Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, a quick heads up. This episode deals with
Speaker 1: some unexpected loss, so listen at your own discretion.
Speaker 2: I have these long wringler baggy pants that are about
Speaker 2: five times to be some old red suspenders. I've got
Speaker 2: different colored socks and converse tennis shoes with wide around.
Speaker 2: My eyes and my mouth and the rest of my
Speaker 2: face is painted red kind of. It's an old school
Speaker 2: traditional look.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to on the Job. I'm Averrey Thompson, and
Speaker 1: this week we're making a call over to Petrolia, Texas,
Speaker 1: a little town up there on the banks of the
Speaker 1: Red River, to speak with Brandon Dunn, who has, at
Speaker 1: least in my opinion, one of the more fascinating jobs
Speaker 1: on the planet.
Speaker 2: I'm Brandon Dunn. I'm a professional rodeo clown and barrel man.
Speaker 1: That's right, partners. This year episode we're talking with a
Speaker 1: rodeo clown. Yeeha. Now, I bet that there are probably
Speaker 1: a few of you out there going what in blabbering
Speaker 1: tarnation as a rodeo clown or heck, maybe you're surprised
Speaker 1: to hear that rodeos still exist, to which I'm here
Speaker 1: to tell you all that rodeos are alive and bucking.
Speaker 2: It is a huge business, and I think the popularity
Speaker 2: of rodeo is growing more so now than it has
Speaker 2: ever before it So I don't think rodeo is going
Speaker 2: anywhere anytime soon.
Speaker 1: And that's not a biased opinion. There there are more
Speaker 1: than six hundred rodeos put on across the USA and
Speaker 1: countless more amateur events, and according to some sources, bull
Speaker 1: riding is now America's fastest grown sport, which means that
Speaker 1: people like Brandon Dunn can make a full time career
Speaker 1: as a rodeo clown. Which if that doesn't make you
Speaker 1: proud to be an American, well I don't know what will.
Speaker 1: At most rodeos, Brandon has a designated time slot in
Speaker 1: which he gets to come out there at the center
Speaker 1: of the rodeo ring and perform his feature act.
Speaker 2: It's kind of a spoof of the old top Gun movie.
Speaker 2: Got an old airplane? That is that Actually the cockpit
Speaker 2: of it is an old World War two airplane, but
Speaker 2: it's built on a corvet body, And so I'll fly
Speaker 2: that thing in there and crash land that right in
Speaker 2: the middle of the arena and tell everybody I'm trying
Speaker 2: out to be Tom Cruise in the new Top Gun movie,
Speaker 2: and it brings a lot of laughs. Kids really enjoy it.
Speaker 1: But most rodeo clowns also have a job to do
Speaker 1: during the actual bull and bronco riding events, and Brandon
Speaker 1: is certainly no exception, which is why he also calls
Speaker 1: himself a barrel man, which strangely enough, is exactly what
Speaker 1: it sounds like. Brandon will climb into a barrel which
Speaker 1: has holes in the top and bottom for his head
Speaker 1: and feet to protrude from, and then he'll get in
Speaker 1: the ring and wait for the bull and his rider
Speaker 1: to come shooting out of the gates.
Speaker 2: A lot of them times in bulls of buck, three
Speaker 2: or four or five steps out of the buck and
Speaker 2: shoot the bull rider bucks off. It's too far to
Speaker 2: get to the fence for them to be safe, and
Speaker 2: so I can bring that barrel in there to them
Speaker 2: and distract the bull, and the bull hit me in
Speaker 2: the barrel instead of the bull rider. In the bull
Speaker 2: riding instance.
Speaker 3: What's it feel like to have a bull hit the barrel?
Speaker 2: It does get intense. Sometimes that bull will end over
Speaker 2: end that barrel and you come out of that barrel
Speaker 2: and you don't know which ends up, and it's quite surprising.
Speaker 1: And with there being two holes in that barrel, if
Speaker 1: a barrel man's not careful or just downright unlucky, sometimes
Speaker 1: a bull can even get his head or horns in there.
Speaker 2: I had a bull to get his head in the
Speaker 2: barrel with me before, and man, it looked like watching
Speaker 2: the video, I think, how did I even survive that?
Speaker 2: And a matter of fact, the bull bloodied his nose
Speaker 2: when he stuck his head in there, and the blood
Speaker 2: of that bull's nose was all over the barrel. Well,
Speaker 2: everybody thought that was my blood inside and they were
Speaker 2: trying to roll me out of the arena.
Speaker 1: So the moral of the story, folks, is, don't let
Speaker 1: that makeup fool you. These rodeo clowns are a tough
Speaker 1: bunch of ombreis. And in case you haven't been to
Speaker 1: a rodeo lately, let me remind you that we're not
Speaker 1: talking about some little dairy cows here. These rodeo bulls
Speaker 1: are supreme athletes who have been carefully bred to be
Speaker 1: very big and ferociously mean. So from the very moment
Speaker 1: these bulls are born, there's no question what they're going
Speaker 1: to be doing. These bulls are destined for the rodeo.
Speaker 1: But then it turns out that you could also say
Speaker 1: the same thing about Brandon.
