EITM: Dash Rippington 5/24/24

The 'Purveyor of the Dangerously Stupid' brings his show case to perform live in the studio alongside fiancée Dot.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Dash ripping Tin will have his DangerouslyStupid show at the Virginia Renaissance Fair this
weekend. Please welcome our friend,mister dash Rippington. Good morning, Good
morning. How are you, sir? I'm doing wonderful. How are you
good. It's nice to meet youin person. Yes, absolutely, you're
a much bigger person in person thanare you. I'm about six five Jesus

(00:21):
Christ, Yes you're tall. Andit was nice to meet your fiance now,
that's correct, dot dot Nice tosee you all right. Now,
I got a couple of things withyou. All right. I feel like
I don't even remember how we firstran into each other. You had a
belcher that was going for a Guinnessthat is Kimmy Belcher. That's why.

(00:44):
Yes, you had someone going fora Guinness World Record for the loudest belches.
I believe, loudest belch female female. Okay, thank you? All
right? Uh yeah, So Ihave a friend that listens to the station
that said they're talking Guinness, youshould call in. That's right, that's
right exactly, And then that's howwe met. We learned about all of
the traps and all this stuff.What is the but I don't think I

(01:07):
know this and all the times thatwe've talked or run into each other.
How did you start doing this?Oh? I started when I was eighteen.
I got a job at a Renaissancefestival. Okay, but there's but
Okay, that makes sense to me. But there are a lot of people
who work at a renaissance festival whodon't do like sideshow acts. That's true.
I've never been of the normal tacI like to do strange things.

(01:30):
I like to see reactions from people. Right. The very first thing that
I learned how to do when Iwas eating what I was gonna ask can
we go? When I was eighteen. When you work at a Renaissance festival
during the weekend, there's tons ofstuff to do. During the week there's
nothing to do, so you hangout with acts and you talk and you
share stories and you skill share.So the first thing that I actually learned
how to do is eat fire whoAnd there was somebody at the fair that

(01:53):
was doing that. Well. Backthen at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, there
were so many fire eaders. Wehad a huge fire eating circle at one
point. What are they like?What what are they? Is it like
the batons or something? Like thethat that they're eating it almost look I
mean, I'm just going off stuffthat i've seen get done. So it's
like there's a big marshmallow on theend. Yeah, it is kind of
like a marshmallow. It's a littlepiece of kevlar wicking that's soaked in a

(02:15):
fuel and that is set on fire. And most of the tricks are done
with either the fuel or the vapor, right, and the fire is just
kind of a happenstance. And doyou look at that now and go like
that, Like that's like weak ass. I don't like to eat fire anymore
because you're actually consuming a poison,so you are slowly killing yourself. There's

(02:37):
a very fine line between dangerously stupidand stupidly dangerous, and that crosses the
line. Do most do most peoplewho do that? I mean obviously they
know that it's that it's poisonous.Yeah, it's a risk. Do most
of do most people who do thatnot stick with it very long for that
reason? Or there are people thatwere like, this is my bit and
if it kills me, it killsme. That is the way it is.

(02:57):
That there are people that it istheir thing, that is what they
are all about and that is whatthey will continue to do. So you
didn't grow up because I was justgoing to ask, like, you'll see
somebody that's like, say a magician, right, and they'll go like,
oh, as a kid, likeI saw, I don't know who it
would be, whoever firs magician was, and they were like, I saw
that happen, and that's where Iwas hooked. So but that was that's

(03:20):
not you, right, So otherthan I mean eighteen that a Renaissance fair
is different than being a kid athome and like seeing it true now,
I was a normal kid in thatrespect. Every Christmas, I wanted the
magic kit to come with the stageand fifty magic tricks, the whole you
know, trick set, and you'dgo through and you'd lose most of it.
I was never really interested in learningthe dexterity, although I tried.

(03:44):
I can force a card, Ican do some magic, but it's really
not where my interest is. IfI can do something for real, then
I don't have to work on askill. I guess, yeah, selling
it. No, I understand that, like I don't have to. I
mean, right, there's still aI would assume, Well, I know
the answer is yes, there's stilla show in a performage. Part of

(04:05):
it, absolutely, but part ofthe performance isn't trying to make them believe
something that everybody goes in knowing isn'thappening, which is a full credit to
people who can do it. Butnow now it makes it seem like,
and I mean this in a niceway, were you an odd kid?
I absolutely was? Were you really? Yeah? I was an only child,
right, I had to entertain myselfa lot, so a lot of

(04:28):
this comes from that. But yeah, it's my presentation is I want to
prove to you that what I'm actuallydoing is real, because almost anybody I
don't want to say that, butlike magic is a certain thing. You're
fooling somebody, and it takes acertain skill set and you can impress somebody

(04:48):
with magic, and some of mybest friends are magicians, right, But
for me, I wanted to beable to do the thing and impress the
person and by not fooling them bysaying I'm going to do something, but
I'm going to do it for real. And I hope you come along with
me on this journey because it's goingto be weird because normal people don't do

(05:13):
these things now they don't the butyou know what's weird. I don't put
you in the same category as amagician. Good, thank you. Honestly,
most things in side show are actuallyreal. A magician does have a
role in the side show, butthe side show predominantly is real based.
So once you once you started doingthe side show, I want to call

