nails & Other Sideshow Thoughts

In the sideshow I used to do the bed of nails act. Sometimes I would show the bed of nails and just lay down on it and other nights I would sit on it cross-legged. One night I remember Batman Rick thought it would be funny to throw knifes into a watermelon that was on my chest.

I used to joke about the fatlady sitting on me and I would tell people that I would put my blindfold on so the fatlady could not see me. You would be shocked at how many people never got the humor of that.

Now keep in mind that I am working with a circus sideshow...it is "P.C." and an honor to call FannyMae by her sideshow name...that is, FannyMae the fatlady. Now, keep in mind we call her that because....well....FannyMae and FannyMae not...all depends on her mood.

So I am on the bed of nails with my mask on and Batman has Jim place the watermelon on my chest - just like part of the act and all is going according to plan when all the sudden I feel like someone is throwing water on me - like a spritzer or sprinkler...short bursts of water. For my own safty, I slide the mask off and look at the watermelon to find it is full of throwing knives and Batman is serving to a sideshow tent full of people.

To this day I wish I left the mask on.

Mark Mysterrio
http://ultimatemagicshows.com

It Wasn't Me...or was it?

Well we used to have this girl we would call 'The Headless Girl" well, I still use this in my act - I can't tell you how we do it but I will tell you this, The Girl looks real because she IS real.

Well, Rick used to scout out these 'places' where girl worked tending bar or doing a 'dance' and he would get ones that had nice...well...you know, nice 'upper body' types. Well, he had this one girl with DD size 'upper body' and he put her in this headless thing...so she had no head - she can't see very well once inside of it -so she has to trust who she works for and she did.

One night as we were closing the show, she says to Rick: "Could you keep the guys from touching my body!" Rick said, "Who's touching you?" The girl says" the skinny guy, (Points to me) Rick says: "Oh, he is also a M.D. - yep, he is the Sideshow Doctor and he is checking you out to make sure you don't expire in that get up you have to be in (meaning the headless gaff) He's a doctor, he knows what he is doing.

So the girl says; "Oh, I didn't know...I'm sorry...it's okay" After she leaves I look at Doc and say: "I didn't touch her...I didn't" Rick just smiles...It took me until the next night to figure out who was doing the touching.

It's All Fun Until The Cops Come.

One morning Doc calls me over to his housetrailer and he has this big sewing needle out on the table. He says, I have a new act that you can do Markie. I watched....I thought sure he was going to have me push this needle down the hollow throat of the rubber chicken and claim he was the sword swallowing chicken. Nope, I could not get that lucky!

Doc picks up this huge sewing needle and proceeds to push the thing into his arm. There is blood just dripping down his arm - but he is in no pain. I start to shake a bit...feel a bit woozey...
Doc pulls the needle out, wipes it off - does somthing to clean it up...I don't know I was ready to get very sick to my stomach. Doc says: "okay, markie...you try it"

I start to argue with Doc - "Oh no pal, I'm the magician and the bed of nails guy...yada yada."
Batman Rick says : You are the pain proof man. I agreed - but that was the wrong thing to do in this case. Rick picks up the sewing needle...kinda moves it out of the way and squeezes abit of fat from around my stomach...."Just relax" he says "When you squeeze the fat here it will stop you from getting sick to your stomach" I thought he was right because I was feeling alittle better.

All the sudden Rick pushes this needle into my stomach and I leave out yell : "OOOUUUUUCCCHHHHH" ~~~~~I must be honest, it hurt!
Rick said "Control your mind Mark...it's all in the mind" Well, this all builds up to the bed of nails stunt...because Rick was 100% right, it was all in the mind.

As my blood filled my t-shirt and made a mess everywhere I started to feel better about the pain.
Now my cousin Jim comes walking over and sees my blood everywhere and says: "Are you okay Mark?" Now, I am trying to get used to the pain and am in shock because I have a needle hanging out of my stomach....Jim heard a huge "OOOUUUCCCHHHHH" and came over to see what the noise was about.....but here I am with this needle in my stomach and my own blood everywhere and Jim asks me the dumbest question ever: Are you okay Mark? I said to him, "Would you be okay with this needle in your gut?" Jim thinks this is a joke or a magic trick and he says: "that's gross." Now, I don't know how to take that from a guy that sticks stuff up his nose for a living.

