Chris Bliss

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Chris Bliss is an American stand up comedian and juggler. He majored in comparative literature at Northwestern University and the University of Oregon before dropping out to pursue a career in juggling.^[1]

Bliss decided not to pursue the conventional route of circus 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 be a technical juggler, and 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 Michael Jackson on his 1984 Victory tour.

Following on from this big success, Bliss expanded his brief juggling act to include stand up comedy. His act now comprises both stand-up elements and juggling.

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/Carry That Weight/The End by The Beatles. The video was widely circulated via email and blogs with an estimated 20 million viewings within 40 days.^[2]

The video caused quite a stir in the juggling world, with Bliss appearing as a guest on Penn Jillette's radio show,^[3] Penn was himself a juggler and is associated with the World Juggling Federation. Many jugglers were surprised and confused by the success that Bliss had found with such a simple juggling routine. In response to this, Jason Garfield, a highly accomplished technical juggler, recorded a parody video of Bliss' finale using much more technical tricks and with five balls rather than three. This video is a more technically demanding performance set to the same music, which attempts to emulate exactly Bliss' performance with two extra balls to contend with. This video also went viral, further boosting the fame of the original.

Following the success of his 'Grand Finale' video, the UK musician Fatboy Slim ran an online competition on MySpace asking for fans to submit juggling videos for the single release That Old Pair of Jeans.^[4] 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.

Aside from his performance career, Bliss has also started a project known as My Bill of Rights. The goal of the project is to erect monuments to the United States Bill of Rights in every state capitol, and in any public location where a monument to the Ten Commandments is located. A monument has been approved in Phoenix, Arizona, and Bliss cites Austin, Texas as the project's next goal. The organization is funded by donations, and has applied for 501(c)(3) status.