At the age of 10, Jason’s family moved to Apple Valley, California, and Jason quickly became popular as the class clown, doing silly impressions of teachers and other students. When Jason was twelve, his 6th grade teacher, Brian Ewert, one day taught his students how to juggle during P.E.; Jason truly found a way to entertain and was fascinated!

Jason spent literally every waking moment perfecting the difficult art of manipulating objects in the air. During a family trip to Las Vegas, he saw “Melinda, the First Lady of Magic” and her variety act, Anthony Gatto (the greatest technical juggler in the world). Blown away by the combination of magic and juggling, Jason spent all of his allowance at a local magic shop the very next day.

Being the perfectionist that he is, it wasn’t long before Jason was perfecting his new-found crafts and performing at local birthday parties and charity events. By the age of 13, Jason was juggling eight objects and became a junior member of the world famous and prestigious Magic Castle in Hollywood.

While honing his craft of performance art, Jason also began to take extra classes for credit in high school. His determination helped him to graduate nearly two years early, and at the age of 16, he moved to Hollywood. Jason was a hit every year at the “Future Stars of Magic” week at the Magic Castle, and before the age of 16, he was the youngest person to ever perform during a “members only” evening. When Jason graduated from the juniors’ program, he received the coveted “Junior Achievement award” from Harry Anderson, at the annual Academy of Magical Arts banquet.

In 1993, Jason headed to Las Vegas to perform at the opening of the new MGM Grand and quickly realized that Las Vegas was the perfect place to live. As a man whose passion is learning new and exciting forms of art, Jason found a plethora in Las Vegas! He used his athletic abilities to learn to high dive, high fall and sword fight and become one of the stars of the Dueling Pirates Stunt Spectacular. Those skills also led him to be a stunt man in the movies “Mars Attacks” by Tim Burton and “Con Air” by Jerry Bruckheimer!

It was also in Las Vegas where Jason learned exciting circus and variety skills like hand balancing and stilt walking. Never satisfied, Jason also took up the hobby of portrait drawing and learned how to airbrush and draw caricatures. Although this is just a hobby, Jason’s striving for perfection has made him one of the most popular caricature artists in the corporate world.

While working very steadily and contentedly in Las Vegas and across the country, Jason continued to work on self-fulfilling projects like the hit special T.H.E.M. Totally Hidden Extreme Magic on NBC, which was seen by over seven million viewers.

In 2003, Jason began working with world famous producer David Saxe (Melinda the First Lady of Magic, V The Ultimate Variety show and Showgirls of Magic). It wasn’t long before Jason challenged himself with new directions and became the Executive Vice President of David Saxe Productions and the V Theater Group.  For several years Jason managed every aspect of 8 successful shows in Las Vegas at hotels like the Aladdin, Sahara, Planet Hollywood and the Tropicana as well as numerous shows around the world! With the 24 hour a day schedule of an executive, Jason handled all aspects of live shows including management, legal, union,  showroom, box office, IT, Graphics, sales, and much more. Responsible for all that as well as the management of over 120 employees, Jason found himself off the stage for over a year. Realizing that to be happy, he needed to be performing, Jason and his now good friend David Saxe agreed that he should get back to performing and create the greatest one man show ever!

In 2007, with a new passion and knowledge of the entertainment business, Jason began to work on his new one-man show. When this show is complete, he will bring it back and produce it in Las Vegas. In the meantime, Jason is traveling around the world fine-tuning new material  on the amazing stages on board the ships of cruise industry giants, Princess and Royal Caribbean.

Although Jason has a repertoire of over 300 voices, this show will be so much more! Jason is embarking on a journey to redefine live theater as we know it! This high energy, one-man show combines cutting edge multimedia, hysterical comedy, amazing dance, awesome acrobatics and dangerous stunts as well as singing, martial arts, juggling, magic, fire eating and so much more!

It will truly be the greatest variety show ever performed by one man!

