Table of Contents

Contents
Foreword
Preface
1. The Polar Prince
2. Vaudeville
3. The World’s Fair
4. The Riggs Brothers Circus
5. School on the Road
6. The Circus at War
7. The Great Alberty
8. Flying Funny
9. Clown Diplomacy
10. Fliffus It is!
11. Word Jazz
12. Change the Act?
13. Yes . . . Please!
14. Instant Theater
15. New Ideas
16. Theater Without a Net
Acknowledgments

About the Author

Dudley Riggs is a fifth-generation member of a distinguished show business family. He has worked in circus and vaudeville as aerialist, clown, movie actor, comedian, writer, stage director, and producer. Since the early 1960s, Riggs’s Brave New Workshop—where he is artistic director emeritus—has produced topical and political satirical shows and regular improvisational performances for enthusiastic audiences and for entities such as NPR’s All Things Considered, International USO shows, and colleges. 

Al Franken, an American politician, writer, actor, and comedian, is a United States Senator from Minnesota. He began his career in improvisational theater and political satire as a member of the Brave New Workshop.

Reviews

"Dudley Riggs not only brought comedy to thousands of people, he paved and provided a safe environment for artists to stretch the boundaries beyond the norm. He made people think, but mostly he made them laugh their asses off. He’s an American institution, a Minnesota treasure, and my earliest mentor and friend. If you love show biz, comedy, the circus, or just want to laugh your ass off, you’ll get his book Flying Funny!"—Louie Anderson"The great Dudley Riggs is a titan of comedy. There was no laughter west of the Mississippi before him. He let us perform at his theater when we were just getting started, so we owe him a blurb. So buy this book."—Penn & Teller"It’s a lucky person who finds their wings in order to fly in this life. Dudley Riggs had the good fortune of being born on the high wire with no other option but to fly. And fly he did! Life without a net is a brave and honorable journey, and Dudley shares exactly this in his story. One can equate Riggs’s big-top lifestyle to their own everyday circus and perhaps find some wings of their own."—Mo Collins"Always wanted to run away with the circus . . . but your busy schedule never allowed it? Well, this book is the answer. It will pull you by the sleeve and set you on the tightrope or the flying trapeze . . . until you find yourself landing on the stage of an improv theater. Bravo, Maestro Dudley Riggs!"—Philippe Petit, high wire artist and author

"Riggs is known nationally as founder of the Minneapolis-based Brave New Workshop, but his memoir Flying Funny: My Life without a Net doesn’t dwell on the comedy club. It’s about growing up among circus people, his brief career as an aerialist and the ‘stubborn, recurrent notion I had of creating an original scene onstage while performing it.’"—Pioneer Press"Like Riggs himself, his book is warm and a bit bashful in tone, avoiding the acres of melodrama and flamboyant flimflam found in many show business autobiographies. It reads like the work of a man with more good cheer than worry, making it through life’s travails without deep scars on his body or spirit. "—Star Tribune"The book is as entertaining as Riggs’ life and career and is recommended."—Circus Report and Show Biz USA"In this amusing memoir the ex-acrobat is still flying funny."—Spectacle