He’s been called the “Clown Prince of Berlin” and “The World’s Only Inflatable Boy,” but words fail to convey what Roc Roc-It actually does. Sure, he can breathe fire, hammer a nail up his nose, and hang a bowling ball from his earlobe, but Roc-It’s true talent is the screwball humor he brings to his freakshow antics.

He’s the jolly goofball in the midst of the fetishists and pain-proof paragons. Even if he’s snapping a mousetrap shut on his tongue, his shows aren’t really about pain. It’s more something about good old-fashioned showmanship, the art of the grift, getting an audience in the game. Lately, his schtick has been to take mundane everyday objects – clothespins or rubber gloves or a tennis racket – and turn them into outrageous, hilarious stunts. He’s an alchemist on stage, with the uncanny ability to make the ridiculous into something sublime.

Text: Victoria Linchong