Tomas Kubinek: Outlandish? Oh, Yes

Turmoil brewed in the political pot of Prague, Czechoslovakia circa 1968. The then-Communist Soviet Union invaded and had the country in a stranglehold.
Tomas Kubinek was born into that world. Three years into his life, his parents snapped him up and escaped Soviet rule for refugee camps in Austria. They eventually relocated to Canada. Thus began the remarkable life of Kubinek.
See the Czech-born showman on Jan. 18 at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol, Tenn. From such dire beginnings, the 43-year-old Kubinek turned to the circus and then to magic, acting, humor and, well, entertainment in general.
Outlandish? Oh, yes.
“It’s a brilliant one-man show of theater, death-defying stunts and shocks for an affordable price to be cherished for a lifetime,” Kubinek said by phone on Tuesday from Las Vegas, Nev. “That’s an accurate statement.”
That from the man who is billed as a “certified lunatic and master of the impossible.”
Such a distinction took root for Kubinek when he attended his first circus in Canada at age 5. He sat enthralled as clowns clowned and tightrope walkers teetered high above the din. Hooked. He did not want to simply watch.
“I’ve been performing since I was 9,” Kubinek said, with a still-evident Czech accent. “I did old folk songs, magic tricks I found in books. I had gigs.”
While his peers maybe dreamed of much more realistically attainable livelihoods, Kubinek imagined, then worked toward and eventually obtained a life on the stage.
But where was the appeal?
“Just that it was a fantastic life,” Kubinek said. “It wasn’t a job. It was a big adventure. It’s amazing.”
No doubt about that. Kubinek’s talent has taken him around the world. For example, he performed for a month in Italy in December. Past dates include gigs in Japan, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Belgium, the Yukon, Austria and Germany.
“I’ve got lots of miles on the odometer,” Kubinek said.
He also has a routine well before he steps on stage to perform.
“I arrive at a theater the day before, work with the lighting technician and sound person, and prepare for how to practice everything,” he said. “It’s like a golf course. Every golf course is different. Every theater is different.”
Different. That sure applies to Kubinek, too. He does comedy, but he’s not a stand-up comedian. He does magic, but he’s not a magician. He can walk a tightrope, perform as a clown and make music and so on.
“What I do is original,” Kubinek said. “I’ve studied theater, voice, dance, acrobatics, acting, magic. I keep creating. I keep evolving. It’s not static. I created my job. It’s a dream job.”
Kubinek’s act recalls vaudevillian eras of yore. He’s an over-the-top entertainer who performs as if for a crowd of hundreds of thousands, even if the crowd barely numbers a thousand. He’s ridiculous and fantastic, silly and stupendous.
“It’s quite physical and visual,” Kubinek said of his show. “The appeal crosses cultural boundaries. My humor is universally understood. Nobody does quite what I do.”

IF YOU GO
Who: Tomas Kubinek
When: Jan. 18, 3 p.m.
Where: Paramount Center for the Arts, 518 State St., Bristol, Tenn.
Admission: $16 for adults, $8 for students
Info: (423) 274-8920
Web: http://www.kubinek.com
Video: http://www.kubinek.com/film.htm

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at .