My Life in My Words
In 1976 I started juggling on the streets of San Francisco. Not the TV show, the actual streets. I worked with 3 other guys as part of an act called "Fly-by-Night Juggling Company." As you can see fro the photo below, we were studs. I was the oldest member. I was 16.
In 1979 I joined Ringling Brother's Barnum and Bailey Circus. I graduated Magna cum Laude or what passes for it among clowns. I performed in the circus for two years during which time I had the great honor of performing on classic kid shows like Romper Room, The Bozo Show, and many, many local TV shows. I even got to do the fishing report and play the piano on the Country Boy Eddie show.
After RBBB I worked in a circus in Mexico, juggled for 6 months in Japan and one month in Taiwan. When I got back to the US I did shows anywhere I could find a crowd. I did shows on street corners in Westwood, CA., at Magic Mountain Amusement park, at the outdoor mall in Boulder CO., and every Renaissance Faire in the known universe.
In 1982 I rejoined "Fly-by-Night" which by then had changed from a "juggling company" to a "comedy review" and had dwindled down to only two of us. Why the switch? It's kind of technical but it turns out "Juggling Companies" work a lot of parking lots but "Comedy Reviews" are usually indoors.
In 1983 Frank Miles and I auditioned for the Folies Bergere at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas. We went from working Astroworld to a "Big Time Las Vegas" show with somewhat naked women. We liked this. We did a lot of these types of shows for a few years.
We actually took a break from juggling shows for a couple of years to perform improvisational comedy at the Comedy Workshop in Houston, TX. MasterCard suggested that two years was enough of that foolishness so we went back to full time comedy and juggling.
In 1989 Frank had a terrible paraglider crash and did lots of damage to his ribs and lungs. We had a gig lined up to work a cruise ship in a week but Frank was clearly going to miss months of work. I waited until about noon on the day the ship was to sail and I called the cruise director. In my most pathetic voice I said, "Oh my gosh! Frank's been in an accident and is in the hospital... I know, it is horrible. I do a solo act." I was on my way. The solo show was good enough to keep me on the ship even once they had time to replace me.
Frank has fully recovered, you'll be happy to know. He found that he too liked doing solo shows. Actually, we both made the same discovery. If you work solo you get twice as much money and that other jerk isn't there to screw up the comedy. While Frank was recovering I spent a few weeks working at Disneyland. As you can see in the photos, I loved that job. I wonder why they don't return my phone calls.
Since then I've worked a lot of review shows, corporate shows, trade shows, cruise ships and almost every other kind of show you can imagine. Since 1991 I've appeared in the Lance Burton Show, first at the Hacienda Hotel and then at the Monte Carlo Hotel. With the exception of a couple of months off to move our show from now imploded Hacienda Hotel and the occasional special engagement, we've done the Lance Burton Show continually.