Crowd turns out for comedy, magic, hijinks in Mercer

By TOM LAVENTURE

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MERCER, Wis. - Both children and adults responded with laughs and awe with the comedy, magic and juggling of a husband and wife performing duo Thursday at Mercer Library.

In Capable Hands, the comedy duo of Steve Russell and Kobi Shaw, brought the same family-style blend of juggling, balancing, magic and novelty tricks that has appeared on television and venues around the world.

"Yah, it's been amazing," said Russell. "For years we traveled and performed on cruise ships and in 66 countries and all 50 states."

The couple bought a home in Colfax, Wisconsin around 20 years ago, he said. They still like to perform around the globe during winter, but like to limit shows to events around the region during summer at libraries, county fairs and state fairs, he said.

"In the summer we look for places where we can perform around here so we don't have to go all over the place," Russell said. "We still love to travel but it's also nice to be at home as well."

Russell started juggling in the 1970s and performed as part of the "New Vaudeville" movement where performers looked back to the stage acts of the early 20th century leading up to the Ed Sullivan Show in the 1950s and 1960s, he said. The New Vaudeville acts included juggling and fit in well as jesters at the renaissance festivals and also doing a lot of street shows, he said.

Shaw was raised in Connecticut and has a theatre background. She said the two met at Clown College that was run by Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus in Florida from 1968 to 1997. When the two decided to get married they worked out an act together as well, she said.

"He juggled and I had a lot of circus skills from Clown College and had been a performer," Shaw said. "So we combined everything and we've been on the road ever since."

The couple has two sons, ages 16 and 18. Both the boys can juggle and have been on the road as a family for years but have not pursued performing as a career, she said.

Shaw said it's tough to put a label on the act. It's been called a juggling show but it succeeded as a kind of variety show. The unique performance has landed appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Ellen, Live with Regis and Kelly and many others, she said.

"It's always been about trying to make it interesting," Shaw said. "Juggling is a nice trick but if you tell jokes it just levels that entertainment on top of it."

A mom who attended the morning show at the Community Center said the act was as entertaining for an 18 month old as it was for a 30 year old, she said. It's about entertaining all ages using humor and skills, she said.

For the summer children's program the act gets a little more goofy than usual, Russel said. It is genuinely fun to let loose the childish side as well, he said.

"But you'd be surprised that on cruise ships we might not act as goofy but we end up as goofy," Russell said. "We end up in the same place. The show really doesn't change for adults and kids, it really doesn't and that amazes me. It's just the attitude in which we come out and perform it."

The act and performing doesn't get tiresome because each new audience makes it fresh, he said. When an audience hasn't seen the before the reactions make it fun, and it also helps to pay attention to the audience to let them guide the performance, he said.

"It's always fun to see what an audience will do with the show," Russell said.

The performance was part of the weekly reading incentive program and events like this are meant to get kids into the library not just to check out books but also to have some fun, said Teresa Schmidt, director of the Mercer Library. It was sponsored by the Friends of the Library and by co-scheduling with the Hayward Library to share costs, she said.

"It went over very well; the kids seemed to have a great time today," she said. "It was a lot of fun."

The performance was part of the summer reading program for kids. Events are held each Thursday.

Next Thursday at 11 a.m. June 27, staff of the North Lakeland Discovery Center will have a presentation on bats at the Community Center.