(05:38):
them stupid stunt. I don't know. That's fine whatever you do the like.
So once you decided you were goingto go down that road, did
you start studying, like the wholehistory of it and all that, or
was it just like I'm I learnedthe fire and I don't know what comes
next? Or did you really divein? Honestly, I was very thankful.
I'm very thankful that I had thepeople that surrounded me in the community

(05:59):
that I had, that I wasable to seek out the people that did
this and actually talk to them.And I am a student of many,
many, many professionals that came beforeme. Who are the goats? Who's
the Mount Rushmore sideshow? Well,all right, so at this particular point
living, I would say, HarleyNewman, Red Stewart, they're both the

(06:21):
world's well, they're the oldest swordswallowers still performing. They are amazing.
Johnny Fox, who is no longerwith us, he is he was the
one that actually got me to swallowthe sword for the first time. I'd
been working for a number of yearsswallowing a low necklace. He got ill

(06:42):
started passing off jobs and he messagedme and says, I got a sword
swallowing gig, but I'm not wellenough to take it, so I want
to give it to you. Andit was like, Johnny, I don't
swallow swords yet he goes, well, you got to change that. So
the very first sword I swallowed wasat his memorial of life celebration. You
know what, what a great wayto remember them. My first public swallow

(07:06):
than you do well. Therefore thatthere was a lot of learning. Now
you showed up, I showed upat the funeral. Hey, I'm at
a cemetery. It's either going tobe for one or for two. Try
So that is so. But thoseare those are the ones that you look
at and go, you know what, like that's it? Where do you

(07:27):
where you? And you're you're gonnabe humble, But where do you put
yourself compared to them? Nowhere nearthem nowhere near them. I I do
dangerously stupid things. I uh.Some of my stuff, all right,
A lot of my stuff is somewhatoriginal, but I rely on what came
before a lot as well. Thereare some standard, standard go to jokes

(07:48):
that I will use in my show, not because they're original, but because
everyone knows and expects them. Youknow who you're talking to? You?
Yeah, thank you? So yeah, there are different things that you can
present in an They have a sayingthat there's nothing new inside show. All
the acts have been done right right. You can allieve that I do to

(08:13):
some degree. But every year thereare several side show people that blow me
away with their take on whatever thatacts. Actually it's a variation, yeah,
they or a little bit of adifferent hint or something. Everybody has
their own presentation. When you sayevery year that there's a sideshow pre how
many of you are there? Ohwell, all right, there are a

(08:33):
lot more than they would give credit. But there's only a few dozen swords
swollowers that are currently performing. Isthat true. Yeah, there's only a
few dozen in the entire world.I would say probably around forty eight,
maybe sixty at most. So youfigure out a seven billion people on the
planet. There's seventy of us thatare actually performing swallowing swords. It's it's
it's a very niche club. Whenyou had to learn to do it,

(09:00):
is it is that hard. Itdoes take time, It does take dedication
because you absolutely have to kill yourgag reflex number one. You have to
kick. You have to kill thegag reflex or you're not going to get
the sword down right. And there'sabout three or four different Oh, so
it's not just like where the goodthing is, right, it's not where
the uvula is. There's one inthe back of the throat that'll get you

(09:20):
uh, there's one about midway downthat wants to get you to and and
just before the stomach there's another one. So when the sword goes down and
so that that's the other thing yousaid that everything you do is real.
Yes, So it's not one ofthose where it's it's not a collapsible sword
or where it folds into itself oranything like that. It is completely a

(09:43):
sword right down the old belly.Yep. Absolutely, Which of the four
gag spots is the hardest one toovercome? The first one, Honestly,
the first shot up. Yeah,it is. It is the most difficult.
After that, it's just seems veryunnatural. It is very unnatural.
Then swallowing the sword is very unnatural. You can feel it the entire way
down here. Yeah, it isvery uncomfortable. What is it you told

(10:07):
me? It's it's it's all abouttelling your body that it's okay to accept
something that your body knows should notbe happening. This should be easy for
you, then you should be allabout this the So now back up between
swords and eating fire. Yeah,there's a million things involved in the in

(10:28):
the show, in what you dowhat. So once once you went from
once you went from eating fire,like, what is what was? What
was the next big hurdle? Soin my case, I went through stage
combat. H I learned how todo choreographed fighting out at the festival.
That got me interested in some ofthe other aspects, some of the other
acts doing, like juggling. Itried to learn the unicycle, but I

(10:52):
am no good at balance really,for as tall as I am, I
am clumsy, no good at that, uh, But juggling was okay.
But predominantly I started talking to afriend that I kept through the years who
happened to be my very first girlfriendback in high school. Sorry, Dot,
It's okay. She's wonderful. Sheis a wonderful person. But she

(11:16):
got me through over the major hurdlesof side show and what I should expect
because she went into side show aswell, she became the most dangerous beauty.
She swallowed a sword, she marriedanother sword swallower. They are amazing
people, but she walked me throughthe process of It is the side show
world very like incestuous. It canbed Do you do any of those garbage

(11:43):
we're working on. We keep trying. I'm tongue tied, so I can't
snap mouse traps on my tongue.Wait, I don't know what does that
mean? So, so you knowthe piece of your tongue that connects like
the under the underneath of the tongueunderneath your tongue to your tongue. Mine
comes out way further than most people'sdo. So when I stick my tongue

