Flea circus

Sesame Street's flea circus training grounds.

Guntag Gelman Jones, flea trainer.

A Flea circus refers to a circus sideshow attraction. The first records of a flea performance date back to 1833 in England, and continued on until the 1970s when it became a lost artform.

Various techniques are used to create the illusion of a "circus". Some attractions use live fleas, sometimes attached to various props, or left to roam free. Oftentimes these displays use chemicals to encourage fleas to repel objects from them, or vice versa.

Others use no fleas at all, and instead use mechanical, electrical, or magnetic devices to give an illusion to the audience, allowing them to suspend disbelief and enjoy the show in much the same way that they know that a magician won't really saw a girl in half.

The flea circus has been referenced in popular culture from Charlie Chaplin's Limelight, Pixar's A Bug's Life, and Jurassic Park.

References

• Oscar the Grouch auditions his pet flea Fernando for the circus in Episode 1451.

• In episode 3275 of Sesame Street, Guntag Gelman-Jones (a spoof of Gunther Gebel-Williams), a flea trainer, has brought his box of world-famous fleas to Sesame Street to perform. The acts include Olaf the Weight-Lifting Flea and Tatanya Flea on the tightrope.

• An animated segment of Sesame Street features a flea circus performing feats beginning with the letter F. (EKA: Episode 0339)

• Issue #4 of The Muppet Show Comic Book, Madame Rhonda bilked money out of Ted Ponk's Traveling Flea Circus

• In The Muppet Show Comic Book: The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson, "Julius Prunes Amazing Flea Circus" perform on Animal's drum set.

• Sue Snue imagines being a flea trainer in The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss book Who Are You, Sue Snue?

A flea circus performing feats.

Sue Snue, trainer of fleas