The Passing Zone
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| The Passing Zone | ||
 Jon Wee (l) and Owen Morse, The Passing Zone (do not attempt this at home) |
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name: | Jon Wee Owen Morse |
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| Official site: | www.passingzone.com | |
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| Genres: | Comedy, Juggling | |
The Passing Zone is a comedy-juggling team consisting of Jon Wee and Owen Morse. The two men met at a juggling convention in Northern California in 1986 and decided two years later to team up. Since then, The Passing Zone has won 18 gold medals from the International Jugglers' Association, holds five Guinness World Records, was one of the ten finalists during the début season of NBC's America's Got Talent, and has entertained at the Royal Command Performance for England's Prince Charles (who called the act "very clever, although I'm glad I wasn't sitting in the front row!").[1] The Passing Zone regularly performs for some of the top corporations in the United States while stressing the importance and benefits of teamwork.[2]
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Background
Jonathan Wee is one of three children of David and Karen Wee (he has two sisters) and was raised in Northfield, Minnesota.[3] A performer since age 14, Wee preferred to juggle with partners; together with two childhood friends (calling themselves Three of Clubs), Wee worked the Minnesota Renaissance Fair. "We were really pretty bad," he told Jugglers' World, "but they thought, 'we'll let them in.'"[4]
Owen Morse, of Tustin, California,[5] began performing in high school, crafted a 15-minute-long, sports-themed routine set to music, and eventually earned work through an agency in Hollywood, playing the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach while in high school and working at Disneyland while in college.[6] "I think of myself as being quite shy," said Morse, "and it was a big step to get up in front of people."
A mutual friend introduced Wee and Morse at a jugglers' convention in San Jose, California, and they spent the next year corresponding regularly. The two met again at the IJA convention in Akron, Ohio, and decided to pair up for the Teams Championships in Denver, Colorado, in 1988. Afterwards, they decided that Wee would move to Southern California after he graduated from Luther College that spring. Morse graduated one year later from University of California, Irvine.[4]
As of 2006, Morse lives in Tustin with his wife and their two daughters. Wee lives in Hermosa Beach with his wife and their son and daughter.[6]
[edit] Career
Wee and Morse spent several years honing their act at comedy clubs, trade shows and colleges. They were the first jugglers to pass eleven clubs between them, and have created such innovations as "The Chainsaw Ballet" (performed to The Blue Danube) and "people juggling" (featuring three audience members hanging from special rigging).[7]
The Passing Zone has performed during half-time shows at NBA, CBA and NCAA sporting events. Wee and Morse have been featured on such television progams as Comic Strip Live, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (twice),[6] Donny & Marie and Live with Regis and Kathie Lee.[8] They were hired as juggling stand-ins for Raul Julia and Christopher Lloyd in The Addams Family (1991).[9]
The men also became popular at corporate events, where they would demonstrate the concept of teamwork by bringing executives and employees to the stage as part of their act. They have performed for such diverse groups as Boeing, Deloitte and Touche, Hewlett-Packard, Mattel and the United States Army.[10]
[edit] America's Got Talent
The Passing Zone made its first appearance during the third week of America's Got Talent, as part of the Chicago auditions aired on July 5, 2006. Wee bounced a rubber (prop) bowling ball off of Morse's face ("to make sure you're paying attention"), then climbed onto Morse's shoulders while Morse balanced on a Rola Bola long enough for the duo to juggle a total of six flaming torches in unison. The judges' assessments were not unanimous; David Hasselhoff rejected them ("That's the act?!") while Brandy and Piers Morgan wanted to see more.[11]
Wee and Morse replicated "people juggling" for the semi-finals on August 2, 2006, winning over the audience and Hasselhoff ("I think I have just gotten out of 'I Hate Jugglers Anonymous'").[12] One of ten acts to return for the finals two weeks later, The Passing Zone brought Hasselhoff to the stage and, as all three men wore torches atop construction helmets (and with Hasselhoff holding four spinning plates), Wee and Morse passed sickles back and forth around Hasselhoff.[13] Though Morgan thought they had "thrown this competition wide open", The Passing Zone finished in the bottom five when the results of the viewers' vote were announced on August 17, 2006.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | The Addams Family | Gomez and Fester Addams as jugglers | Stand-ins for Raul Julia and Christopher Lloyd |
| 2005 | The Aristocrats | Themselves |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Otten, Liam. Flying chainsaws! 'The Passing Zone' extreme jugglers at Edison May 6-7. wustl.edu. Retrieved on 20 September 2006.
- ^ The Passing Zone: Catch this! (official site). passingzone.com. Retrieved on 15 September 2006.
- ^ Bretts, Anne. Jon Wee makes finals on America's got Talent. northfield.org. Retrieved on 15 September 2006.
- ^ a b Jones, Dave. Flash! The Passing Zone Lives Outside Conventions, Too!. juggling.org. Retrieved on 15 September 2006.
- ^ Larsen, Peter. Jugglers get dropped on America's got Talent. ocregister.com. Retrieved on 17 September 2006.
- ^ a b c Larsen, Peter. More than a passing chance. ocregister.com. Retrieved on 20 September 2006.
- ^ The Passing Zone: awards (official site). passingzone.com. Retrieved on 15 September 2006.
- ^ The Passing Zone: bragging rights (official site). passingzone.com. Retrieved on 15 September 2006.
- ^ Juggling in Movies: The Addams Family (1991). juggling.org. Retrieved on 16 September 2006.
- ^ The Passing Zone: clients (official site). passingzone.com. Retrieved on 15 September 2006.
- ^ America's Got Talent > Episode 104 Recap. nbc.com. Retrieved on 15 September 2006.
- ^ America's Got Talent > Episode 108 Recap. nbc.com. Retrieved on 15 September 2006.
- ^ America's Got Talent > Episode 110 Recap. nbc.com. Retrieved on 15 September 2006.