(12:03):
out, my tongue immediately goes downand hits my bottom lip. There is
tongue you can't by the way,I don't know, I don't know what.
I don't know what Dash is goingto do today, far better trick
than anything I've ever seen. Iam my own human oddity, and among
the tattoo world are among the sideshowworld. I am a very weird human

(12:26):
oddity because of that. But alsoI have no tattoos I am. I
am a tattoo list woman. Ohyeah, you know what. It didn't
even stick out to me. Waita minute, So if you can't even
do it, if you try to. Tried. We tried, and I
like, just as an example,all right, so I have this and
it's not set or anything, butwe sat there for like five minutes where

(12:48):
it's a it is just a mousetrap, right my tongue. Your tongue
has to hit the pedal in orderto set the trap. So it can't
just hit the edge of the trap. It's got to hit this metal pedal
right there that releases. Just sowe could see how it works, could
you set one and devil have Dianeso you can get her tongue to hit
the paddle just so? So shewas like, no, you got to

(13:13):
stick it straight out a little bitmore so you can't reach It's literally as
far as my song, my tonguewill not reach the pedal, Like I
don't even know what you are.I've had I've had a few folks who
have offered to alter my tongue forme. I think I'm good. So
the but but other than other thanlike this birth thing, the do you

(13:35):
do anything else? Or did youjust see Dash on stage? And like
I am getting into that? Actuallyit was we got together and then I
dragged her into it. But reallywe we sort of drag each other into
each other's chaos. It's it's avery mutually chaotic experience that's been quite wonderful
over the last seven years. Absolutely, I'm I've typically been more involved behind

(13:58):
the scene means of productions. Uh. So I I stole Dash for a
lot of that, uh setting upshows and coordinating things and event production and
things like that. And then likewisehe stole me and has uh pulled me
more into the sideshow world and introducedme to some amazingly fascinating people. And

(14:20):
and also we're working we're working ona few skills. Yeah, some knife
throwing, some whip crack knife,sure, why not? But I want
her to throw the knives right,Okay. Usually it's like the lady who's
like standing there being all like,oh, don't hit me with the knife,
right, and you're going to dothe throwing. I want her to

(14:43):
have you have you? Have youstarted this? We have been practicing?
Yeah, yeah, we have beenrehearsing. We have a target in our
back Yeah, we have a targetin the backyard. Have you gotten to
the point yet where like you're standingby the target? Oh no, not
yet? Targeting target? Yeah?Where that is? That is the goal
eventually, But you don't practice witha no no. But I imagine that

(15:07):
it starts with like like I imagineit's like at some point, like it's
like you're throwing darts, and atsome point like you like, oh,
I keep hitting the wall, andnow like I'm hitting the outer rim and
eventually you can work your way in. Are we still like hitting the wall
or we're hitting target? Yeah,we're hitting target, but but not but
not that good? Right, Well, we're dealing with the two by two
foot target area space in our backyard. But yeah, dude, the first

(15:37):
time that night, I know,you know what, the first time the
knife goes, you're gonna piss yourself. Probably the second time the knife goes
then it's on you. That'll beworse. You'll nail the first one,
but that's second not nail, likehit him, but like no, it'll
be a perfect throw. And thenthe second one you'll be like, I
got this, this is easy,and down goes down, So that that

(16:00):
feeds into a saying that I constantlygive people. Uh, there are two
times that you were going to hurtyourself in this or someone else in this
business. That's when you don't knowwhat you're doing. Because you don't know
what you're doing, you're going tohurt somebody. And the other time you're
going to hurt somebody is when youdo know what you're doing, because you
know what you're doing. Yeah,right, I don't even have to think
about it. Right here, wego wrong? You do every time,

(16:22):
every time you need to think aboutit. What's the worst, what's the
worst injury you've given yourself? Allright, well, the rat trap record,
I slip my tongue open, right, I have the worst injury that
I so hot that I have sofar given someone else was I've cracked dot
over the nose with the bullwhip.We were in a show down in Atlanta,
and I should have practiced more,and I did not. And the

(16:45):
gag was that I was going totake a cigarette out of her mouth with
a bullwhip, because that's the that'sthe gag, but nobody ever sees it
anymore. So I'm going to actuallydo it right. Well, I did
it on the second try. Soyou you the whip to knock the cigarette
out of her out and it cracksher in the nose. And then but
instead of going, yeah, thereit is Diane now. But instead of

(17:11):
going, oh, I just hitmy fiance in the face with a whip,
you were like, oh, letme get the cigarette again. That's
a showman. Well you you haveto move on. You you don't show
fear because the audience will see it. It's very much a gasp from the
crowd in a position because it moved, but it didn't come out of my

(17:33):
mouth right and wipe the blood offmy nose. But I like that the
show has to go on. Itdoes, and I'll remind you of that
is that knife is sticking right outof your shoulder. Revenge is revenge,
you know, I know what Isigned up for. Have you ever have

(17:53):
you ever gotten hurting doing a sword? Uh, not hurt during doing a
sword. But I have many friendsthat have been injured one of my friends
who just recently passed away from fromcancer. He seriously injured himself swallowing a
sword at six Flags last October Octoberfour. Wait just over here, yeah,

(18:14):
just right over here. And yeah, he was doing a Halloween show
and he had a rocket powered swordand rocketed it down inside him and it
split him open real good, sothey were they put him into a medically
induced coma. I won't give hisname. Those in the business know who
he is, right, but peoplewatching the show, did it come out

(18:37):
of his side? I don't know. I wasn't there. I do know
some people that were there, butit's not something that I wanted to know.
Okay, I'm sorry. I asked. Most of the injuries with swords
swallowing happened with when you're swallowing multipleswords at once. His was a weird
case. But he had also modifiedthe sword in a way that it was
doing something that isn't typical when rightswallow, and it was rocket power.

