When searching for places to work in the United States, North American variety artists hold on for dear life to any fleeting infrastructure that may exist. (Or is it just me? Maybe it’s just me.)
Over the years, I have noticed that, of all the variety arts, magic has the most robust infrastructure in the U.S. It has more conventions, brick-and-mortar shops, dinner theaters, clubs, and magazines than any other variety art. Magicians even have Penn & Teller: Fool Us, a reality show hosted by famous magicians who make sure the magic is properly showcased and supported. It sure would be nice to have something like that for the variety arts.
In contrast, for my one television appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, I had to pretend I wasn’t a professional juggler for the bit they wanted me to juggle in. They had no care or concern about whether my personal creative work was showcased properly. Don’t get me started on the hostile creative environment that is America’s Got Talent. Gone is the era of a televised variety show where you could see some of the greatest acts currently performing without them having to conform to a competitive reality show structure that often ruins the presentation of a good variety act.