Scouting Circus Skit ideas

By: Posted On: 2020-10-05

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Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

 

I remember when I was a young boy, and the circus would come to town. Posters would start appearing all over town, and they would tell us about the circus that had come to town that was going to appear in the arena downtown. The circus would usually be there for three days…Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I would take a city bus on a Saturday afternoon and spend a few hours enjoying the time, being amazed by several of the circus acts and marveling that they could set all this up for a weekend and knowing that it would all be gone by Monday. I love the elephants and the other animals that would have performed, such as giraffes, lions, and bears.

The local newspaper urged kids to greet the circus crew as they arrived on-site at the lot on Hamblin Ave. between Capital and McCamly to watch them move all of the animals and circus stuff into the arena. The arena had a seating capacity of 7,000. Battle Creek crowds would get to watch a series of trapeze, acrobatic, and trampoline acts unfold during the show. The circus always had clowns, and usually, the clowns would put on some skits. Sometimes they would ask for volunteers to help them tell their stories. I never got picked to help the clowns at the circus, but I did get picked when I was at a Cub Scout meeting to help with a skit. I found a skit that was written down by a https://boyscouttrail.com/content/skit/flea_circus-2266.asp. This skit goes like this:

Items Required:

table
string
small dish
two straws
small box
rock

Script:

Ringmaster: Ladies and Gentlemen, we are proud to present the world's most amazing Flea Circus. To get things hopping, I present Hugo, who will walk the tightrope. When he reaches the center, he will turn a double somersault. May we have silence, please?
(two scouts stretch a string above table and third scout pretends to place a flea on one end of the string. Scouts follow the flea as it walks to the center of the string and does a doulbe somersault. They should point with their fingers and use exagerated head movements to follow the somersault up, up, and back down so the audience can see them.)

Ringmaster: Awesome! Hugo is going to attempt a world-record TRIPLE somersault now. Shhhhhh!
(Scouts follow the flea up, up, up, ... when an scout holding the string sneezes.)
Ringmaster: Oh no! Hugo is blown off course!

(one scout gulps and gags as if he inhaled the flea.)
Scout #1: Ack! I swallowed Hugo! (he runs offstage)

Ringmaster: Poor Hugo. Oh well, on with the show. Our next act is about to begin. Homer will jump from this scout's hand into a dish of water. Keep in mind the size of this tiny fellow.
(one scout comes onstage or a string holder does the next part. He sets the dish on the table and holds his hand out flat palm up high above the dish.)

Scout #2: 3, 2, 1, Jump! (follow his dive into the dish. Then scout retrieves flea from dish in his hand.)

Ringmaster: Well done, Homer! Give the little guy a big hand.
(Scout quickly claps, forgetting Homer - he looks shocked, and slowly parts hands, looks horrified at squished flea, and runs off stage.)

(scout #3 comes onstage with a rock)
Ringmaster: Too bad for Homer. Our next fabulous act features Hector, the weight lifting flea. Hector is the strongest flea in the world. That rock may not seem large to you, but think of how small Hector is... compare his size to the size of this rock.
(scout sets rock and flea on table and points at flea, flexs arm muscles, and points at flea again - indicating how strong Hector is)

Ringmaster: Hold up that rock so the audience can get a better look at it and see just how much weight Hector has to lift.
(scout holds up rock in one hand, bounces it a couple times, then plops it back onto the table without looking. He looks around for Hector, picks up rock, and finds him smashed to the underside of it. He runs offstage with the rock.)

(scout comes onstage wearing an easily-removed shirt)
Ringmaster: We seem to be having a bit of hard luck. But the show must go on. I now introduce Harry, the bare-back riding flea.
(scout removes shirt and places flea as far back over his shoulder as he can reach.)

Scout #4: Hang on, Harry! Here we go! (he runs offstage, barebacked)

(three scouts come onstage with string and straws.)
Ringmaster: He made it! And now Hank and Hillary will perform their world famous trapeze act. Hillary will make a triple somersault and Hiram will catch her.

(scouts hold up trapezes made of a straw on a string. Place flea on each one and start swinging them back and forth.)
Ringmaster: There they go! Watch them swing! Hillary lets go, she's turning a somersault. One, two, three, and Hiram catch.. er.. misses her!

(scouts look on floor for Hillary.
Scout #5: There she is! (points to floor near scout 6)
Scout #6: Where? (steps out of the way, but right onto the flea.)
Scout #5: You just stepped on her! Oh well, she needed more practice, anyway. Say, [to Ringmaster] we have another flea act for you. He's a man eating flea!
(opens small box) Oops, he got away!

(Ringmaster begins to scratch frantically, yells 'help' several times, and runs off stage. Scouts chase him.)
Scouts: Hey! Bring back our flea! We want our flea!

 

As I started looking around, I found some more Scout circus skits. I thought we would share some of them here. Several skits were already listed on our website. Here is a link to them Go to Insanescouter

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Ourpastimes.com/circus-skit-ideas had a bunch of great ideas for circus skits…Here are those that they had listed:

Clown Skit

One actor dresses as a ringmaster clown. The other clown is dressed as a lion tamer carrying a whip. You’ll need a rubber or stuffed chicken as well. The lion-tamer clown enters and begins cracking his whip at the chicken. The ringmaster clown then enters, watching the whip cracking. She asks the lion-tamer clown what he’s doing. The lion-tamer clown answers that he’s practicing to be a lion tamer. The ringmaster clown corrects him by saying, “But that’s a chicken.” The lion-tamer clown breaks into overacted sobs and says, “So am I!”

Three-Ring Circus Skit

Collect three people who have either very weird or very ordinary talents, such as wiggling their ears, rolling their tongues when they stick them out, shuffling cards, or putting on and tying their shoes. Have someone dress as a ringmaster and set up three rings in your performance area. Have the ringmaster announce, in a booming voice, each act as exotic and amazing. For example, the ringmaster could announce someone shuffling a pack of cards by saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, direct your eyes to the center ring and witness, for the first time viewed by human eyes, the mixing of cards at the speed of light!” Have the ringmaster shine a “spotlight” flashlight on each act as he announces it.

Dog and Cat Acts

This can be a comic circus skit whether you use real dogs and cats or have actors pretending to be animals. The trainer should have some classic animal tricks prepared – jumping through a hoop, barking or meowing on command and jumping from one perch to another, for example. If you have real animals, the humor is in how NOT trained they are. If you signal for your dog to jump through a hoop, he might wander over to an audience member to be petted, for example. The idea is to go with the “embarrassment“ of the failed tricks. For people who are pretending to be dogs or cats, dress them in tutus and bows to make them look like circus dogs and have them jump through hoops and dance on their hind legs. Funny!

Flea Circus Skit

This act is known as a “humbug," which means that the flea "performers" are imaginary. Set up a series of miniature acts, such as a tiny high wire, a tall platform and cup of water, and a mini trapeze. This skit needs a ringmaster or flea trainer to “sell” the idea that fleas are walking the high wire, diving into the cup of water, and swinging on the trapeze, even though nothing is there. For example, to convince the audience that a flea has jumped into the water (when, in fact, nothing has happened), the trainer could say, “Ladies and gentlemen, a true and amazing first has just taken place before your very eyes! Freddy the Flea has landed his triple gainer without a splash!”

 

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If you have any more ideas for circus skits for Scouts, please list them in the comment section below.

 

 

 

 


 
 

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