(19:03):
I imagine that's not a ray.I also imagine I'm not going to see
that today. Fine with it,all right, let me do this,
let me do this, oh andbefore, because then I want to get
through, like whatever is in thecase and what we're doing this weekend.
You're at the Virginia Renaissance. That'scorrect, it's Sponsylvania. Also like today,
tomorrow and Sunday, Tomorrow and Sunday, I'll be down there. I

(19:25):
leave here after this and I godown there because it's easier to be there
on site, right camp there.Oh, good, good for you,
Good for you. All right,so let me do this. Let me
take a break, and then we'llcome back. I want to go through
the briefcasetch. Diane's ready to findher gag valve for all right, give
me a quick break. Dash Rippingtonis with us. More with him,

(19:45):
next, Elliott, Dash Rippington iswith us. You'll see Dash. It
is dangerously stupid show at the VirginiaRenaissance Fair this weekend. All right,
showtimes, Okay, what the suitcase? Yes, I feel like I saw

(20:06):
I saw a picture of there wasa bunch as I saw. Obviously a
whip has come out of that.Yeah, there's no room in the studio
for the whip, but I dohave some other toys in there. The
Yeah, there's some traps. I'mseeing a lot of Oh what was the
I can't see if it's in therefrom here? What was the really long
thing? Is that in there?Yeah? That is in here. I'll
show that to as we go.I work that we were going to start

(20:29):
with the traps. Actually and herewe go. Here we go, Diane,
I need your arm, all right, So we're gonna start off.
As I start off my show,I typically state that I am not a
magician. I'm not that talented.If I tell you that I'm doing something,
I am actually doing it. Togive a demonstration, I bring out
of a mousetrap, have a briefconversation with the audience while I'm setting the
mouse trap. And I set themousetrap just standard. It's a regular mouse

(20:52):
trap. It is just like anythingelse. But I asked, is there
another way to set it? Like? Are people going like, oh,
what a pussy? He didn't evensay it the right way. You would
be surprised how many people think thateven though I'm telling you that there's nothing
gaffed, they think there's a trickto it. Right, So no matter
what I do, I'm going tofail in some way. Yeah sure,
But so I joke with them aslike how many people have got experience with

(21:15):
mousecrafts. How many people have hadthem snap on their fingers or toes in
the middle of the night. Geta good chuckle out of that, because
it's usually not the same people.By the way, I've never had one
snap by I got to be I'venever even like other than like you see
them on TV and stuff. I'venever even like had like this one isn't
set, I pick up the onethat I know is not set, hasn't

(21:37):
been set. I still pick itup. I don't get it like I'm
afraid to touch it. But I'venever I've never had one. Right,
Well, good for you, becauseI've had to live in several situations where
these have come in andy, andI've got so many of these at my
house. So but anyways, Itell them that I'm not going to put
fingers or toes in it because thebones, you know whatever. I'm going

(21:57):
to put a very sensitive part ofmy now me in this, and that
gets a chuckle. But of coursewe turn it away. But I put
my tongue into this one, sowe get them cheering, and then I
give them a three two one,and uh, I stick my tongue in
it. So basically, The trickto this is I just bring it here
yet. Wait, hold on,Diane, are you watching very uncomfortable?

(22:19):
Okay, but you have to wantwatching through my fingers. Didn't drive all
this way for you to close youreyes. Look, they're okay. So
and this can be dangerous, soI'll bring it so it's downward so that
the risk of chipping a tooth isminimized. Okay. When I was in
Italy, I chipped the tooth.So wait for the TV for the TV

(22:41):
show I got in the middle ofit. Didn't even realize it until afterwards,
Like, oh, I chipped thetooth, all right, So line
it up right, stick the tongueout and then you can talk with and
he doesn't a little bit, andit's what you get. There's there's fine,

(23:07):
no big deal, now does it? What's wrong? Does it hurt?
Hold on? I take off thissong? Oh yeah, so it's
because that was You could have donethat a lot more delicately. You did
it like that for bills dying?Please absolutely please? Like does it bruise?

(23:33):
All right? So yes, Ihave received bruises on my tongue.
There was definitely bruising after the attemptin Italy. That was crazy. That
was part of why he didn't gofor a second attempt when the first attempt
didn't happen, was because there wasthere was so much bruising and a little
bit of blood too, because Idid see the block, right, But
how long, like, how longdoes it take to you get used to

(23:53):
that? Oh you don't. Ohit hurts as much now as it did
then. Oh yeah, it isa thing that sucks. There's no way
around it. It's stings. Butyou do, like we talked this past
Friday, I believe you do getto a point where you just turn your
brain off to what it's experiencing thatwants to try it. Do it?