Rick says to me: "See it's been 5 minutes and you are fine...do that in the show tonight" So, well...i end up putting it into the show thinking it would be no big deal and on my first try there is this 6 foot tall dude there trying to impress his girl - he knows how we do each act, the swords fold up, the girl is a guy, the guy is a girl, we use trap doors, we use fat suits - you name it and this guy was WRONG....about everything. Well, I pushed that needle into my arm and this dude just faints...his friends catch him ~ he's out cold. It's tear down night - we are moving out of one town and into another one....well, we get finished and go to Denny's and there is this farmboy that tried to impress his girlfriend.

Well, I send Jim out to the truck to re-adjust my bed of nail because we just threw them into the truck and I knew they kinda rolled around abit on the way over to Denny's . I order my food and Jim's - he is outside stacking the truck.

Well, the Fatlady is in the Denny's and our midget was there and well..we were used to people looking at us funny and like we were weird. This farmboy sees that the fatlady is still in her 'fatsuit' so he knows that was WRONG and he sees the midge is walking around - with no trick mirrors - so he knows that's WRONG. This ugly farmboy was about to make the worst mistake of his life and he didn't even know it. Rick and whatever girl he has at the time are sitting there eatting and this farm boy walks over to Rick and says : We don't serve long haired hippies in here.

Ricks says to him - trying to be polite ~ "Oh? Why not, they serve hog like you here farmboy." I thought oh no...here we go...This dude says to Rick: "How about you say this outside?" All I can think about is Jim is outside re-making the truck and this could get messy and I am not in the mood for this. The dude says to Rick:" say that outside" So Rick says to the dude:'Why, you can't hear inside? Go eat you slop hogboy and if you still feel like you want to wallow in your own muck, maybe after I eat...wipe that dung off your boots and eat your slop and when I am finished I'll take you on...fair enough?"

This guy makes an attempt to grab Rick - All I remember seeing is ole farm boy gets thrown through a plate glass window - people are running everywhere and someone calls the cops. This dude lands in the parking lot - Jim turns around and ole farmboy missed my bed of nails by about 3 inches. The cops come....Rick pays $250 cash for the broken glass and ole farmboy goes to jail for disorderly conduct.

Jim comes in to eat his food and says: "Why did that guy jump out the window Doc?"

Mark Mysterrio
http://ultimatemagicshows.com

When You Are On Nails...The Show Never Stops

I do want to tell you about the bed of nails and how I did my little 'world record' thing...but there is so much more stuff that needs to be brought out as a basis for why I did it and such and alot of this has to do with Batman. See, with Batman Rick at the wheel, the show never stops...but we do break for food every so often.

Speaking of food, are you hungy? Well, I was and so was Batman. So we pulled into this Perkins. Batman parks the motor home close, the show is all loaded as is my bed of nails that we used in the act. Batman Rick and I go into the Perkins and we sit down. Keep in mind it is about 2 a.m. just around the time that Perkins changes shifts...now, you might wonder what a shift change at Perkins has to do with this but just keep reading...So this waitress comes over to take our order. We order and Batman says to me "Markie, look at the waitress, she is smoking hot." I said, Doc...I sometimes call Batman "Doc" ...So I say "Doc, that girl is like 23 and you are like 35, there is no way you could score with that girl. No way so don't try it, just save it for someone you have a chance with, I'd hate to see you disappointed." I get up and go to the restroom and come back.

Well, by this time the food is placed on the table and Batman is chatting with the waitress. This girl tells Batman she is engaged and show him this ring on her hand. Batman says: "That's not a good ring you know...it looks like cubic Z...and the waitress looks down at it and kinda looks abit sad. Doc says "Look honey, you seem like a nice girl and all but that ring is as fake as as fake can be and you my dear should have better. I have a very nice ring it's worth about $10,000 I imported it from Africa and to be honest, I have no use for it. This is genuine diamond....here take a look."

Batman pulls out this ring....to this day i have no idea where he got the thing. So this girl is trying the ring on with Batman's say so...and next thing you know, this waitress and Batman are talking about him giving her the ring along with it's paperwork which he thinks he has in his motor home.

