STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Picture the scene if you would. People gather in Mallory Square on Key West near the waterfront. They're surrounded by boats and restaurants and roaming chickens. As the sun starts to drop, the street performers start up - jugglers, musicians, acrobats. And one of them is Dr. Juice, the Calypso Tumbler who's been jumping over things for decades. Here he is as part of our series The World's A Stage.
JOHN ALLICOCK: Are you guys ready for a show?
(CHEERING)
ALLICOCK: My name is John Allicock. They call me Dr. Juice. I'm 58 years old. Thank God. And I love what I do.
Is this a show crowd? Say yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah.
ALLICOCK: I call it hard tumbling because I use concrete. I do flips - back flip, front flip, side flips. I also dive through hoop with fire and without fire - 18 inches hoop. I go over an object. Most of the times, I use a young lady that sits in the bike.
Whatever you do, sugar, don't look up. I'm going to run real fast, jumping from here - zwing - flying through the hula hoop...
(CHEERING)
ALLICOCK: ...Over Jill's head, landing on the other side on this hard concrete, risking my life for your amusement. Everybody go, yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah.
ALLICOCK: Everybody clap. Everybody clap. Everybody clap for me. Oh, shake it, baby. Shake it.
(CHEERING)
ALLICOCK: Come on, somebody. Look, I had a nice crowd - wonderful crowd, man. Thanks for showing up. This is street theater. All the money I'm making tonight is going directly to charity...
(APPLAUSE)
ALLICOCK: ...When she gets off at midnight.
(LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: NPR's Greg Allen recorded John Allicock, aka Dr. Juice, during one of his nightly performances in Key West's Mallory Square. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.