The Great Fredini

In the late 1988, I debuted The Great Fredini with a performance The Incredible Molten Glass Spectacle Extra-Ordinaire at the New York Experimental Glass Workshop on Mulberry Street. What began as a one-off performance quickly grew into a stage persona, leading me to Coney Island, where by 1991 I was performing in the legendary Coney Island Sideshow. Working alongside veteran magicians and sideshow performers helped shape the Great Fredini as “the world’s worst magician.” When the show needed a sword swallower, I was told that sword swallowing was, at its core, a form of yoga—so I began training at Jivamukti Yoga School with David Life and Sharon Gannon, eventually using that foundation to teach myself the art of swallowing swords.

In 1996, after completing graduate studies at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, I stepped away from the sideshow and founded Burlesque at the Beach, Coney Island USA’s long-running burlesque series. For more than two decades—from its inception through 2019—the Great Fredini remained a regular presence on its stage, helping shape the revival of New York’s underground performance scene while continuing to evolve as a magician, artist, and showman.