By now this girl is holding Batman's hand as he is sliding this ring on and off her finger cheching the fit....he is rubbing her back with his free hand saying: "I know you love your boyfriend but you can always sell my ring and buy your guy a very nice one or use the money for your honeymoon or whatever...this ring I think went up in value it might be worth $15,000 or more by now. So this waitress asks who we are and how Rick got so much money to buy this ring and why he is just going to give it to her...so Rick says...Well, (pointing at me) that man over there you might have seen on TV. (I smile) That's my drummer and we are on our way to do the tonight show with Johhny Carson. She bought it!

This girl takes out a pen and paper and Rick and I sign a very nice autograph for her. Rick has this girl eatting out of the palm of his hand now...he says: 'I know you love your guy but I have an idea, 30 minutes with me in the motor home, you get the ring, the paperwork and your guy never has to know about anything...just 30 minutes in my motorhome...you can sell the ring or do whatever...it's yours.'

By this time, the staff at Perkins is bringing us fresh java every 28 seconds, drinks, food, cake, pie...you name it.....me, I am still eatting my pancakes.

Away go this girl and Rick out into the motor home...I'm eatting my pancakes and drinking my hot, fresh java...and I look at my watch...one hour and a half later.

In walks Rick, Batman is tired but very happy I said, Rick, did you have the paperwork for that ring...he says, 'Yes, I am going to mail it to her." I look down and he has an address and a phone number. Oh, and she loved it when i told her that I play the guitar in your bed of nails."

Rick smiles at me and says: "Let's go, we gotta make Carson before she finds out that ring isn't worth 10 bucks."

See ya soon.
Mark Mysterrio
http://ultimatemagicshows.com

Into The Tent They Went..2 C The Bed Of Nails?

Yep, one by one they handed the ticket seller money and went inside to see the big show inside the big tent. Once they got inside it truely was show time....we started off with a magic act star-ing, yours truely.

The thing about that magic act was - you were never sure how long it might go. Once I did a 3 minute magic act and sometimes I could go one for 15 to 20 minutes with acts that included "Hananewchuck the dancing chicken" Now for those of you that don't know what Hananewchuck means Batman Rick told me it was an old native word that means "chicken with bat like movements" I never questioned him on it after that.

Yes, dancing chicken was another Batman mastermind...well, Batman Rick, Harry Albaker and myself we had to develop the routine for the chicken and we had to come up with a way for the chicken to do the tricks, teach him the steps, make him dance and obey all the livestock laws at the same time.

Well one night, after intense training - the chicken just was not working out, he would not do what we wanted him to do, he could not dance so, after much thought and countless hours of hard work, we were all hungry so, we had a great chicken dinner that could not be beat. The very next day we went to Spencer gifts and bought a rubber chicken and made him dance across the stage and "Clarence the dancing chicken was born."

Now, I used to make "Clarence lay on a bed of nails" but...more on that another day.

Mark Mysterrio
Magician, Sideshow & Foolery Artist
http://ultimatemagicshows.com

The Thing About Rick Was...

The thing about Batman Rick Dennis was, you never could plot out what he was going to do in the show - I mean, he swallowed swords, his wife (now ex) Shelly ate fire, Rick is an awesome knife thrower (remind me to tell you about that one some day) and the acts and things that he can do are just amazing.

But I remember this one night, my cousin Jim was working with us on the show and Jim looks like a big mountain man, think Grizzly Adams here...Okay so Jim already was doing an act under the sideshow tent but, well, this night Batman Rick has something else in mind.

Bat Man Rick comes out minutes before show time and he hands Jim a Zorro mask. That's right, a Zorro mask, like you might wear on halloween. He tells Jim: "Blockhead, put this on and wait over there until I send for you. " Later, this Zorro mask some how got changed to a Pig Mask on the inside of the show- but anyhow...Batman Rick gets Jim in the Zorro mask outside the show...on the Bally (a small stage used outside to get passer-bys to go into the show by looking at the featured acts.) So here on the Bally stage is Jim, in a Zorro mask, blue silk shirt, jeans. Jim is still unsure of what is going on himself.