(24:17):
No, hell no, do it. But ninety five percent is like I
would never do that. And that'sa lot more than five percent. Zero
chance, zero chance, zero chance, Memorial weekend. All I want to
know is does it hurt that bad? All right? It does not hurt
as much as people would think thatit does, right, But it does

(24:40):
hurt. I mean, there's noway around it. You know, let's
pump that up to about ninety eightpercent. I'm good, all right?
What else? What else? Whatelse? So we start out with a
mousetrap. That's nice and easy,and I asked people if that was enough
for them, and it's never enough. It's never enough, so you know
in that crazy man, right,So in that case, I have to
bring out much bigger trap. Sothis is a bigger trap. Yeah.

(25:03):
Uh, this is actually the onethe type of trap that I used for
the Guinness World Record for most animaltraps released on the body in one minute.
Right, So I said, whatwas that again? Right now,
it's I no longer have that record. It is now sixty three. Sweet
Pepper Clopeck from Canada took it backe, yeah right, right right. Two
weeks after I broke his record,he took it back. So damn sweet

(25:27):
a lot we would be mad.But no, no, no, absolutely
not. But this is called along spring animal leg hold trap. It
is considered a humane trap. Theonly reason with this catch like catch a
raccoon, and that is humane.Yeah, it's considered humane because it's not
designed to kill. There's no teeth. Yeah, and there's no teeth on

(25:48):
it, so it's not going todig in like it's basically a small bear
trap with no teeth, right,and uh, but they are humane.
They'll still cut chew their leg off. Yes, but humane trap itself is
not humane. The use of thetrap is not humane. The trap wait,
oh my god, okay, allright, no I haven't yet.

(26:08):
You stood up. I thought,no, no, no, no.
This isn't your tongue again, No, this is not on my tongue.
This is a little bit bigger thanthe tongue. So but I am going
to set it and you just pressdown on that, flip over the dog,
and pin it under the pan.So this is the spring obviously where
okay, yeah, I just swrangis off here to the side that's attached
to the chain. Usually the chainties it to a log or a dead

(26:32):
fall, so the animal can't getaway once it's in there. Yeah,
right, you know that thing?Right? So the round disc that's in
the center right right there, thatis called the pan, and that is
what the animal steps on. Whenthey step on it, it releases the
dog. The springs open and thejaws slams shut. Are you going to
tell us when you're doing it?Because every time you're hand you are towering
over there. Because every time youmove your hand, I think it's I

(26:52):
think it's going all right. Theseare actually a lot more robust than a
mouse trap. I can move thesearound, I can throw It's not going
to go off, but just sothat because you're not familiar with it,
I'll let I will set it offso that you can see what it looks
like. I'm not in danger.My fingers are actually underneath the jaws,
outside of danger. But this iswhat it looks like when it goes off.
It is real. It has notbeen altered in any way. But

(27:15):
yes, because this is a biggertrap, and I do not want to
put my tongue into this trap.This one generally gets fingers. Okay,
this one gets fingers, even thoughwe know that this can break the bone
of the animal that it catches.Sometimes when you see this this act,
they'll put four fingers in the trap, right right, I'm different than that.

(27:36):
I will give you a choice.Pick a number between one and four.
Three three? All right, threeis good, So we'll count it
down. We go one, twothree, that's three. Right, We're
gonna make the others go away.You chose the number. What can I
do? We make the three goaway, we leave, We're left with
one. So I'm actually going toput one finger in this trap. Knowing
that it can break a bone,right, just so that we're already Okay,

(28:00):
so we're going to do that.Are you ready? Here we go
three two one, Yeah, yeah, that's a You can you can actually
see how the discoloration of the skinis going. No, I can see
that. Oh god, look Iread like red. How about how white
it is right by where the cleanYeah? Right, Diane? Would you

(28:22):
like to pull the chain? No, you don't want to pull the chain.
It's actually on there. You pullthe chain that's actually on the fingers.
All right, let's get the fingeris changing color, so let's get
the finger out of Okay, okay, here we go. All right,
there we go. Now you canactually see Oh my god, I don't

(28:42):
I don't want to tell you howto do your job, but I feel
like it would be less painful ifyou put more fingers in it. Correct.
Yeah, it's like a big thickerarm for it to Yeah, so
this is one finger is stupid,You're right, hence the name dangerously stupid.

(29:06):
What are we doing? All right? That that is the intermediary trap,
right, the intermediary I have mousetrap, I have the raccoon trap.
But usually that's still not enough,so I have to bring out Yeah,
that ain't enough the really big trap. Holy yeah, here we go.
All right, So this is aneight inch beaver trap. All right,
yeah, Tyler, you can laughat all right? That was Elliott.

(29:32):
All right. Now this is madein the exact same way as the
other one. It is an identicalreplica. The only difference is it doesn't
have the chain, and it doesit's obviously much bigger. Yeah, clearly.
As it is much bigger, itdoes require a tool to set it.
And this is this is like yousaid this for bears, this would
catch or this would be for beaverbeep right, bear would be slightly bigger
and have teeth. Oh okay,all right. But because this does require

(29:53):
a tool, that is the actuallong item that you saw in thee Oh
Diane, Yeah, I didn't knowwhat that was. So this helps me
set this huge trap. Oh,I see, And then I can lock
it in and then you can openthe teeth, right, and then I

(30:15):
can take this off. Butch yourhands, okay, yeah, always handle
under the straps. Always the oddsthat I'm ever touching one of the Okay,
can I ask you this, howhow like I get the well,
I don't. I don't get theraccoon one, right, I'd like,
no, normal person's doing that,right. How long does it take to

