The Secret to Enjoying Lockdown — and the Rest of Your Life
How a juggler taught me the meaning of life in less than 90 seconds
One afternoon, on my drive home, I finally heard the true meaning of life — straight from a juggler’s mouth.
The juggler in question is Michael Goudeau, who worked for many years as the opening act for Las Vegas magician Lance Burton. He now tours the world with his one-man act, juggling knives and bean bag chairs and a million other things, all while making audiences laugh.
Goudeau is also a co-host of the Penn’s Sunday School podcast. Penn is Penn Jillette, the taller, louder half of Penn & Teller. Penn is, yes, a magician, but even more than that he identifies as a juggler. He and Goudeau have been close friends for decades, and their easy rapport — and Penn’s gentle ribbing of Goudeau — make that friendship clear in every episode of the podcast..
In one episode, Goudeau said something that instantly struck me in a sort of smack-yourself-in-the-forehead, “of course that’s true!” way. I mean, it was both obvious and something I’ve heard before, but had never truly absorbed. And for whatever reason, the way he worded it that day truly resonated with me, so I wrote it down.
