PODCAST · arts
To The Hilt
by Marc Hartzman and Dan Meyer
Welcome to To the Hilt! The podcast version of To The Hilt: A Sword Swallower’s History of Sword Swallowing—a book that explores the mysterious and dangerous world of sword swallowing, charting its history from ancient rituals to mod¬ern-day performances. This show features its co-authors, world-renowned sword swallower Dan Meyer and sideshow historian Marc Hartzman, cutting up jackpots with modern-day sword swallowers. In other words, hear their wild stories and experiences as they travel the world gulping steel blades for your entertainment and keeping this most unusual art alive.
Episodes
-
Stan Marye: Memoirs of a 1950s Sword Swallower
Meet Stan Marye, an 88-year-old former sword swallower who started after reading an excerpt of Daniel Mannix’s 1951 book, Step Right Up!, in Reader’s Digest. He taught himself fire-eating and then learned to gulp steel. During the 1950s and '60s he worked with numerous sideshows and added various...
-
Jellyboy: Clown of Danger and Science
You may have seen Jellyboy the Clown on America’s Got Talent Season 19, where he amazed audiences and the judges. Or perhaps you've read his recent book: Memoirs of a Coney Island Clown (Outside Talker Press). In this episode, you'll hear about Jellyboy’s beginnings as a clown, his start in sword...
-
Keith Nelson: Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Sword Swallower
Keith Nelson, also known as Mr. Pennygaff, is the co-founder of the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. The Bindlestiffs have been performing circus, sideshow, and vaudeville acts for thirty years. The show has presented nearly 600 of the world’s top artists in the circus and variety fields across New…
more -
Chris Steele: World’s Most Extreme Sword Swallower
Chris Steele is the sword swallowing half of America’s Favorite Sideshow Couple, Captain & Maybelle. In this episode, you’ll hear about his start in gulping steel, his adventures on America’s Got Talent and Wife Swap, working with Ripley’s, lifting cinder blocks from a swallowed sword, twisting 7...
-
Bill Berry: Juggling Sword Swallower
Bill Berry has been entertaining, juggling, and sword swallowing for more than 25 years, and is world-renowned as a silver medalist IJA juggler. Along with his performing partner Nerdy Noah Royak, they perform a variety juggling-sword swallowing act as the Distinguished Daredevils. In this…
more -
The Amazing Zilla: Feral Showgirl
The Amazing Zilla is a sword swallower known for swallowing monster swords, as well as a bearded lady and contortionist. In this episode, she talks about learning to swallow swords from Red Stuart and how to modify her blades properly, swallowing an Excalibur sword at a beard and mustache...
-
Red Stuart: The Living Legend
Red Stuart has been swallowing swords since 1967, when he learned from sideshow performer Toni Del Rio. Within two years, his quick mastery of the art led him to become the only sword swallower to swallow broadswords and car axles. Red has worked with many shows over the years, including Ward…
more -
The Lizardman: Modified Marvel
Erik Sprague, better known as The Lizardman, is a sword swallower, multi-talented performer, and author. As his website says, he’s “The Modified Marvel from the dark heart of Austin, a man with more ink in his skin, than blood in his veins." In this episode, he discusses his beginnings in sword...
-
Franz Huber: Bavarian Daredevil
Franz began swallowing swords in 2013, and since then has earned nine world records, including the most bowling pins knocked down while sword swallowing, the most sit-ups while sword swallowing, and swallowing the most curved sword (133 degrees). In this episode, Dan and I speak to him during his...
-
Adam Realman: Coney Island Sword Swallower
Adam Rinn, aka, Adam Realman, is the artistic director at Coney Island USA and has been swallowing swords for about 25 years after learning at the Coney Island Sideshow School. Years later he took over as its instructor teaching sideshow arts to students eager to learn. In this episode, Adam...
-
Brad Byers: Sword Swallower with a Twist
Brad Byers has been swallowing swords for more than 45 years and is known for swallowing 12 swords one at a time and then twisting all 12 blades at once in place. Brad also juggles, rides a unicycle and tiny bicycles, balances on the rola bola board, walks on broken glass, yoyos, throws tops…
more -
Cyrus Pynn: The Most Swashbuckling Sword Swallower
Cyrus Pynn is a sword swallower, juggler, equilibrist, and knife thrower known for his amazing shows at Ren Faires. As his website says, “He's a man of skill, a man of danger, and some would say....a complete lunatic.” Hear about his adventures in sword swallowing and more in this episode. Cyrus…
more -
Jim “Lucky” Ball: The World’s Oldest Sword Swallower
At 89 years old, Jim Ball holds a rare triple distinction in sword swallowing: he’s the world’s oldest living sword swallower; when he learned at age 12, he was the world’s youngest; and having swallowed steel for 77 years, he’s the world’s longest-performing sword swallower. Jim is also unique…
more -
Brianna Belladonna: Mistress of Mayhem
Brianna Belladonna is a tattooed sword swallower, fire eater, and all-around daredevil who’s appeared on How I Met Your Mother, AMC’s Freakshow, CSI, Inked, just to name a few shows, and has performed at The Magic Castle, Six Flags Theme Park, the Playboy Mansion, Coney Island, the Jim Rose…
more -
George "The Giant" McArthur: World's Tallest Sword Swallower
George “The Giant” McArthur stands 7’ 3” and is known as the world’s tallest sword swallower. He’s been gulping steel since the mid ‘90s. Find out how and why he got started, and about the adventures he’s had since—including being cast in Tim Burton’s 2003 film Big Fish. George the Giant is one…
more
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
Welcome to To the Hilt! The podcast version of To The Hilt: A Sword Swallower’s History of Sword Swallowing—a book that explores the mysterious and dangerous world of sword swallowing, charting its history from ancient rituals to mod¬ern-day performances. This show features its co-authors, world-renowned sword swallower Dan Meyer and sideshow historian Marc Hartzman, cutting up jackpots with modern-day sword swallowers. In other words, hear their wild stories and experiences as they travel the world gulping steel blades for your entertainment and keeping this most unusual art alive.
HOSTED BY
Marc Hartzman and Dan Meyer
CATEGORIES
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does To The Hilt have?
To The Hilt currently has 15 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is To The Hilt about?
Welcome to To the Hilt! The podcast version of To The Hilt: A Sword Swallower’s History of Sword Swallowing—a book that explores the mysterious and dangerous world of sword swallowing, charting its history from ancient rituals to mod¬ern-day performances. This show features its co-authors,...
How often does To The Hilt release new episodes?
To The Hilt has 15 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to To The Hilt?
You can listen to To The Hilt on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts To The Hilt?
To The Hilt is created and hosted by Marc Hartzman and Dan Meyer.
URL copied to clipboard!