the Way of the Showman

By Captain Frodo

Philosophical and esoteric perspectives from a modern day Showman.
Each season is different in its approach. S1 is essays. S2 is one book length attempt at Understanding Showmanship, S3 is

... more

3131 ratings

FAQs about the Way of the Showman:

How many episodes does the Way of the Showman have?

The podcast currently has 117 episodes available.

the Way of the Showman episodes:

September 17, 2024 116 - Jay & Frodo How to Play in Performance - (Unpacking episodes 103 & 104)
Jay Gilligan is back! we go through his questions about episodes 103 & 104 to concretise some of the points I am making about Play and performance.

some of the topics we touch=:
-How to foster a playful connection at the beginning of your show.
-Is there such a thing as a bad audience?
-fulfilling audience expectations whilst still surprising them.
-In facing the Audience we are showing, and they are receiving - yet we expect and desire them to participate, to live themselves into the performance. Without which there never emerges the full Show experience.
-You get Attention by giving Attention.
-My ways of getting Attention in my first street show back in 1997.
-Jay runs away from a street show with crazy consequences.
-All focus on one thing. Audience and Showman alike. Makes a powerful point.
-We create a different kind of time. Play time. Sacred time.
Support the show
...

Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.
You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.au

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 [email protected]
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.
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
...more
2h 23min
September 03, 2024 115 - Why Are We Born so Helpless (Showmanship & Play 14)
Why are we born so helpless. The answer will takes us through the history of human evolution and into the dualling biological need of a growing human head and the anatomical changes coming from our upright walking.

Support the show
...

Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.
You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.au

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 [email protected]
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.
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
...more
38min
August 20, 2024 114 - Play as Self Creation (Showmanship & Play 13)
In this episode I talk about

Peter Gray and his book Free to Learn - Why unleasing the instinc to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life.

We talk about how play is learning.
how we today think about play as something which is dont to children. Not something they actively participate and even lead.
for 10.000 years + kids have been learning all by themselves - THROUGH PLAY
Kids play themselve into useful members of their communities.
When we play we are FREE in a way we arent in other aspects of life.
Chimpanzees learn by looking, not by being taught.
The amount of things infants needs to learn is almost insurmountable
Playfully participating in life gets imbedded in us and helps us emotionally able to deal with life.
WIthout playing in childhood you can get difficulties in your emotional connections with others as an adult. ANd many other problems become more prevalent.
Kids has the strongest desire to play because the have the most to learn.
Playful aproaches to the world affords more possibilites. It increases your degrees of freedom.
The colonialisation of childhood by others.
Abusing play as a tool for teaching.
BUT play needs to be self motivated. It needs to be voluntary.
Adults think play is useful only when it can be harnessed to teach something from the decided upon by adults from the curriculum.

Learning happens INSIDE the school and play outside. This is a subtle indoctrination.
The serious that happens inside the classroom is of value. The time wasting play happens outside in recess.
Play is learning as nature intended it for us. Driven by enthusiasm and not to do well on a standardized test.

Playing teaches each of us how to be ourselves! It shows us who we are!
Learning is not JUST what happens in schools.
its not something you buys. Its what you do in the process of developing yourself as a human being.

Biology does not give us built in answers to what it means to be a human. It has given a method to aquire answers. This method is play. This way of being in the world is HOW evolution has equiped us to find ourselves and our WAY.

Quote from the manuscript:

Genes and biology isn’t giving us readymade answers hardwired to solve the difficulties of becoming and staying human. Instead of giving us answers which, as all answers, can be right or wrong, or useful or useless, nature has given us a process to aquire answers. Evolution gave us a method, or an approach to generate answers, not individual answers. This process is play. Perhaps schools
Support the show
...

Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.
You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.au

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 [email protected]
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.
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
...more
1h 1min
August 13, 2024 113 - Nick Difatte & Audience Volunteers
This is a conversation with one of the funniest guys I know. He's had me laughing so hard I had to get partially undressed.
We talk about magic and comedy and their intersection before landing on a long explorations of how to select and manage audience volunteers. Nick is an expert at handling volunteers and gets SO much out of the people he gets up, I try to learn from him.