Well, leave it to me to crack my head open open trying to make people laugh. I can’t even say that I didn’t expect it to happen. I knew it was going to happen…I even planned on cutting that part… but when I get going… There is NO stopping me!

As the finale to my second show, I do an impression of Donald O’Connor from the classic movie “Singing In The Rain.” I perform nearly all of the scene, “Make ‘Em Laugh.” If you have never seen that movie or that scene, you are missing out! It is amazing! Go rent it, or better yet, buy it!

In the scene, there are quite a few Prat-Falls, front flips, diving over a couch and many other painful bits of classic Slap-Stick comedy, not to mention the famous running up the walls and flipping over backwards!

On the Star Princess “Vista Showroom”, the ceiling over the stage is maybe 7 feet high… Definitely not enough room to do a backflip running up a wall. (I’ve done this routine before in a small theater, but I just flipped off the couch instead off the wall.) In this theater, however, there isn’t nearly enough room to jump off of the couch. There are many lights and other metal things that are rigged up hanging down from the ceiling.

Dead set on doing this stupid back flip, I decide that I will just do it off of the edge of the stage and onto the minimal space I have available on the ground in front of the audience. (As I write this, I already think I am a moron…. and it gets worse!)

There is only one part of the stage where this back flip may be possible as there is a projector and lights hanging down everywhere in the way. I find one spot where this will work. It is just about 2 feet stage left of the center. There is a perfect space between the projector and the hanging lights. If I get myself positioned perfectly and not jump too high towards the lights or too far backwards towards the audience, I can make this happen without hitting the lights with my head or feet on the way over. (Okay, I must have hit my head sometime before this, because while writing this, I have no idea what I was thinking!!!)

I am now in the middle of the routine, the finale to my show. The audience is loving it, laughing and applauding with every fall. I know in my head I should just skip the flip and fall again instead, but I have to “make ‘em laugh”! I position myself on the edge of the stage, look up at the space between the projector and lights, take a deep breath, (I am already exhausted from the energy of this whole routine) I jump up, being careful not to jump to high or too far back. I tuck my legs to get a fast rotation and immediately know it is going to be disaster! I landed on my feet but a little short and bent forward. Because I didn’t jump far enough back, I landed too close to the stage where I hit my head on the hard corner!

I had a hat on that protected me a bit and It didn’t even hurt… I thought I just barely tapped it. I jumped and fell several more times, finished the routine to a huge round of applause and a standing ovation!

I took my bows and went back stage to wipe the sweat dripping from my head… It wasn’t sweat. My hand was covered in blood… and ALOT of it! No big deal, I thought. I couldn’t even feel it. Even tiny scratches on the head will bleed for days. It wasn’t until until Ben, the Assistant Cruise Director looked at my head and turned white. “You need to go to the Doctor Mate!” He said. (Obviously this bloke was from Australia.)

I looked in the mirror, after filling a full bath towel with blood, at the giant gash in my head that was open to my skull! At this point I agreed that I should see the Doctor.

Three thick threaded stitches later, the Doctor had closed the wound and let me know that I will forever have a nice scar to remind me of how much of a moron I am! I told her, “Oh well… But you should have seen the audience applause! It was worth it!”

Well, in Texas I realized that there was no need to hurry. The plane there was installing the necessary part to pass the safety regulation so we could take off. (Boy that makes me feel comfortable) It’s only a 2 hour delay or so… No biggie. We can make up an hour in the air, so we will only arrive an hour late.

Upon arrival to Chile (it’s now the next day and I still haven’t slept) I exit the plane and the strap to my laptop bag breaks! That really sucks because I pack it full of stuff… it’s heavy! I can live with that but it sucks to hold it in the giant lines at immigration.

I wait in the long immigration line and when I finally get to the front it looks as if there is a problem with my passport. The lady is flipping through it not able to find what she is looking for. In her very basic English she asks if I had ever paid the “Chile Tax”. Very confused, I told her, “no”. At this point she directed me to a long line somewhere else and said to pay first and then come back… Off to the next line.