(30:38):
you go from doing raccoon to thisbig monster? Almost immediately? Are you
serious? Yeah? Almost immediately,So you were like, oh, that
was that hurt. That was bad. But watch this. Yeah, And
so there's no there's no growth chart. No, no. I was learning
the boat at the same time because, as you would probably know entertainment comedy,

(30:59):
things come in threes. So whenI'm doing my act, I have
a set of three I do somouse trap, this trap, that trap
rounded out right solid, it bringsthe things. So when I was actually
putting the act together, I waslike, well, I want to do
this, and I can do this, and I can do this, so
these three. So I started learningbasically all of it at the same time.
Mouse traps came a little earlier.A friend Gwyd and I had a

(31:25):
little back and forth with snapping themon our tongues and stuff, and I
wish them a happy birthday by settingoff ten on each finger at the same
time. But when I was actuallygoing to put the show together, I
was like, I want to havethrees. Are there a lot. Are
there a lot of people that dotraps? No, actually, which is
why I kind of stand out inthe field. There are a lot of

(31:45):
trap animal traps are known inside show, usually as a blowoff, a card
trick or something. The card isthere, they're gonna boom, yeah right
right, so or they do it, but there's really no payoff. It's
just I'm doing this and they doit, and it's over and they move
on. Right. So when Ifirst started out, I had a a

(32:07):
benefactor of sideshow history, Walt Hudson, told me that it had been a
very long time since he had seenanyone actually make an act out of traps
that was not just a blowoff,right, I got you, all right,
let's get back out, Okay.Here, So with this one,
this is a obviously much bigger trap. I'm not going to put fingers in
it. I'm certainly not going toput my tongue in that one, right,

(32:30):
But this one is so big thatI actually put my entire hand in
this one. Yeah, oh sure, okay, so we're gonna do that,
right, I'll come over here,Let's do this do all right?
Wait, Dan, I can seebut I can see through the hold on
what is she doing? What ishe doing? He's got his hands right

(32:51):
there. I can see you.All right, so you're but so so
you're you're you're gonna push down onthe on the Okay, yeah, basically
with the way this is in thearea, I'm just gonna squeeze them together
right by the way. Can Ijust point out normally this room looks like
this over here if there's like likelike a major band has come in or
something like that. Yeah, andnow it's like, hey, this dude's

(33:13):
getting ready to chop his arm.Verre we go? All right, So
I do make a joke at thefestival that if these have not been altered
in any way, they are realoff the shelf traps. I do put
my hand in it. If somethinggoes horrifically wrong and it snaps and it
severs my hand from the rest ofmy anatomy. Right, just bring up
the hand after the show and I'llsign it for a great souvenir, little

(33:35):
tension breaker. But and now Diane'shiding behind a chair. Okay, here
we go. Are you ready,Diane? Okay, here we go.
Just remember you can't cuss. Icannot Cusskay, No, that's fine.
Three two one, Jesus Christ,Jesus. There we go. All right,

(33:58):
now, I'll actually, Diane,do you want to try and open
the jaws that's actually planted on there. I'll even let you see all the
way around. Oh god, youcan see how it's digging. I'll come
over here. Wait, but canI ask you this? Do we have
to do you have to get thetool back out to get that off?
Yes? All right, all right, here we go. Now getting my

(34:29):
hand back out is sometimes more dangerous, so bear with me. That's good.
That's good. There we go,right there we go. It's all
good. You can see look atthat so that right, so that beautiful

(34:52):
beaul. That's awesome. That's great. Those are my animal traps. Right
now. I will show you realquickly. Okay, the difference between a
mouse trap and a rat trap.I'll use the rat trap, but just
maybe the size difference. Oh wow, I mean that is a huge,
a huge. That is massive.So in the rat traps. But you've

(35:15):
done the rat traps before. Yes, I have the Guinness World Record.
I created the Guinness World Record formost rat traps released on the tongue in
one minute. The record was createdand is still thirteen good for you?
Thirteen no one for you. Sofar, I've had a couple of sideshow
people message me and say, so, I'm thinking about taking your rat trap
record. I'm like, you're welcometo it. I'll never do it again.

(35:38):
I have definitely stated that you aremore than welcome to take the record.
Records are meant to be broken.Sure, so if you're going to
break my record, you're welcome toit, mostly because you know, let's
let's have fun with it. Yeah, exactly, exactly, all right,
So where are we going next?Where we going next? Track? I
am You're good, Okay, Itell you what. I've got one just

(36:00):
for you, Diane. Here wego, perfect, This will be great,
This will be great. I hopeit's got teeth teeth, and honestly
it's one of the most simplest onesthat I do. All right, So
here we go. It's just aregular nail, all right. Oh god,
this is the thing. This isthe thing. You'll be happy to
know what thing? You know?All right? So we're just gonna get

(36:27):
a little moist, right. Ohand we're gonna go right in here.
Let's let's write the micro run here. There we go. There we go.
You can get it. I knowyou want to see it go all
the way. Oh, there wego? Yeah, can you say?

(36:53):
Yes? What can you say?It's we're sticking out a little bit of
his nostrils. Just a little bit, this a little bit, stick it
out. You get help? Areyou ready to help? You get to
help, because you're you're gonna getto help remove. Unfortunately, you have
to. Unfortunately, DoD is veryill. You have you have to help.

