Learning to Steal
Early in my street performing days when I first began performing my twelve-foot unicycle routine I thought it would be a great addition to my act if I could learn to steal the watches of the four volunteers who held up my unicycle as I mounted it.
I got my chance a month later when I was touring and performing street shows in New Zealand. I was performing on the same stage as a traveling magician and between performances he asked me if I would teach him how to juggle. I had just seen him performing the watch steal in a previous show and we struck a deal.
The problem was that I didn't have anybody to practice on. So I listened carefully to the magician's instructions, and never having tried the bit before, I began using it in my show. For about two weeks I had guys on stage grimacing at me and saying, "Ow, what are you doing?" as I tried to remove their timepieces without their knowledge. Over time I became more adept at the sleight, until one day I succeeded.
I hadn't at that point made any plans for what to do once I had the watches in my possession. So fifteen feet above the heads of my volunteers, I pulled the watches out of my pocket and dangled them high. Their eyes went wide as they looked at their bare wrists in amazement and they laughed, with the exception of one guy who didn't look very happy about it all.
Improvising I told them all that they would get their watches back when I was down safely on both feet. I called another member of the audience forward to pass the watches down to him and asked that he not give them back to the four volunteers until they had helped me to dismount.
One by one I tossed the watches carefully down to this additional volunteer. As I threw the last one, my trajectory was a little off, and it would have gone sailing over the catcher had he not leapt a little in the air and joined his hands together above his head to make the grab. The watch had passed through his palms, and he had just managed to snag the end of one of the wristbands between two of his fingertips, where it dangled in the air before he took full control of it.
I looked over at the group of my four original volunteers and was surprised to see that one of them had half-collapsed on the ground and was sitting there in a daze with two of the other men holding him up. No one knew why.
It took a few minutes before he came out of it. As it turned out, he had almost fainted when I tossed the last watch down and it was nearly dropped. It was his antique Rolex that he had just purchased the day before for an indeterminate "many thousands of dollars" that he declined to precisely divulge.
I still use the watch steal in my show today, but keep the whole thing on the ground. If you want to see the last part of this routine with a couple of good-sport volunteers, click here to see the monthly laugh.
Rick Steals Volunteer Watches
Quotable
"I tried to walk into Target, but I missed."
Mitch Hedberg
2010 Winter Olympics
It's my honor to be performing on one of the Olympic live-site stages at Granville Island in Vancouver, BC during the 2010 Olympic games. I'll be performing on the Under the Bridge stage just near the entrance of Granville Island.
Showtimes are:
Feb 20th, 1 & 3 pm
Feb 21st, 1 & 3 pm
Feb 22nd, 2 & 4 pm
Feb 24th, 1 & 3 pm
Feb 25th, 1 & 3 pm
Feb 27th, 1 & 3 pm
Rick Lewis has been entertaining and inspiring audiences for the last 30 years. The success of The World's Funniest Waiter over the years is based on clean, interactive comedy and high-level circus skills.
