Children’s Festival Entertainment

This past weekend Miller and Mike got to do what they do best, by providing some Children’s Festival Entertainment.   For the second year in a row Miller and Mike performerd at the Wisconsin Rapids Children’s Festival.  It is always an honor to share our show with families in Wisconsin.

Miller wows the crowd

The Children’s Festival is the perfect venue for Miller and Mike.  Our stage show fills the space and plays well to the multigenerational audience.  We thank the organizers of the event for seeing the value Miller and Mike bring to an event such as this.

Why are Children’s Festivals awesome?

Children’s festivals are awesome events.  They showcase services for children and families.  The festival creates interaction between service providers and consumers.  Children have the opportunity to engage in loads of age appropriate activities while parents can gather valuable information about the community.  The Wisconsin Rapids event is well organized and masterfully executed.  Congratulations to the organizers of the Wisconsin Rapids Children’s Festival.

To bring Miller and Mike to your Children’s Festival contact us.

Delays, delays, nothing but delays

I have been making steady progress on my prop making.  However, a recent April blizzard blew into my neck of the woods.  As a result I have spent more time shoveling goat trails through the snow than spending time in the workshop.

April blizzards delay hammer production

Prop Making Progress

Despite the snow and back breaking shoveling I have made some progress. After glueing the two pieces together I was able to draw a basic outline on the foam.

Guidelines drawn on the foam.

Once I had the proportions set I was able to begin whittling down the foam.  With each slice  I carve and shape the head of the hammer.

The foam is rather dense.  While it is great for carving, it can pack a punch with a solid bonk.  My plan is to be able to bonk people in the head at events, usually kids.  In an attempt to avoid any injury I will be adding some softer foam into the hammer faces to cushion any impact.

While doing my research I found all kinds of carnival mallets and other big wooden hammers.  Some hammers were multi colored for sideshow work; others bound in metal; and some just big chunks of wood on a stick.  I am really going for a comical cartoony look.  I don’t want people to be scared of my hammer, I want them to see it and laugh.  So I am taking that into consideration in my design and sculpting.  Think Daffy Duck.  To see Daffy in action check out one of my favorite Merry Melodies “The Ducksters”.

Think Daffy Duck

The next step in the process will be to put that softer foam into the hammer and continue carving.  I will also layout some of the tools I use in the process so stay tuned.

Mike

Theater Clowns

Recently, Miller and Mike got to play theater clowns and had the opportunity to collaborate with the folks at Deadman’s Carnival.

Deadman’s Carnival Stage at the Miramar Theater

Deadman’s Carnival

The show is a Milwaukee entertainment staple.  The first Friday of every month the Carnival offers the Miramar Theater audience a combination of circus, vaudeville, burlesque, sideshow, music, improvisation and mayhem.  The show is anchored  by Professor Pinkerton a brilliant showman who is the glue that holds the show together.  The show has been going for over 10 years now and has hosted acts from all around the world.  We are always eager to collaborate with other like minded performers.  It was great to add our, effective but comparatively tame, form of theater clowning to the mix.

Theater Clowns

It was our pleasure to dust off the old “Banana Gag” for the audience at the Miramar.

Miller sits in with the Band

Miller sits in with the band for a rousing rendition of “Hula Girl”.

To learn more about Deadman’s Carnival visit their facebook page.

So as a clown I can’t just go to the store and buy my clown stuff.  Props, costumes, etc.. I have to build or make most of what I have.  I have some sewing skill so making baggy clown pants is a chore but defiantly something I can do.  I have learned to block and sew my own juggling hats from wool felt hoods.  I can even make rubber banana peels for those slippery moments with an audience.  My current project is to make a replacement for my giant hammer.

Prop making Giant Hammer

My old pool noodle hammer has served me well but it is fragile.  It usually falls apart after a few good whacks.  It is time to retire the old girl.