You can find out about Nick Difatte on his website
Nick has written a brilliant book on magic called Offbeat (it's sold out but will soon be reissued) published by Squash Publishing creators of some of the hottest books on magic.

we talk about:
the Great Santini's toaster (my dad's magic invention)
Steen Pegani - danish magic shop owner and all around good guy.
Mortenn Christiansen - link to him on Penn & Teller's Fool Us
Nick blows my mind with the news that he is writing and editing a chapter in Richard Kaufman's re-release of Greater Magic. The chapter will be on comedy magic.
Borrowin/stealing/reinventing
becoming an original performer.
saving the earth with a yo yo
Authenticity
Finding shit no one cares about
costume as character amplifier and definer
me loosing my shit seeing Nick perform for the first time.
worst "emotional speech" in a show ever...
being funnier off sage and how to transfer this to stage.
choosing volunteers
offbeat, Nick's book is sold out.
Amazing Johnatan as example of a masterful use of and control of audience volunteers.
Nick on getting along with older guys and how to harness this in his Shows

Support the show
...

Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.
You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.au

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 [email protected]
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.
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
...more
1h 20min
August 06, 2024 112 - How Play Manifests in the World pt 2 of 2 (Showmanship & Play 12)
In this episode I continue describing the ways we find the play impulse, or the activity of play, manifesting in the world. I start by talking about learning.

-The next way play emerges is through Imagination.

-Then we look at how, quite obviously, play manifest thorugh actual playfulness.

-We procede to Sociality.

-Then I find in Rutger Bregman's summary of these manifestations into "Learn, bond and Play."

Support the show
...

Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.
You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.au

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 [email protected]
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.
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
...more
1h 5min
July 23, 2024 111 - How Play Manifests in the World pt 1 of 2 (Showmanship & Play 11)
Adults and children spend their days differently - we work, babies play. Play is the signature of childhood. It’s a living, visible manifestation of imagination and learning I action.

Allison Gopnik

If play is a constant and a genuine human drive, how do we recognise it when we see it in the world? Or more specifically; in which kind of behaviours does play manifest itself? We have looked at the five specific criteria, or characteristics of play, it’s fun and enjoyable, seemingly purposeless, it’s self motivated, there are rules involved, and it’s a free and imaginative improvisation. Each of these five criteria are characteristics of the process we call play, but in the same way a person is multifaceted and must be expressed through more than five specific features, I would expect that we could get a better grasp of what the play instinct looks like by finding more ways it manifests itself in the world. What kind of behaviours or attributes are playful? To answer this question I think it would be good to start looking at those who plays the most, those whom for play is their natural way of being in the world; children.

Then I look at the first of the manifestations of the play impulse which I believe is curiosity.

Links:

Here's some info on Ashley Montague.
Here's the goodreads link to Montague's book Growing Young and here's a write up about the book in the New York Times

This is an interview with Tyson Yunkaporta who's wonderful book Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World is a good and worthwhile read.

Support the show
...

Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.
You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.au

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 [email protected]
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.
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
...more
44min
July 09, 2024 110 - the Play Instinct (Showmanship & Play 10)
"Instincts are the whispers of our ancestors." - Quote by yours truly.

In this episode we explore whether our inclination to play might actually be an innate human drive. Do we human beings possess an instinct to play? If so, how and why would something like that evolve?
By understanding how something came into being we often learn valuable lessons today. Also, if it turns out that humans does have a play instinct, and I believe we do, then this is a powerful indicator that play is a whole lot more important than "just something kids do."

Links:
To unpack the concept of flow a little more here is a TED talk by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who coined the term.

Maileg Mice - a link so you can see how these cute Danish toy mice looks.

Peter Gray is an American psychology researcher and scholar we will talk about Along the Way. Here is a TED talk by him so you can familiarize yourself with him and his ideas. And here is a longer talk about Learning Through Play

Here's a link to the article about injuries in children's sports:
"sports injuries are the second leading cause of emergency room visits for children and adolescents, and the second leading cause of injuries in school."

Finite and infinite games by James Carse

Support the show
...

Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.
You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.au

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 [email protected]
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.
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
...more
48min
July 02, 2024 109 - Unpacking Play pt 2 (Showmanship & Play 9)
In this episode I finish up the unpacking of the five criteria of play. As we go on these five points will be the backbone of our inquiry. Much like how using Showman - Audience & Show as a symbol or mnemonic picture which affords us a lot of understanding, these five criteria will expand our understanding of play, and by transferral how it connects and relates to all aspects of life.

The five are as follows:

1 - Play is fun. It’s intensely pleasurable and enjoyable. So when we play we don’t want it to stop.

2 - Play is self motivated, which means it has to be entered into voluntarily.

3 - Play is apparently purposeless. We play for the sake of playing not to achieve some further goal.

4 - Play has rules.

5 - Play is imaginative and improvisational.

Links:
The Norwegian book called Lek og Læring i et Nevro perspektiv (play and learning in a neuro perspective) Here are some links, One, two, three. The third one is a link to a podcast with an interview with one of the two authors. BE WARNED the links are all in Norwegian, but with the help of google and our AI overlords you'll be reading it in no time, in a language more suitable to your horizon of understanding.

the Kingdom of Childhood episode of the Way of the Showman

Peter Gray's Aeon.co article on Play Deficit

For your selfstudy: Henri Bergson on the possible and the actual.

Finite and infinite games by James Carse

Support the show
...

Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.
You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.au

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 [email protected]
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.
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
...more
56min
June 25, 2024 108 - Memoirs of a Coney Island Clown w Jellyboy the Clown
In this episode I talk to Jellyboy the Clown about his book Memoirs of a Coney Island Clown. I learn a lot about him and how closely our experiences mirror eachother. There are some tragic details about suicide in this episode - be warned, if you need such a warning.

"Embark on an unforgettable journey alongside Jelly Boy in "Memoirs of a Coney Island Clown: Jellyboy's Sideshow Saga." Following the heart-wrenching loss of his brother, Jelly Boy is catapulted into a whirlwind of unexpected adventures. From the depths of grief to the serendipitous role of a clown, his odyssey defies convention at every turn."

I loved reading the book and I think you'll love it too! You can order a copy here: https://outsidetalkerpress.bigcartel.com/product/memoirs-of-a-coney-island-clown-jellyboy-s-sideshow-saga
Support the show
...

Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.
You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.au

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 [email protected]
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.
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
...more
2h 5min
June 18, 2024 107 - Unpacking Play pt 1 (Showmanship & Play 8 of 30)
In this episode I continue to unpack the five criterias of play. The five are as follows:

1 - Play is fun. It’s intensely pleasurable and enjoyable. So when we play we don’t want it to stop.

2 - Play is self motivated, which means it has to be entered into voluntarily.

3 - Play is apparently purposeless. We play for the sake of playing not to achieve some further goal.

4 - Play has rules.

5 - Play is imaginative and improvisational.

Links:
The Norwegian book called Lek og Læring i et Nevro perspektiv (play and learning in a neuro perspective) Here are some links, One, two, three. The third one is a link to a podcast with an interview with one of the two authors. BE WARNED the links are all in Norwegian, but with the help of google and our AI overlords you'll be reading it in no time, in a language more suitable to your horizon of understanding.

the Kingdom of Childhood episode of the Way of the Showman

Peter Gray's Aeon.co article on Play Deficit

For your selfstudy: Henri Bergson on the possible and the actual.

Finite and infinite games by James Carse

This is a link to a talk by Doctor Stuart Brown who's the author of “Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul” (2010) by Stuart Brown

Support the show
...

Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.
You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.au

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 [email protected]
or find out more on the Way of the Showman website.
you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.
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
...more
41min

FAQs about the Way of the Showman:

How many episodes does the Way of the Showman have?

The podcast currently has 117 episodes available.

More shows like the Way of the Showman

Conversations

939 Listeners

Radiolab

43,876 Listeners

This American Life

89,787 Listeners

The Moth

27,282 Listeners

Discourse in Magic

56 Listeners

The Daily

110,405 Listeners

The Insider

38 Listeners

Creativity in Captivity

185 Listeners