The Passing Zone

The Passing Zone
Jon Wee (Left) and Owen Morse (Right) in an undated publicity photo
Born	Jon Wee Owen Morse
Known for	Comedy, Juggling
Website
passingzone.com

The Passing Zone is an American comedy-juggling duo. Jon Wee, of Minnesota, and Owen Morse, of California, met at a juggling convention in Northern California in 1986 and decided two years later to team up. Since then, The Passing Zone has won 18 gold medals from the International Jugglers' Association, holds five Guinness World Records, was one of the ten finalists during the debut season of NBC's America's Got Talent, and has entertained at the Royal Command Performance for England's Prince Charles^[1] The Passing Zone regularly performs for some of the top corporations in the United States while stressing the importance and benefits of teamwork.^[2]

Biography

Background

Jonathan Wee is one of three children of David and Karen Wee and was raised in Northfield, Minnesota.^[3] A performer since age 14, Wee preferred to juggle with partners. He performed with two childhood friends, Three of Clubs, and worked the Minnesota Renaissance Fair. Wee admits that "We were really pretty bad," although in the end "they thought, 'we'll let them in.'"^[4] Owen Morse, of Tustin, California,^[5] began performing in high school, crafted a 15-minute-long, sports-themed routine set to music, and eventually earned work through an agency in Hollywood, playing the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach while in high school and working at Disneyland while in college.^[6]

A mutual friend introduced Wee and Morse at a jugglers' convention in San Jose, California, and they spent the next year corresponding regularly. The two met again at the International Jugglers Association convention in Akron, Ohio, and decided to pair up for the Teams Championships in Denver, Colorado, in 1988. Afterwards, Wee elected to move to Southern California after he graduated from Luther College that spring. Morse graduated one year later from University of California, Irvine.^[4] By the end of 2006, Morse was living in Tustin with his wife and their two daughters while Wee lived in Hermosa Beach with his wife and their son and daughter.^[6]

Career

Wee and Morse spent several years honing their act at comedy clubs, trade shows and colleges. They were the first jugglers to pass eleven clubs between them. In addition, their routines have been seen as innovated, creating performances such as "The Chainsaw Ballet" (performed to The Blue Danube) and "people juggling" (featuring three audience members hanging from special rigging).^[7] All in all The Passing Zone has won 18 gold medals from the International Jugglers' Association and holds five Guinness World Records. They also performed at the Royal Command Performance for England's Prince Charles, who referenced the act as "very clever, although I'm glad I wasn't sitting in the front row!"^[1]

The Passing Zone has performed during half-time shows at NBA, CBA and NCAA sporting events. Wee and Morse have been featured on such television programs as Comic Strip Live, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (twice),^[6] Donny & Marie and Live with Regis and Kathie Lee.^[8] They were hired as juggling stand-ins for Raul Julia and Christopher Lloyd in The Addams Family (1991).^[9] The men also became popular at corporate events, where they would demonstrate the concept of teamwork by bringing executives and employees to the stage as part of their act. They have performed to stress the value of teamwork for organizations such as Boeing, Deloitte and Touche, Hewlett-Packard, Mattel and the United States Army.^[10]

America's Got Talent, 2006

Wee (left) and Morse (right) prepare to "hassle The Hoff" (David Hasselhoff, center) during the finals of America's Got Talent (season 1)

The Passing Zone made its first appearance during the third week of America's Got Talent, as part of the Chicago auditions aired on July 5, 2006. Wee bounced a rubber (prop) bowling ball off of Morse's face ("to make sure you're paying attention"), then climbed onto Morse's shoulders while Morse balanced on a Rola Bola long enough for the duo to juggle a total of six flaming torches in unison. The judges' assessments were not unanimous; David Hasselhoff rejected them ("That's the act?!") while Brandy and Piers Morgan wanted to see more.^[11]

Wee and Morse replicated "people juggling" for the semi-finals on August 2, 2006, winning over the audience and Hasselhoff ("I think I have just gotten out of 'I Hate Jugglers Anonymous'. I thought that was fantastic!").^[12] One of ten acts to return for the finals two weeks later, The Passing Zone brought Hasselhoff to the stage and, as all three men wore torches atop construction helmets (and with Hasselhoff holding four spinning plates), Wee and Morse passed sickles back and forth around him.^[13] Though Morgan thought they had done exceptionally well, The Passing Zone finished in the bottom five when the results of the viewers' vote were announced on August 17, 2006.^[5]

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1991	The Addams Family	Gomez and Fester Addams as jugglers	Stand-ins for Raul Julia and Christopher Lloyd
2005	The Aristocrats	Themselves

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b} Otten, Liam. "Flying chainsaws! 'The Passing Zone' extreme jugglers at Edison May 6–7". wustl.edu. http://record.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/5182.html. Retrieved 20 September 2006. 
2. ^ "The Passing Zone: Catch this! (official site)". passingzone.com. http://www.passingzone.com/. Retrieved 15 September 2006. 
3. ^ Bretts, Anne. "Jon Wee makes finals on America's got Talent". northfield.org. http://northfield.org/node/1964. Retrieved 15 September 2006. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Jones, Dave. "Flash! The Passing Zone Lives Outside Conventions, Too!". juggling.org. http://www.juggling.org/jw/90/1/zone.html. Retrieved 15 September 2006. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Larsen, Peter. "Jugglers get dropped on America's got Talent". ocregister.com. http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1247478.php. Retrieved 17 September 2006. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} Larsen, Peter. "More than a passing chance". ocregister.com. http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/homepage/article_1243119.php. Retrieved 20 September 2006. 
7. ^ "The Passing Zone: awards (official site)". passingzone.com. Archived from the original on September 12, 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20050912171810/http://passingzone.com/htmdoc/bragging/awards.html. Retrieved 15 September 2006. 
8. ^ "The Passing Zone: bragging rights (official site)". passingzone.com. Archived from the original on September 13, 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20050913084132/http://passingzone.com/htmdoc/bragging/bragging.html. Retrieved 15 September 2006. 
9. ^ "Juggling in Movies: The Addams Family (1991)". juggling.org. http://www.juggling.org/movies/title/Addams_Family.html. Retrieved 16 September 2006. 
10. ^ "The Passing Zone: clients (official site)". passingzone.com. Archived from the original on September 5, 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20050905044019/http://passingzone.com/htmdoc/corporate/client.html. Retrieved 15 September 2006. 
11. ^ "America's Got Talent > Episode 104 Recap". nbc.com. Archived from the original on 20 July 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060720101646/http://www.nbc.com/Americas_Got_Talent/recap/104_01.shtml#recap. Retrieved 15 September 2006. 
12. ^ "America's Got Talent > Episode 108 Recap". nbc.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060828023240/http://www.nbc.com/Americas_Got_Talent/recap/108_01.shtml#recap. Retrieved 15 September 2006. 
13. ^ "America's Got Talent > Episode 110 Recap". nbc.com. http://www.nbc.com/Americas_Got_Talent/recap/110_07.shtml#recap. Retrieved 15 September 2006. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Official Website

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