Meet the Duo

Daredevil Chicken is Jonathan Taylor and Anne Goldmann — a husband-and-wife modern vaudeville act combining comedy with absurd characters and circus skills. The partnership began in 2001 on the streets of Barcelona; since then they've taken very silly things very seriously in over 34 countries, from Off-Broadway to London's West End to the Las Vegas Strip.

Jonathan Taylor and Anne Goldmann of Daredevil Chicken

Spiegelworld — Absinthe, Opium, Empire· La Soirée, West End· Cirque du Soleil — Mad Apple· Lookingglass Theatre· Melbourne Int'l Comedy Festival· The Gong Show winners· 34 countries

Jonathan Taylor

Performer, director, teacher — a full-time performing artist since 1995, when his first professional job was clowning for the greatest show on earth.

Jonathan trained at the Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre and Ringling Bros Clown College, toured with Ringling Brothers Circus, and learned wire-walking from the Flying Wallendas. Years of street performing across four continents shaped the interactive style he's known for.

He made his Off-Broadway debut in Blue Man Group — eight years as a Blue Man in seven cities, then local director for three international productions. From 2009 to 2022 he was the comedic host of Spiegelworld's Absinthe, Opium and Empire, and has clowned in the Olivier-winning La Soirée in the West End and on tour in Australia.

Anne Goldmann

A California native with 30 years of live performance across conventional, avant-garde, variety, clown and circus stages.

Anne trained at San Francisco's ACT Academy, studied hand-balancing and acrobatics with master trainer Lu Yi at the San Francisco Circus School, and clown with Canadian master teacher Sue Morrison. Her award-winning shows "Does this mean anything to you?" and "extra-Ordinary Vacancy" premiered at PS122 in New York.

She performs solo as her cabaret-singer character La Dolce Flamingo, and recently joined the UK's premiere clown theatre company, Spymonkey, for a run of "Hysteria" at Tampa's Straz Center. Offstage she's a visual artist — see her work at birdofplay.com.

Twenty-five years. One banana.

What started in 2001 on the streets of Barcelona has grown into a theater company creating cabaret acts, clown shows and street theater — and curating main stage entertainment for festivals across the United States.

Their acts have played Off-Broadway, London's West End with La Soirée, Berlin cabaret, and festivals from the World Buskers Festival in Christchurch to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Highlights include Spiegelworld's Absinthe, Opium and Empire, Lookingglass Theatre's "Cascabel" with chef Rick Bayless, and Cirque du Soleil's Mad Apple and One Drop in Las Vegas. On television: Italy's Tu Si Que Vales, Germany's Das SuperTalent, and two seasons of ABC's The Gong Show — where an act called "Married with Bananas" did exactly what it promised, and won Season One.

These days they're based in Glen Ellen, in California's Sonoma Valley, where they produce their own show — The Magic Banana Hour at the historic Sebastiani Theatre — and teach the next generation of clowns how to fail beautifully.

In the press

"Eye-watering vaudeville."

— Time Out London

The New York Times · Variety · Time Out London · Chicago Tribune · NPR · Vulture