(37:15):
No, come on, you wantthe man to walk around all day
with. I'll give you a distanceweapon. I'll let you hold that.
I'll let you hold that right now, here's the thing shaking. There's a
magnet right here on the end.Okay, I'm gonna let you stick it
to the to the nail and I'mgonna let you you know, you got
a nail hanging out all right?Here we go, there we go?

(37:37):
All right? Oh god, Ineed my head touch anything, it doesn't
matter. It's okay, Diana.I'll take care of her. It's all
clean now, it's all clean?Now? Is that? Is that?

(38:02):
Is that easier than I think itis? I mean, so I'm asking
the guy whos probably had five thousandnails in his nose. So, so
the joke in my show is,after four years of COVID home test,
no one's impressed by how far somethinggoes up the nose anymore. We've all
done it. Right, When Dottook a COVID test, she felt it
under her eyeball. So it's kindof the same thing. I'm watering up

(38:27):
a little. Can you can youfeel that going all the way? Oh?
Yeah you can't. Yeah, yeah, it goes all the way in.
It rides along the top of theup on top of the palette.
All right, all right, verygood, all right, So that brings
us to the final event. Yes, yes, all right. How long

(38:49):
How long ago did you swallow yourfirst sword? Oh? When did Johnny
pass? That was like four yearsago. Wait a minute, you've only
been doing this four years swallowing swordsproperly? Yes, I've been for about
fifteen years now, improperly swallowing.Well, I was not swallowing swords.
I was swallowing the twenty two inchglow necklaces that you can unfil the try,

(39:09):
right, I would swallow one ofthose. It's been way more than
four years. Four years. It'sbeen way more than four years because eight
years probably probably by the way,I don't know why, but that makes
me feel much better. Wait.So, so, but for a long
time, you've been doing like thegloss yeah, glowstick because I would bring
I'd swallow it with it unbroken,and then as I brought it up,

(39:32):
I would snap it so that itwould come out blowing. So that I
figured, oh, I'm doing nightclubs. I'm not swallowing swords, so controlled
lighting in a nightclub, the glowstickworks. Yeah. Absolutely. Then when
Johnny said, well you got tochange that, I started swallowing a sword,
and uh so now I can actuallycall myself a sword swallower. Right,

(39:54):
but this is the sword I use. Uh it is twenty four inches
long. There are no buttons,no switches, there's nothing collapsing. It's
a little flexible, but that's aboutit. It is a real sword.
Right, So, if you've neverseen a sword swallower, really quickly,
what I'm gonna do is, I'mgonna take the tip of the sword I'm
gonna put in the back of mythroat. I'm gonna raise it up high

(40:14):
over my head. I'm going toget it into the back of the throat
and when I feel that it's inthe appropriate place, just from once you
know it's the man is talking toyou. I'm listening. I like a
good squirmer. She is squirming inthat seat. Do we live for fainting?
Ovation? I'm very sorry. Soyou you you put it. So

(40:35):
I take the tip, put itin the back of the throat, and
I raise it up over my head. And once it's in the appropriate place
in the back of my throat,I'm going to give a good push so
that it goes down into the esophagus, It goes past the epiglottis, it
goes down into my body where itgoes in between both of my lungs,
and it gently pushes my heart forwardabout two millimeters in its path downward.
Does it really? Holy crap?Yeah? Now, I do make mention
in my show that if you payvery close attention to the pommel once it's

(40:57):
fully swallowed inside me, my heartresting on it, the pommel is the
bottom, the bottom part of thesword, uh, past the handle,
and uh if you pay a payclose enough attention to that once it's inside
me, you may be able tosee the ticking of my heart and the
pommel. Oh, yeah. Now, the thing is it's very difficult to
see right where I am. Ican say it really well. We would

(41:25):
like that you would like that tocontinue? Yeah, that's uh so Yeah.
Basically what I do is I'm goingto take this. I'm going to
swallow it down and uh would oneof you like to pull it out of
me? I think, Diane,I already did my work. I am
done. I'm already. I'll tellyou what. I'll do this one solo

(41:46):
for you. All right? Sowait, is there is there danger with
it coming out? Yes? Thereis always dang all right, So this
is legitimately you want to do it? Yeah? Here, come here,
come on, Okay, So legitimatelythis is the most dangerous act in side

(42:07):
show, right because of the injuries. There could be a bar, a
burr, or a little jagged edgeon the edge that I may not feel
going in, right, but comingout? Do you ever have to like
like I don't like you ever haveto get it filed just to make sure
that doesn't happen. I do takecare of my sword, Yeah, I
want to make sure that they staynice nick free. Every so often I'll

(42:29):
pound, but then I'll double checkit that I totally get that makes sense
to me. All right, soreally easy. What's gonna happen is I'm
gonna swallow the sword, and thenonce it's inside of me, I'm going
to take a bow and look atyou. I want you to put your
hand out. I'm gonna put thesword handle in your hand, and then
I'm going to back away off thesword. So all you have to do

(42:49):
is hold it there. Okay,I want to be in control of it
in this given environment. I'm goingto back off the sword. Pull you
hold right. Yeah, the generaljokes case he's not really good, I
should The best general rules I askedfor is do not twist it. Oh
my god, not do it.No, no rotations. I'm not attired.

