The White House

I am sunburned and my hands are completely cramped from twisting balloons for nearly nine hours yesterday on the White House lawn.  Not only does the White House not pay entertainers, but I had to pay for my own hotel and airfare.  So what makes twisting balloons at The White House worth while?

 

1)  The Secret Service drove me to the airport this morning.

2)  I twisted balloons for one of The Foo Fighters (actually his daughter).

3)  I got to watch 4th of July fireworks from The White House lawn.

4)  I was able to shake hands with and say thank you to many of our nations soldiers and their families who were attending last nights event.

That last one alone made it all worth while.

 

http://BusterBalloon.com

 

Snakes Off a Plane!

 So there I was, fresh off the plane, going through US customs and passport control.  I had just spent a little over a week in London and Amsterdam shooting new videos and teaching several five hour mega-workshops.  Even without the jet lag, I was pretty beat and really out of it.  Then it happened.  The gentleman at the window scrawled several red marks on my customs form and directed me to “The Special Line”.  

The officer there looked at the red marks, asked me a few questions, then donned his rubber gloves and began a very thorough search of my bags.  Of course once he opened the bags the officer lightened up quite a bit as we joked and chatted about my unusual luggage.  A straight jacket, a blindfold, two whoopee cushions, some magic wands, a rubber chicken, and of course lots and lots of balloons.  Then it happened.

I had looked away for just a moment, and when I looked back he was holding my balloon pump.  He inspected it a bit and then began to unscrew the bottom to look inside.  Suddenly I found myself in one of those surreal, slow motion action movie moments as I began to reach for the pump and yelled, “NOOOOoooooooo!”

The officer froze, staring at me in horror.  I then very calmly explained that the pump he was holding was not really a balloon pump.  It was actually one of those gag peanut cans with the spring loaded fake snakes that fly out when you open it, which I had disguised as a balloon pump to use in my shows.  He looked at me, completely serious for the first time since he opened my bag, and said, “Thank you.  That probably would have got one of us shot”.

 

http://BusterBalloon.com