New York City audiences go wild if the safety man, from his horse, ropes a bull by the horns to get it back to the gate. He’ll play the beginning of “Piano Man” on his harmonica before the real song blasts in the arena. In New York City, he’ll take a step back so that announcers can explain technicalities, like why a rider was disqualified - something they’re less likely to do in, say, Sioux Falls. “There are some guys that would, but I think probably why I've had the job for so many years is, I understand that difference.” He later asks: “Is that tooting my own horn?” “I cannot do the same material or the same show in those two places,” he said. What works in Billings doesn’t fly in New York City. He tailors his act to whatever city he’s in. Throughout the show, Rasmussen is the master of ceremonies, often filling time during commercial breaks.
The odds are not in the cowboys’ favor: Last year, PBR’s top cowboys hit the dirt before completing about 70% of rides, according to Probullstats, an outlet that tracks the sport. For a ride to count, a cowboy has to stay on for eight seconds, which can seem eternal to a 150-pound man getting bucked by a 1,600-pound animal. The main event is the ultimate display of rugged individualism (albeit in a slick package): man versus beast. Sponsors include Monster Energy, Wrangler, and U.S. There are pyrotechnics and ballistic vests. What they’re about to see is an extreme sport mixed with circus and doused with machismo. “The toughest of the tough love him to death,” said Merritt, but so do folks who are brand new and “maybe even wary of what they’re about to see.”
#FLINT RASMUSSEN TV#
“The guy's just an icon,” said Matt Merritt, a fellow entertainer with PBR who’s known Rasmussen for more than a decade and recalls watching him on TV as a teenager.
And unlike performers of yesteryear, he has parlayed his appeal into a personal brand with sponsorships, a podcast and TV appearances. He’s actually funny, and relatable to crowds whether he’s in Los Angeles or in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Rasmussen broke from that tradition, and regularly improvises with the crowd he’s also known to twerk or moonwalk to pop or rock blaring in the arena. Rodeo clowning used to follow a formula: baggy pants and corny jokes about the differences between men and women. It’s tricky to make sense of a rodeo clown in New York City, But Rasmussen isn’t just good at his job – he's also changed the game, acting as an ambassador of sorts for rodeo culture. In 1992, they each chipped in $1,000 to start their own organization, and PBR was born. You could say this is not his first rodeo, but PBR isn’t technically a rodeo: It was founded by a group of 20 bull riders who thought their sport, which is typically the last event in a rodeo and often its biggest draw, could break away from the rodeo circuit to become a standalone show.
#FLINT RASMUSSEN PROFESSIONAL#
Before this, his peers voted him the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Clown of the Year – the sport’s equivalent of an Academy Award - for eight years in a row. He has been exclusively with PBR since 2006. Rasmussen is in the Pendleton Roundup and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame. To call Rasmussen a clown is like calling Joe Montana a quarterback: while it's technically true, it misses a lot.
#FLINT RASMUSSEN SERIES#
The group’s “Unleash the Beast” series pits “the world’s best cowboys” against the “rankest bulls.” The tour arrives Friday for a three-day event at Madison Square Garden. Rasmussen lives in Billings, Montana, and is the official entertainer - akin to a rodeo clown - for the Professional Bull Riders, also known as PBR. “It’s just that I could walk out my door right now and drive two minutes and see bulls.” “That’s not a condescending statement,” he added.
“I know for a fact there’s people in the crowd in New York City who have never seen a bull in real life,” he said.
New York City audiences may think they’ve seen it all, but Flint Rasmussen knows his show will still hold novelty for some.
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