I have just begun.  I will be carving the hammer from foam and then coating in liquid latex for a realistic look.  Here is a pic of my progress so far.  I have glued two sections of foam together.  I will let it set and cure for a bit before carving.  Stay tuned for updates.

Prop making giant foam hammer

When I teamed up with Otis to bring Miller and Mike to Wisconsin (and around the world), we had a hard time figuring out how to classify ourselves.  We are clowns and jugglers. We are variety artists and vaudevillians.  We are magicians and comedians.  We are so much more.  We eventually settled on “Quality Family Entertainment”.

We were primarily focused on Quality.  We had just come off tours with Ringling Bros. Circus and Royal Caribbean Cruises and we had the desire to bring that class of entertainment back to Wisconsin.

Next was family, our show is great for kids but it can also be enjoyed by all ages.  It is when we have kids, parents, grandparents and other adults all mixed together that the laughter becomes contagious and the real magic happens.

And finally Entertainment.  The Miller and Mike show is the kind of show that Otis and I would want to take our families to see.We do, what we do, because it is what we want to see.   A good children’s entertainer should be able to entertain the children and the adults that go with them.  The show should be entertaining and wholesome for all ages.  That is what Miller and Mike strive for and that is why Miller and Mike is Quality Family Entertainment.

In the spirit of laughter,

Mike

World Clown Association Miller and Mike Mall of America 

Miller and Mike are fresh from the World Clown Association Convention in Minneapolis, MN.  For 5 days we were honored to be part of this gathering of Clowns from around the world.  It was our pleasure to network with others in our craft and teach a workshop on the Power of Partners.  Our week was capped off as featured performers at the Mall of America following the Convention’s Paradability Competition.

Miller and Mike Mall of America photo courtesy Paul Walsh

It was back in 2006 that Otis Miller and Mike Lorenz came together to offer Wisconsin and the world Miller and Mike Quality Family Entertainment.

Now in 2016 we are happy to announce our 10 Year Anniversary Tour.

Get ready for a fun filled summer as Miller and Mike make our way to your town.

You can stay up to date on upcoming shows at www.millerandmike.com.

It was a year ago that I traveled half way across the world for 5 weeks to entertain audiences at the Dubai Shopping Festival. In a troupe of 20 clowns I performed at malls and parks throughout Dubai in UAE.

What an amazing opportunity!

I was able to work with Appleton native Jeff McMullen who is great to learn from and a truly funny guy. Our troupe put together a show with music, unicycles, juggling and lots of funny.

The trip reminded me that no matter where you are funny is funny. Whether it’s kids at the circus, newlyweds on a cruise ship or families in the middle east people laugh the same.

Miller

Summer is upon us and for Miller & Mike it always starts with Celebrate De Pere at Voyager Park. We’re doing shows on Saturday and Sunday before Memorial Day. On Saturday shows or at 2:30 & 6pm, on Sunday the shows are 1:30 & 5:30.  Here’s a great photo from last year.

If you can’t make it don’t worry there will be lots of other shows all summer long, all across the state. I will update the calendar soon so keep an eye on it.

Whatever you do this Memorial Day make sure you take some time to remember our fallen heroes who gave so much for our freedom.

As the summer closes down Mike and I are looking forward to some time off (which really means home improvement projects). We had a great summer and a lot of fun. We played a lot of new places this year like the Brown County Fair, where I met a fan from Germany. Also the library in Hartford, WI where part of the reading program is pieing a librarian. Pieing is the verb form of the word pie. Mike and I also did shows at a lot of places we frequent where we always get great crowds like Wisconsin Rapids, Slinger and Green Bay.

But a big thank you needs to go out to the libraries of Waukesha County. Mike and I spent more than two weeks driving all over the county doing some great shows. It was a lot of fun and the patrons were very responsive.

The summer may be ending but that means it’s time for fall festivals. Check out the newly updated calendar at www.MillerandMike.com to see where we’re going next.

Miller