Hi, I’m Jo.
When did you know that performing was what you wanted to do?
I knew at the age of 3 that I wanted to be a clown. That passion to entertain people never left me. When I was 8 I started performing at kids parties in the neighbourhood and at 18 I began my career as a fulltime artist.
What fuels your work?
My biggest passion in life is to perform shows where people can momentarily forget about their troubles and experience a state of pure bliss for the length of the show – and even afterwards. Forget about your worries and smile for a while!
How long have you been training animals for?
I’ve always worked with animals. When I was 8 I trained my cat to jump through a hoop of fire during my first performance.
Why animals?
I want to show the world through my TV appearances and theatre shows how incredibly intelligent animals are! I have a silent hope that in this way people will take better care of animals and want to eat less meat and animal produce.
When I was 8 I trained my cat to jump through a hoop of fire.Jo
I have a great team
As hard as I work, I have a strong team of office staff and actors behind me who make all the difference!
Get in touch!
They're always on stand-by to make sure that you get the best service and entertainment.
Book a showJo works hard everyday to create shows that are completely
unique and unforgettable when performed.
A Brief biography
0-2 years
Not too much exciting news happening here.
3 years
Jo makes a decision, he’s been doing nothing for long enough now, he makes up an ambitious plan: I will become a clown!
4-7 years
Jo’s room turns into a circus museum.
8 years
The first shows are performed for friends and family, the grand finale of the show is Jo’s cat jumping through a hoop of fire!
10 years
Jo comes into contact with Danny Ronaldo, one of the best clowns in the world and learns some key elements of the craft.
12 years
A unicycle is bought, it hurts!
13 years
Jo enters a magic society and a whole new world opens up for him. From now on Jo takes every summer job he can and does a paper round in order to buy new tricks all the time.
16 years
Jo trains his goat, after 3 month she can do almost everything a dog can do. Only one little mistake: Jo forgets to introduce the animal to an audience in his training so the goat just freezes in front of people. The goat never performs but becomes a great pet and dear friend.
18 years
Straight from school Jo becomes one of the very few full-time clowns in Belgium.
21 years
Jo stops the artist life for a while and becomes a Christian missionary.
23 years
Jo makes his first comedy show for adults.
25 years
Jo stops the missionary work and tries out a ‘normal life’ for one year doing various jobs.
26 years
The call of the stage is too strong, Jo decides to pick up his passion again and wins Comedy festival Kleinzalig, makes the finales of Comedy festival Deltion, wins second best childrens’ entertainer of Belgium-Holland and is a guest on a national TV show. In this first year Jo gets 90 bookings!
27 years
Ruth Roman becomes Jo’s wife for life and he enters a prestigious theatre education.
28 years
There are 160 shows during this year. It becomes impossible to combine these with the education and a full-time family and so Jo leaves the theatre education.
29 years
His first daughter, Eva, is born. Jo gets a weekly spot on National TV in Holland with ‘Jo in de boomhut’.
My passion in life is to entertain and excite and evoke feelings of deep happiness.Jo
30 years
Jo becomes a father for the second time, again a beautiful daughter, named Febe. His agenda explodes to more than 250 shows!
31 years
Jo goes to Sweden to study with the most experienced animal trainer in the world, Bob Bailey. His weekly spot on National TV in Holland is extended for the 3th time, over 3 seasons he makes 50 episodes of ‘Jo in de boomhut’.
32 years
Jo enters Belgium’s Got Talent with his mind-reading chicken and brings a goldfish to the final weeks.
33 years
Jo has his busiest year ever and breaks the unofficial world record by performing more than 700 shows on the road in 10 months!!! In those same 10 months Jo also makes 12 episodes of Jo & Curry for a Belgium national kids TV network.
34 years
Jo gets invited to TV shows in Belgium, Holland and Germany and starts working with actors performing his school shows for him.
36 years
Jo is invited for his first American TV appearance on the TV show Penn and Teller Fool Us on CW. It is the most important TV show in the world for magicians, they call the episode he appears in ‘Penn, Teller and a mind reading chicken!’
