2006 – date
Steve Cousins, Steve Mischief, Toothbrush Man or better known as the Balloonatic, was born in Wangi Wangi in 1978, near Newcastle, Australia. He became a fire performer and stiltwalker in 2001with an Edinburgh company called te POOKa. He then moved to Newcastle in 2006 where a year later he came up with two new acts ‘The Balloonatic’ and ‘Toothbrush Man’. He is an international performer and fool, travelling the world bringing smiles in his red balloon. He also teaches social circus and undertakes circus outreach in places where there is little or no circus. He also programmes circus and street arts at local events and festivals including Street’s Of Durham, Festival and Culture Shock.
In 2007 he co-founded Let’s Circus and in 2009 he co-founded Circus Central with his wife Helen Averley. He also teaches the Five Ring Circus where he passes on talent and experience to the youth circus! He is a lead in an international project “The Games Exchange” which is developing a free to use reference point for circus games.
Continuing the circus tradition of self promotion via publicity stunts, he was on Britain’s got Talent and for an hour was on Anthony Gormley’s the 4th plinth.