After waiting again in the next line, all the while holding my heavy bag, I get to the front of the line and am shocked to have to pay $131 American dollars just to land in Chile!! UUGGHHHH! Apparently, it’s a one time fee and the proof of payment is now forever stapled to my passport. Woo hoo. Off again to the previous line.

Yay. After waiting in line a third time, I finally get through immigration… Now off to customs. (I still haven’t slept by the way)

So if you have never been through customs, it’s really no big deal… Just more lines. This is where I wait for my luggage… drag it to another line… put it through an ex-ray…. open it up… put it back together… give them my forms I filled out on the plane…then finally exit and find my car.

Once I find the driver of the car, we of course have to wait for all of the other people coming in on all of the other flights that are driving with us… Enter another hour of my life gone. (Did I mention I haven’t slept yet?)

Once we get all of the people together we all lug our luggage outside and across the parking lots, over curbs to the shuttles. At the car there is someone to lift it 10 inches into the trunk. (thanks for the help)

I am now inside the shuttle (it’s actually a bus that seats about and the guy who lifted my suitcase pokes his head inside and asks everyone for his tip! Awkwardly everyone gives him some “dinero” but all I have is a $20 bill. I ask him if he has change and he gives me a $5 bill and three $1 bills… I said, “NO. Give me ten more, that’s way too much. I will give you $2 for a tip.” He gives me 1,000 mil pesos and says it’s the same as 10 American dollars… no one in the bus can verify this, so I trust him… stupid. Turns out it’s worth about $2.

Finally we begin to drive. After about 40 minutes, we ask how much longer. (usually it’s around 15 minutes to a hotel) The driver says we are only about an hour away! Nice… I figure I will lay against the window and try to rest… It’s at this point that I realize I left my neck pillow on the plane! This will be the second one I’ve lost now.

Finally we arrive at the hotel. Take our bags out and begin the check in process. (there are about 20 other people checking in. They are the new crew that is joining this ship). After waiting for 7 or 8 people, it’s my turn. I filled out paper work, gave them my passport to copy and now they can’t find my name on the list of people checking in. I am asked to wait while they call the agency that booked the rooms. Meanwhile they are still trying to check in everyone else.

Once everyone is checked in, they finally have time for me. As it turns out, I am at a different hotel. The driver dropped me off at the wrong place! Let me just stand over here with my bags and wait another 30 minutes for him to come back and get me.

The driver is back, we load my bags again, drive 5 blocks, unload my bags again and start the check-in process all over again. Before the driver leaves, I ask what time we are supposed to be in the lobby for pick-up. He tells me at 6:30 a.m. Wow… that sucks. I am not a morning person and that is around 3:30 a.m. my time!

After checking in, someone helps me carry one of my bags to my room. I am in 1210. We get in the elevator and he presses 13. (yeah, they have floor 13 in other countries). I ask why not 12 but he doesn’t speak much English. He explains why but I “no comprende.”

As my good luck would have it, there is no elevator to my floor. It’s across a skywalk to another building that has no elevator. We lug my (heavy) bags out of the elevator, up a flight of stairs, across the bridge and then down two more flights of stairs to floor 12. Are you kidding me???!!! Once in my room I of course have to tip the man and I realize that I will have to do this again all by myself at 6:00 in the morning!!!!!!

Man, that flight SUCKED!

After an exhausting flight from Las Vegas through Texas to San Jose, Costa Rica, I board the “Island Princess” anxious to be back for the second time on this ship with my first itinerary through the Panama Canal.

When I board the Island Princess, however, I am exhausted! Was it the long flight? Jet lag? I don’t know… I got plenty of sleep the night before. None the less, I take a nap when I find my room.

