Dan Meyer, Cutting Edge
Innertainment If you watched NBC’s summer hit TV show America's Got
Spotlight on Associates ing.
Talent this summer, you may have seen extreme sword swallow- er Dan Meyer from Tampa Florida wow the judges and audience with his spectacular act – Dan pulled a car carrying host Nick Cannon across the stage with just a 24 inch swallowed sword down this throat and a superhuman dose of sheer willpower. Like most people, you probably wondered, “How in the world did he do that?
...And WHY?” Known as “The World’s TOP sword swallower" by Ripley's
Believe It or Not, 39x world champion sword swallower Dan Meyer has been wowing audiences at fairs and festivals across the US and for over 750 million people in 40 countries around the world. Brenda Bell of Wow Attractions caught up with Dan at his
Tampa home between fairs and TV documentaries to ask Dan about America’s Got Talent, the secrets of sword swallowing, and his calling as a sword swallower performing at fairs, festi- vals, and family events around the world. Brenda Bell, Wow Attractions: So Dan, the first question eve-
ryone wants to know is WHY did you become a sword swallow- er? Did you just wake up one day and decide to swallow a sword? Tell us how you got into sword swallowing and why you're a sword swallower today... Dan Meyer, Cutting Edge Innertainment: “I grew up a scared,
shy, skinny wimpy kid in the small town of Michigan City, Indi- ana. I grew up with extreme fears, social anxiety disor- der, was teased and beat up by the bullies, and was told I’d never amount to anything. I would run home and escape to Superman comics, Guinness Book of World Records and Ripley’s Believe It or Not books;
I wanted
to be a superhero and fly around the world doing super- human feats and saving lives.
I figured if the bullies
wouldn’t let me play in their sports games, I vowed I would someday do real feats that the bullies could not do; I wanted to find my superpower, my purpose and calling, do something remarkable with my life and change the world – I wanted to prove the impossible was not impossible. As a kid, I loved going to the circus. In college, I got
into the circus arts and learned circus clowning, juggl- ing, fire-eating, glass eating, unicycle riding and stilt walking. In the late 1970s I worked with some small circuses, and in the ‘90s I worked in the music business in Nashville TN. Then in 1997, I met a sword swallow- er who piqued my interested when he told me there were “less than a dozen sword swallowers left in the entire world.” When I asked him for tips on learning sword swallowing, he said, “Two tips: #1: It’s extreme- ly dangerous; 29 people have died from sword swallow- ing injuries!
#2: Don’t try it!” Instead of dissuading
me, his comments actually served as a challenge for me to learn this ancient art myself! So I set a goal to find each of those sword swallowers, learn sword swallow- ing, and eventually become the world’s top sword swal-
FAIRCRACKER-FALL 2016 51
lower myself. So in 1997, at the age of 40, I began studying sword swallow- I researched every book, magazine and medical report on
sword swallowing, studied anatomy and physiology, talked with doctors and nurses, and searched out all of the surviving sword swallowers for tips on learning the ancient art. Then I bought a small 13 inch dagger, had it silver plated, and began practicing 10 to 12 times a day every day for nearly 4 years, a total of about 13,000 unsuccessful attempts, before I got my first sword down my throat in 2001. Then it took another 2 years to get consistent at it and start putting an entertaining show together, and another 5 years to master it to where I could swallow multiple swords and start pushing the envelope with extreme feats. I have now been sword swallowing full-time professionally for over 15 years;
I’ve received 7 Guinness World Records, been
featured in 6 Ripley’s books, cartoons, and in all their museums worldwide, and I’ve now been honored to perform in over 40 countries around the world. In 2007 I was honored to win the 2007 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine at Harvard University for medi- cal research on sword swallowing, which opened doors for me to speak and perform for top universities and medical centers around the world, and led me into doing TED talks around the world. Over the past few years, I’ve been invited to share my story and the history of sword swallowing at 9 TED talks on four continents around the world. Today, I enjoy being able to impact people’s lives and change the world in my own unique way by inspiring audiences to overcome obstacles and do the impossible in THEIR lives!”
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