Harley Newman

He's been on the Today Show, the Tonight Show, and Ripley's Believe It Or Not. His televised performances have been seen by 20% of the world's population, but nobody knows his name. He's "That Guy Who...", as in "Did you see that guy who...?"

But here, he's called Harley Newman.

Harley’s been called:

“Zen-master of sideshow”, “legendary performance artist”, “human oxymoron”, and “clown gone bad”. He’s “impossible to classify”, “gripping, amazing, electric”. His show is “a cerebral romp through what makes us human”.

At birth, doctors wondered whether he’d survive. They still wonder.

As a baseball team mascot, he used to light firecrackers under the umpire’s nether regions. In the circus, he tripled as clown, outside talker for the sideshow, and special assistant to the manager.

Then he became a Professional Lunatic. In the mid-1980s, Harley began to focus exclusively on stunts and escapes, discarding traditional presentation styles, adding verbal, physical, and prop comedy.

He began pushing the boundaries of stunt performance. His first world record, “Minimum Number of Nails in a Bed of Nails”, was rejected by the Guinness Book of Records, for being “too dangerous to publish”. Now, he’s had more weight on top of him (on bed of nails), than any other living performer. And he’s down to one nail, a single nine-inch spike. He sticks power drills in his nose, hangs things from his eyes with fishhooks, and is widely emulated in the sideshow community.

Harley’s new show, “Dancing With Ghosts”, is an exploration of the history and philosophy of stunt performance, an amalgamation of spoken word, multi-media, and performance of stunt, escape, and magic.

Harley’s been on over 200 television shows worldwide, and viewed by approximately a billion people. His television credits include The Today Show, The Tonight Show, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, and Penn & Teller’s Sin City Spectacular. He’s appeared on hundreds of college campuses, and has for years been the featured October performer for the 6 Flags-Discovery Kingdom theme park.

He writes, directs, and acts as thaumaturge to many performers.