By request: All of Michael Davis's Late Night appearances. 1. February 17, 1983 2. November 2, 1983 (bumped from June 16) - we learn that Dave juggles! 3. March 13, 1986
Michael Davis reminds me of the axiom that 10,000 hours of practice creates the expertise that is very near perfection. What an act this guy has. Amazing skill with added drama, songs, funny commentary and jokes while he does it. Just amazing. Too bad its only 40 min, I could watch 4 hours of this guy.
He had a half-hour Cinemax special in the '80s called, I believe, "Michael Davis: Life of the Party," that was quite something. He throws a party for his showbiz friends, and while he's juggling, "evil" jugglers crash the party and scare everyone with their violent, mean juggling. Michael steps in and defeats them with his "good" juggling. The net effect was like a highly improbable opera with juggling instead of music.
I so addicted to this man. I watch every videos available on RU-vid about him. He is so witty clever , talented and skillful juggeler. He has so much Jim Carrey persona. I love that.
I was at.a Michael Davis show in London in the late 80s. He asked for a juggler from the audience. I knew there were other (better) jugglers there, and it took some time, but eventually, I ended up on stage and participated in the 3 food groups number. In my case, the protein food group was a large octopus! So by the end we were having a juggling competitin with a loaf of bread, margarine and a very slippery octopus. Pure chaos - my brain melted and by that point I had completely forgotten how to juggle large objects! I was game enough to catch the margarine on my head though! I've told the story many times, but I never knew the routine had been filmed. This really brought back memories! 😂
The irony is, he is right.. I had almost completely forgotten about Michael Davis until I found a random video of his on RU-vid, and all those memories came flooding back.
He was/is very talented & funny guy. There are a lot of standup comics running around today. And very few of them are very funny. This sort of act is sorely missed.
When David asks him if performing in front of the president changed his inner mechanisms, he answers: "Sure, it's gotta David". He sounds just like Hal 9000
When I was in grade 4 or 5 I used to see him on shows like Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin, doing his juggling act. I basically taught myself how to juggle based on his act. I became a very good juggler, btw.
BTW: Top circus performers make $3,000 or more a week. Some do extremely well when doing more than one act, changing costumes, and using a different name. They're so talented and skilled, I believe they earn every cent.
Yeah...the very very very top performers may make that (now...not then) But that is like saying the top badminton players can make a nice living. Because for every circus performer than makes anywhere near a six figure salary, there are hundreds that fight for a 5 figure one.
@@KnickKnack07 I was an electrician with Circus Vargas in 1975. Toured US & Canada. The top performers THEN made $3,000 per act; the top three did two acts under different names. That's $6,000 a week in 1975 money! The lion/tiger guy(Pat Anthony) and the elephants guy made a straight $5K a week for one act.
@Topher TheTenth Circus Vargas advertised THE CIRCUS coming to town on such & such date(s). Never advertised the performers. Ever. The performers generally changed each season(yearly), or two at most. The "World's Largest Travelling Big Top Circus" was the ad; you came to see a REAL circus And a 3-ring big top tent. It really was the "real deal". If it rained, the tent leaked in places. You sat on wood boards on bleachers. Straw was thrown on the walkways because animals did their "stuff". The smell and the 3-ring big top was the draw--NOT any one act or performer.
Literally every industry has a handful of "outliers" at the top of their game that earn way more than the average for their profession. Most circus performers do not earn much, but a few get paid very well. It's the same in sport. The top 3 tennis players earn upwards of 30 million a year. The player ranked 100th in the world makes about 50,000. Anyone outside the top 250 is basically an amateur.
I just got Michael Davis videos in my feed. Love his shows, why did we not hear more of him in earlier years ? Wish we had more of these entertainments today.
My dad and mom went to a company function for my dad's work when they were still working. She was sitting by herself while my dad was visiting with someone from work and this guy sat next to her. She didn't really pay attention at first but suddenly she turned and realized who it was. It was Michael Davis and he was apparently the entertainment for the event they were at. :) She was so surprised and he smiled at her and said something witty I can't recall now and then got up to go to the stage as they called him up.
He might not have been on TV so much, but he still did corporate shows and performed for at least 3 presidents (up to Clinton) and the Queen. Then he was a resident performer in a circus/vaudeville/restaurant thing that was a bit like Cirque de Soleil. His Wikipedia page is quite detailed. (He's 68 now, and his hands might not be so nimble any more).
32:16 - 32:45 "Dave, The Fumbling Apprentice" transforms into "Dave, The Juggler" in 30 seconds or less! Is anyone else impressed by the complexity of this bit? Borrowing from vaudeville, Michael & Dave use banter, travelling to a new location, Dave's question about the balls, removal of coat jacket and finally Dave's apparent scramble to retrieve the 2 balls that shoot out from inside the black-draped 'table' to establish Dave as The Fumbling Apprentice so he can wow the audience as The Juggler in a split second, making Dave's juggling appear even more impressive than it is. Wonderful! Here's the breakdown as I see it. Feel free to correct me if I've got anything wrong. I appreciate the feedback. 32:16 They begin to travel from Dave's desk. Michael's banter continues. 32:20 Dave feigns being distracted by the guys across the stage, while banter continues. 32:22 Dave 'absent-mindedly' walks right past the black 'table' & Michael! 32:25 "Oh, here you are" as if Dave didn't know where Michael was. (Not especially successful, here?) 32:30 "What are these?" Dave appears to have never seen these balls before, making him seem very much the apprentice, less the juggler. 32:38 "These are dog balls." Michael's left hand secured the 'table', possibly controls the ball shooter with a button under his left hand?? Dave steps on Michael's dog ball joke perhaps due to genuine nerves since he knows he's going to have to nail the juggling on cue (ie. immediately after securing the 2nd ball in hand). 32:42 First ball is ejected out of the 'table', causing the 'table' to recoil slightly. "Oh!" Dave's hand on the table at that moment helps Dave to appear to lose his balance. 32:44 Michael can now stop holding the table down with his left hand because the 2nd ball has just been ejected. 32:45 Fumbler to Juggler in a split-second! Wonderful homage to Vaudeville!
Glad to see he is alive and performed as recent as 6 years ago. I do not know if he still does. If anyone knows please @ me. I live in CA and i know he was in SF
very talented and clever. i had to look it up, the otto titzlinger thing was an actual trivial pursuit question, altho they had been tricked since it was invented by humorist wallace reyburn in 1971, reyburn also started the myth of thomas crapper inventing the flushing toilet.
Confirmed. Otto Titzling was entirely fictional. Thomas Crapper didn't invent the flushing mechanism, but was, in fact, a manufacturer of toilets and held patents for the U-bend and the floating ballcock.
Jackie Mason on Ed Sullivan: "I don't know if ya know, I'm looking very continental tonight. I don't know if ya know what continent." Yeah, I'm old enough, Junior. 😂👨🦼
@@rewrose2838 I'm old enough to have lived through that time, but I don't know what he's referring to. I suspect it may have been referring to a scandal that was mostly known in the entertainment industry.
During the intro of Michael Davis's third appearance, Dave jokes that Davis rides to work with Clive Barnes. Clive Barnes was a well known theater critic at that time. Davis is riffing on Dave's joke.
Hey, md fans, help me find his lecture about a corporation director...watched it once...subtly hilarious. Cant find it anywhere regardless, seemingly. Tyvm