Batman Rick stands next to Mountain Man Zorro Jim and says: 'Folks, when we have him remove his mask on the inside of the big show...and you see his horrible condition, you may fall upon your very knees and Thank the good Lord above that you were born like you were and not like this pit-i-ful creature. After he removes the mask and you get used to this shocking odd looking creature of God we call the Human Blockhead, he will will hammer ice picks and use power drills of all shapes and sizes on his probiscus...that's nose for anyone standing here that didn't go to college....show time...come in...your just in time for the big show....look thru the door way....see the little midget sitting next to the fat lady? Do Ya? That very midget is going to start the show by diving off his platform and landing face first into a bowl of chicken noodle soup...you don't wanna miss it folks...it's on the inside...Hurry now...it's show time..."

I know you want to know what happens right? Well....follow me inside the big show - it's Showtime Folks.

http://ultimatemagicshows.com/gift

So, I Met The Real Bat Man...

Okay, so here is Rick, that is...Batman Rick Dennis - Doctor Blood who is a multitude of personalities all in one body. Mind you that body is a super charged chick magnet...the girls just can't stay away from ' The Batman' but more on that later.

So here is Batman Rick Dennis unloading a zig-zag from his huge show trailer and setting up the sideshow and I try to engage him into a conversation around his set up.

Batman Rick Dennis yells to me over the loud noise of setup....picture this if you will...people are setting up rides, shows, food and game joints...you name it...they are banging stuff with hammers, talking shouting...this is not a quite place.....so Batman Rick Dennis yells to me: "Hey Buddy, I want to talk to you but I have to get these bats taken care of..." I cut him off before he can finish..."Did you say bats?" He rejoins my conversation..."Yes, I have to get my bats taken care of....they need to eat and drink too."

As I try to look into the one trailer, I see a banner with a picture of bats....but as i look past that, I see a whole bunch of live, flying bats. (more than I want to count at this time) I take a closer look and I see that one has a wing span of at least 7 feet, in my estimate.

So, I say, "Um, Batman Rick, what do you...um feed them?" Batman Rick says to me: "Sonny Boy, right now, you don't want to know...."

How it all started... the sideshow

Okay, so how did this whole bed of nails thing start? We'll, okay...to move forward we have to step back - way back to 1986, the year I got out of high school. I got a job after high school - well, I went to the university shortly after, but that is another story...so after high school, I get a JOB at a perfume factory and in the summer, the carnival rolls into town and they have a magician and a sideshow.

I was like wow - a magician. His name was Harry Albacker. Harry and I struck up a conversation between cleaning our animal cages and eatting soft pretzels from Baker Bob's pretzel stand. Well, Harry said...go see Rick down at the SideShow he might need a magician.

I had already met Rick when I walked the lot afew days ago. Rick looked like the magician from "The Magic Show" - yep, that's the one...long hair, rainbow suspenders...Doug Henning.

When I first met Rick he was unloading a Zig-Zag from his motorhome. Wow, those were the days...I remember them and I think I will till the day I die. Perhaps I will spend my whole life trying to find those 'good old days' when I toured with "Dr. Blood's Circus Sideshow" You know what they say...There's no business like show business.

Okay...I'm going to stop this post right here...but...check back...there is more.

Hello and Thank You for viewing my blog. I have to give a very special shout - out to Mr. Charlie Seymour Jr. for without his advise and his website: http://ultimateworkathomdads.com my blog might have nevr got started here or anywhere else.

Charlie, I know you are going to find this blog and I just wanted to say Thank You!

Okay, so who is Mark Mysterrio and what is so special about him? Well, I am Mark Mysterrio, Actor, Author, Speaker, Film Star, Star of my own DVD series for children, sideshow magician, Animal lover, marketer, Magician and World Record Holder.

But, who is Mark Mysterrio? Well, Mark is humble. He has been on stage with the Crests, The Drifters, Larry Chance and The Earls, The Catholic Girls , Wavy Gravy and more. Mark has created marketing materials for MELANIE SAFKA. Mark is the official magician of GARFIELD's in the Stroud Mall located in Stroudsburg PA. The official magician of Gorman Chiropractic Life Centers and more.

But the Mark Mysterrio we are going to talk about in this blog is the person who laid on a bed of nails for 283 hours and 5 minutes to break the world record.

We will talk about that very soon....keep reading....enjoy!

Mark Mysterrio W.R.H.M.
http://ultimatemagicshows.com/gift