(43:13):
And the final rule, most importantlyof all, is no matter what
happens, whatever you do when thesword handle is in your hand, do
not go That joke wasn't funny.Just hold on to it. O cow
back away okay, and I cando that right here, all right?
And you got room like the ceiling. Okay, all right? Wait,
hold on, Diane, can youplease it's christ now? Wait? Can

(43:46):
you can you talk it? All? No? Okay, never mind,
all I'll say you can breathe,holy crad hold you're so weird awesome,

(44:19):
nice work casing. Is it oneof the is it one of the like
they always they always talk about howfor for because like you bend over obviously
to put it in her hand,and you have to you have to.
You can't like slop, you can't. Yeah, don't they say that.
That's like a big problem is justmaking sure that you like hold your body
stiff and straight. Right, Yeah, you need to keep the upper body
straight because you have a straight steelsword going downside you. But at the

(44:44):
waist you're fine, right, uh, but you gotta just get you you're
instead of you're kind of just pushingthat ass out right basically. And the
the other issue though, is whenyou do bend over, all of your
organs kind of fall around the sword, so it is in you, but
it's kind of you feel it theentire time. And how many how many

(45:15):
shows do you do a day?All? Right? So this weekend at
the Virginia in Fair, I willdo four shows a day, Oh my
god. Yeah, And if youcome out and see my final show of
the day, you'll get to seea trick with a fly swatter that I
only do once today. Can yousay what it is? Or is it
a surprise for a piece? Ithas to do with sword swallowing, but
it is definitely an act that yougotta see. All right, all right,

(45:36):
I'll take that. Is there anythingis there? I mean I know
that you and daughter working on knifethrowing? Is there is there anything that?
Like? What what do you otherthan other than like adding like kind
of flare to an act? Whatis the Are you working on anything?
I'm working on a couple of thingsright now, specifically I'm working. So
I put in seven different applications orGuinness World Records for this year. Did

(46:01):
you really? Yeah, I'm Someof them have to do with whip cracking.
Some of them have to do withlaying in an iron made bed of
nails and having contract blocks. WasI right about that? Yeah? Well,
well, god damn it, Dash, you should listen to every second
of everything. No, we weretalking about a bet and nails that it's
actually not hard to lay on abet of nails. It's hard to get

(46:23):
onto a bet of nails, geton and get off, and also lay
depending on the pattern. So thething with the bed of nails is that
the more nails, the easier itis because you're distributing the weight, right,
that's just simple physics. So insteadof your fifty pounds being supported by
one nail, fifty pounds is nowbeing supported by five nails. Let's say.

(46:45):
Okay, so the more nails thebetter. So the bet of nails
that I use in my show isroughly a one inch grid, so all
the nails are one inch away fromeach other. Guinness wants a bed of
nails that has nail that are atleast six inches long and a two inch
grid, and that one hurts.That's hard. Yeah, I have I

(47:07):
built one at home. Oh mygod, in preparation for doing so with
Guinness. They don't give you therules until they approve your application. So
you go, oh, I wantto break most balloon animals in a minute.
Right, Okay, Fine, yousend in the application and they'll either
approve it or deny it. Butonce they approve it, then they'll send
you the rules that you have tofollow, and then you can look at

(47:29):
the rules and go, oh,well I can't do that, yeah right,
okay, Right, so you saidyou want to do it, they
were like, okay, well,then let's spread the nails out and they're
like, well, I have anidea. Why don't you do that.
I'm still planning on it, butso betted nails, Yeah, betten nails.
There's two of them to Both ofthem are timed. Actually, most
of the records are timed. There'sonly one that I'm going for that is
not timed, and that's the mostunusual one that has nothing to do with

(47:51):
anything that I do, and that'slargest hat or tallest hat, world's tallest
hat, tallest hat. All Ihave to do is make a standard hat
that has the crown of the hatpushed sixteen feet up, and I've got
to go. I've got to geta second for it. And we oh,
okay, all right, all right. I like the better nails,
Yeah, better nails, more funbecause the second one, Yeah, I

(48:15):
can do make a big hat.Is there is there a and I don't
know if I'm going to phrase thisright, but is there a in the
in the sideshow world? Is therethe is there the I don't I don't
know what to call it. Iwant to call it a stunt or whatever
it is. Is there is theresomething that is considered like if you nobody's

(48:38):
everybody's talked about wanting to do X, but nobody's ever been able to get
that far. Does that exist?I'm sure it does. I'm sure it
does, and yet I'm constantly provedwrong by thinking that because I know some
intelligent people. Uh Christopher Campbell upin Canada. He is brilliant. He
figured out how to do a portableunderwater escape act by using a snorkel mask

(49:04):
but reversing the valve in it soit holds water as opposed to keeping water
out. So he literally fills theface mask with water and has to escape
until he drowns. I mean,it's brilliant, It's brilliant. I'm constantly,
constantly happy that I hang with thecrowd that I had with because they

(49:27):
are all crazy smart. All Iknow is I watched the dude swallow a
sword today. All right, well, dude, listen, I'll let you,
I'll let you run. I knowyou got to get down there.
Dash Rippington's Dangerously Stupid show will beat the Virginia Renaissance Fair this weekend.
Buy tickets ahead of time. Yeah, that's correct, online only. Yeah,

(49:47):
don't show up and try to gettickets there. Buy your tickets ahead
of ahead of time. Congratulations onthe on the engagement. Thank you,
amazing freak tongue thing. That's awesome. I got to try to keep up
with this. Good for you.