Chris Bliss is an American stand up

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

and

juggler Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...

, perhaps best known for a viral video of him juggling to Beatles songs.

Early career

Bliss grew up in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

He went on to major in comparative literature at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

and the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

before dropping out to pursue a career in juggling. He decided not to pursue the conventional route of

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

style juggling. Instead he chose to blend popular music with tightly choreographed fast-paced moves. While numbers jugglers seek to juggle more and more objects, Bliss chose to juggle only three balls. It is this combination of a simple juggling style and his choice of popular music that made Bliss a big hit, culminating in him being chosen as the sole opening act for The Jacksons on their 1984 Victory Tour. Following on from this success, Bliss expanded his juggling act to include stand-up comedy. His act now comprises both stand-up elements and juggling.

Viral video

In 2006 Bliss enjoyed widespread fame when an online video of his juggling finale became a viral internet sensation. The five-minute video shows his energetic finale where he juggles 3 balls to

Golden Slumbers "Golden Slumbers" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1969 album ''Abbey Road''. Written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it is the sixth song of the album's Abbey Road#Medley, climactic B-side medley. ...

Carry That Weight "Carry That Weight" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1969 album ''Abbey Road''. Written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it is the seventh and penultimate song in the album's climactic side-two med ...

The End The End may refer to: Film * The End (1953 film), ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine * The End (1978 film), ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds * ''The End'' (1995 film), a List of Canadian films of 1995, Cana ...

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

. The video was widely circulated via email and blogs with an estimated 20 million viewings within the first 40 days alone. Total views to date are estimate to be over 80 million. The video caused quite a stir in the juggling world, with Bliss appearing as a guest on

Penn Jillette Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American Magic (illusion), magician, actor, comedian, musician, inventor, television presenter, and author, best known for his work with fellow magician Teller (magician), Teller as half of the t ...

radio show A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production, or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio netw ...

, Penn was himself a juggler and is associated with the World Juggling Federation. Following the success of his "Grand Finale" video, the UK musician

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known as Fatboy Slim, is an English musician and DJ who helped popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. His music makes extensive use of Sampling (music), samples from eclectic ...

ran an online competition on

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

asking for fans to submit juggling videos for the single release That Old Pair of Jeans. The competition asked whether you can "Juggle to music like Chris Bliss" and featured a video of Bliss juggling three balls in his unique style to the single. John Augustus "Gus" Tate was announced the competition's winner on Fatboy Slim's MySpace on August 2, 2006.

MyBillofRights.org

Aside from his performance career, Bliss has also started the nonprofit MyBillofRights.org, granted 501(c) 3 status in 2006. The goal of the project is to create monuments and other public displays of the

United States Bill of Rights The United States Bill of Rights comprises the first ten list of amendments to the United States Constitution, amendments to the United States Constitution. It was proposed following the often bitter 1787–88 debate over the Timeline of dr ...

in civic spaces across America. Their first display was dedicated in Montezuma, Iowa on July 5, 2008. A monument at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix has been approved and is in the final stages of design development. The Bill of Rights Plaza design, for the Texas State Capitol in Austin, has also been approved for fundraising. The organization is funded by individual contributions, and has also been supported by the Newman's Own Foundation.

References

External links

A biography of Chris BlissMy Bill of Rights homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bliss, Chris Jugglers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Northwestern University alumni University of Oregon alumni American stand-up comedians American circus performers 21st-century American comedians Comedians from Washington, D.C.