9 hours later, at around 9:00 pm, I wake up still not refreshed. I am soooo tired! I don’t feel sick, but I have my first show tomorrow. I don’t want to be up all night and be tired again, so I go to sleep for the night. When I wake up in the morning I feel a bit better, so I get up and have breakfast. It’s not more than an hour before I can’t hardly stand on my feet… I hope I am not getting some crazy South American disease! I have a sound check at 5:00, so I set several alarms and lay down for a bit. I hit my snooze on every alarm and didn’t get up until the stage manager called me at 4:00 asking where I was. (yup… We crossed time zones so now we are an hour ahead!) Oops! I run backstage and pull myself through my rehearsal and then go get some pasta to give me some energy.

I make it through my first show and then get some more pasta, pizza and Coke… Anything with carbs and caffeine to get me through the last performance at 10:15. The show goes fine but I am so exhausted afterwards that I go straight back to my room and get some more rest.

The next day, we are going through the Panama Canal. I wake up fairly early and go outside to get a few pictures. It’s not long before I just am not going to make it! I don’t know what’s wrong… I took some Echinecia and even Airborne. I haven’t missed any of my prescription pills either. (I have a prescription pill that I have to take every day. I leave it on my nightstand and I take it religiously!)

12 hours later, I wake up at night and have completely slept through the Panama Canal!!!!! I am so angry, but I have yet another thing to do tomorrow in the early evening so I try to get some MORE sleep so I can get up in the morning and prepare. (I promised that I would do a lecture and a small performance for the kids in the youth center and I had to find things to do in the morning)

Once again, I get up the next morning and can barely function. I struggle through it trying to track down things to do… a rope to do magic… some apples to juggle… anything. I am just soooooo tired!

I get back to my room and start to clear out my laptop bag so I can use it to carry these props to the youth center. As I take everything out of my bag I find the bottle of prescription pills that I take every morning. That doesn’t make any sense… they are by my bed on the nightstand. I rush over to the night stand to prove that I am not crazy and sure enough, I see a bottle of prescription medicine there….. OH NO! What the hell have I been taking every morning for the last 4 days????!!!!!!!!  Yeah… you guessed it…. Every morning for 4 days straight, I have been waking up and taking a powerful, prescription SLEEPING PILL Called Temazapam!!!!!!!!!!! Wow! Not only does that suck, but that is probably the stupidist things I have ever done… and I did it EVERY DAY for FOUR DAYS straight!!!!!!

I don’t even remember having those pills with me. I took them once, a long time ago, but they knocked me out and I was still groggy in the mornings… So I never took them again. LOL! I think someone put them in my bag for me because they thought I would use them since I always have trouble sleeping in these crazy time zones… I’ve slept enough for the rest of the year… I have thrown them out!!!

The next night was my last show. WOW! It went great! I had soooooo much energy!!!! 

I am traveling on the Star Princess for two weeks down the Eastern side of South America. The trip starts in Buenos Aries, Argentina and heads down, what we thought, was around Cape Horn and then back up the Western side.

Ah…after checking the weather forecasts and talking to friends who have been there before, I packed all my tank tops and t-shirts ready for the nice sunny weather of summertime in South America.

Imagine my surprise as I stand on the deck of the ship by one of the eight gorgeous swimming pools, when I hear the announcement, “Good afternoon passengers. It should be an amazing and gorgeous trip as we make our way down for a 5 day sail around Antarctica.” ANTARCTICA???!!!! 5 DAYS???!!!! But all I brought was a T-shirt!

Yup… It pays to assume that a cruise ship will do a “special” run and check the FULL ITINERARY before you leave! It was Freezing!!! But amazing! Luckily I had that thin jacket in the picture above… I assure you, it didn’t really help. That picture was taken FAST and I ran back inside immediately after!

Most days it was too cold to open the door on the ship. It was windy and snowing like crazy. ALL the other passengers and crew were in parkas and huge hats with boots…. I was probably the second most talked about thing on that whole trip… next to the penguins.