Eric Knaus, known by the stage name “The Great Zucchini,” performs “900 shows a year and has been flown around the world to different conventions to be keynote speaker to other entertainers.” He is beloved by kids and one funny guy. He will be performing during Magic Month at Vienna’s 2019 Oktoberfest on Saturday, Oct. 5 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 131 Church St. NE. in Vienna.
He got his start performing when he “was working at a kids’ party place as one of their hosts and realized that lots of parents were requesting me to host their kids’ parties, because of my ability to make kids laugh.
‘Then, I realized I could do it on my own and 30 years later, I still enjoy performing, as when I first started.”
Mr. Knaus says the key to being successful in the very competitive market of Kid Show work is reliability and trust.
“I had a mom book me for her kid’s 4th birthday party and I did the mom’s party when she was 4. I care about each and every performance, and my success is based on reliability, and the trust that parents have in me. For instance, my show is geared for 2-7-year-olds. Most people know that, but if they don’t and I get a call from a mom that has a child turning 8, I’ll recommend her to a friend that gears shows for older kids.”
He derived his unique name from a suggestion from his father. “My dad was just rattling off names and he said, “The Great Zucchini,” and it rhymes with Houdini, so I liked it right away.” He credits his mom as his inspiration. “She is the most positive person I know, and at age 74, is still learning new things and living every day to the fullest.”
Or that could be something else but we will consider it the taste of Magic Month approaching in just a few days. Maybe it is tuna.
There are so many great shows, workshops and things other than workshops or shows scheduled for this month. It is, as someone we once knew would say, “like Christmas for Magicians.” We stopped knowing him because he went to the dark side and started exposing magic tricks on a YouTube channel. He has many viewers and so by that standard he is a star and probably richly rewarded for his betrayal of his IBM and SAM oath to never expose a magic secret. Especially one that does not belong to him.
But enough about the downers related to Magic Month. Let’s discuss the great things that are about to happen.
In these pages of what some have called The Magic Periodical for the 1980s, we will feature (hopefully in advance of their happening) magic shows and lectures by people who love magic and respect its most sacred rules. And there will be a ton of them. That is likely because they will be multiple in number and not because any one of them is grossly over-weight.
Pop Haydn will be at Santa Monica’s Magicopolis as we have detailed in an earlier post. We understand that particular post was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature (by us – hence our understanding) and if there is nothing published between then and the end of the year, we have a shot at bringing home whatever one gets when one wins the prize. We think you get money and a statue of Alfred Nobel. He was famous for inventing dynamite and without him there would be no flash paper, flash string, or flash bangs.
We owe a debt of gratitude to him and certainly as one who has been burned, scarred, and scared of flash devices, we owe him a debt of thanks for the very practical education we received. We used to manufacture flash devices you could use apparently to shoot fire from your fingertips. We can still make one in 15 minutes if pressed – and if you don’t press us, we can make it in 10 minutes but when pressed, our breathing becomes more desperate and we start to panic although we do like a good hug as much as the next guy.
We’re on a bus (not our own – it belongs to the city) as we write this and the next guy looks like he needs a hug. We’ve learned from court-ordered classes, however, that just because someone looks like they need a hug, doesn’t mean we have a right to give that person a hug. Lesson learned. Just like don’t look down the tube of a flash device to see if the coil is working if that tube is jam packed with a flash wad and a bit of gunpowder.
We were proud that two of our flash devices were used by Doug Henning on one of his television specials but not proud that but for our very heavy framed glasses, we would have been blinded by the ball of fire and gunpowder that bounced off our glass and scared the dog and our foster parents. They weren’t foster parents at the time but claimed to be later, after a couple more of those types of events.
We digress, as one does during Magic Month.
Come back often to get an update on shows, workshops and what-nots happening during this upcoming month. If you have an event you’d like to publicize, please send the details to us at events@insidemagic.com. We’ll be sure to publicize the heck out of it.
Eric Knaus, known by the stage name “The Great Zucchini,” performs “900 shows a year and has been flown around the world to different conventions to be keynote speaker to other entertainers.” He is beloved by kids and one funny guy. He will be performing during Magic Month at Vienna’s 2019 Oktoberfest on Saturday, Oct. 5 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 131 Church St. NE. in Vienna.
