Introduction

splot Why are the Sturdy Beggars™? and how is a Mud Show®? Yes, just why are these merry mountebanks of muddy mirth part of our lives, and exactly how do they produce such a powerful and popular force of nature, known as the Mud Show®? The answer is easy. . . "I dunno," and, "'cause."

All we know for sure is that in 1979 The Sturdy Beggars™ first "fell" into their special "field" of "entertainment" somewhere in the rich and tasty top soil of the midwest. Since then the first, the only, the original Mud Show® (Reg No. 1,985,845 with the United States Patent & Trademark Office) has toured to over 22 Renaissance Faires across the continental United States. With their adage "the whole world's a stage, just add water," this "greatest show in earth" has been coerced into traveling from Boston to Houston, from Virginia to California, from Minneapolis to Annapolis, and has left nothing but laughter and mayhem in its sullied wake.

Over the past two decades, hundreds of thousands of faithful followers have flocked to the Mud Pit™ to partake of this popular and patented picaresque pageantry. But what exactly is The Mud Show®? Well, to quote the very great and learned man, "The Mud Show is a wonderful juxtipositioning of social mores which illuminates man's foibles thus erupting their audience into geysers of carthartic laughter." There, what could be more plain? Of course, to the untrained eye The Mud Show may only appear as a few simple men standing amongst a pit of wet dirt. However, scholars pedantically exclaim that The Mud Show consists of more than beggars and mud, much more, the most vital component of The Mud Show is always: their audience. For it is the audience which yields the essential energy force which in turn combusts the beggars and mud into a whirlwind of uproarious jocularity. The force of this fusion inversely arouses that same audience to within a single decibel of the very limits of legal public frenzy. But the most wonderful proviso of all is that this oh-so-vital audience can consist of virtually anyone! You read that right! The audience can consist of anyone! The Mud Show® is an entertainment where grandma, the kids, and the friendly biker all laugh as one.

splot But one cannot fully ascertain The Mud Show without all of one's five senses. Therefore it is highly recommended, for "true" "knowledge", that each and every enlightened Being should come on out to their local Renaissance Faire and witness for themselves the Sturdy Beggars splot exhibition of the inaugural Mud Show. Then, and only then, can one truly ascertain just what the heck this ruckus is all about. The Mud Show: it truly has to be seen to be witnessed.

(Remember: if it ain't the Sturdy Beggars™, it ain't a Mud Show®)

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