Speaker 2: My mom was a professional bell racer, my dad was
Speaker 2: a steer wrestler. But I think I got the passion
Speaker 2: of love to rodeo clowner now for my uncle, which
Speaker 2: was Rex Done. He would do clown acts and five bulls,
Speaker 2: and I think that's where my passion and the love
Speaker 2: for clowning was born.
Speaker 3: So rodeo clowning is in your blood, It's in your heritage,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 2: Ever since I could remember, that's all I've ever wanted
Speaker 2: to do. I mean from the time that I can
Speaker 2: very first remember if I would have a set of
Speaker 2: old baggies that my mom might cut up for me,
Speaker 2: try to put on her old lipstick or something to
Speaker 2: paint my face up with, and I would go outside
Speaker 2: and we had an old blue healer dog that would
Speaker 2: chase you around, and I let that dog takes me around,
Speaker 2: pretending he was a bull. That's the only thing I
Speaker 2: can ever remember really wanting to be was a rodeo clown.
Speaker 1: No matter where you are in this big country of ours,
Speaker 1: there's a good chance you can find a rodeo nearby.
Speaker 1: Even those city slickers up in New York piland to
Speaker 1: Madison Square Garden for three days every January to watch
Speaker 1: riders and clowns perform their craft at its highest level,
Speaker 1: Which means that the life of a rodeo man is
Speaker 1: very much a life on the road.
Speaker 2: I have to pretty much drive everywhere, and of course
Speaker 2: in the state of Texas, Oklahoma got rodeos in Idaho
Speaker 2: and Montana, so we just kind of travel all across
Speaker 2: the United States.
Speaker 3: Do you like that aspect of it or does it
Speaker 3: travel get tiring?
Speaker 2: It gets tiring, But I think I've got enough gypsy
Speaker 2: blood in me. And like I say, rodeo is a
Speaker 2: way of life, not only the competition parts of it,
Speaker 2: but the knights on the road, the time's away from home.
Speaker 2: I mean, you certainly miss your family. So I've got
Speaker 2: a wife that's very, very supportive, and she grew up
Speaker 2: in the rodeo industry as well, so she very well
Speaker 2: understands the nature of this business. But there's times that
Speaker 2: you'll leave the house and it may be a month
Speaker 2: or two before you get back home.
Speaker 1: So that's how it went for Brandon. From one rodeo
Speaker 1: to the next, with lots of lonely miles in between.
Speaker 1: But there were miles that he accepted because he knew
Speaker 1: that when he got there, whether it was a big
Speaker 1: stadium in Houston or rinky dink little corral in Idaho,
Speaker 1: that he had a job to do.
Speaker 2: When I'm in the arena, I forget everybody everything else
Speaker 2: in the outside. That's kind of my sanctuary, and I
Speaker 2: know for two hours, people have paid good money to
Speaker 2: come and be entertained at a rodeo, and that is
Speaker 2: my primary focus. To make sure that those people that
Speaker 2: they can forget about their troubles and they can leave
Speaker 2: and say, you know, we have been well entertained outside
Speaker 2: of that arena. I'm truly I'm not a people person.
Speaker 2: I'm just trying to kind of keep to myself, and
Speaker 2: a lot of people that don't know me or know
Speaker 2: what I do, they don't really understand. Said, how can
Speaker 2: you be a clown? Because outside of the arena, you're
Speaker 2: so serious and you're so withdrawn from people. But when
Speaker 2: I get in that arena, you gotta lay all that back.
Speaker 2: No matter what's going on, you just got to drop
Speaker 2: it there. When you walk in that arena and entertain
Speaker 2: the crowd.
Speaker 3: Do you think putting on your outfit, putting on the
Speaker 3: makeup allows you to become this other person?
Speaker 2: Most definitely. I would compare it to be like a
Speaker 2: method actor or something like that. You know, you get
Speaker 2: into that character, and this character has become, for lack
Speaker 2: of a better word, kind of my alter ego. When
Speaker 2: I walk in there, I mean, it's kind of the
Speaker 2: Chris Gains of Garth Brooks. When I walk in there,
Speaker 2: I'm still Brandon, but I just take on this whole
Speaker 2: new character and a whole new light in the arena.
Speaker 1: And for seventeen years, Brandon lived that life, weekend after weekend,
Speaker 1: full after ball, seventeen years of showmanship, seventeen years of
Speaker 1: doing what he loved, and then it all came to
Speaker 1: a tragic halt. We'll be right back.
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Speaker 1: We're back speaking with Brandon Dunn, who for seventeen years
Speaker 1: traveled the country as a rodeo clown and bullfighter, entertaining
Speaker 1: audiences with this comedy act and then stepping in the
Speaker 1: ring with some of the world's fiercest bulls.
Speaker 3: What are you thinking about right before they open the gate?
Speaker 2: There's really not a whole lot of thank of course,
Speaker 2: I don't think you really think to be if you're
Speaker 2: going to be a rodeo clown or bullfighter anyway, I
Speaker 2: think half your brain has kind of been removed the choice,
Speaker 2: career choice that you're going to be in. But at
Speaker 2: this point in the game, there's not a whole lot
Speaker 2: of thinking. It's just more reaction. You know what your
Speaker 2: job is. It's just time to go get your job done.
Speaker 1: But then, in April of two thousand and three, Brandon
Speaker 1: and his family were involved in a horrific car accident.
Speaker 1: The head on collision with a drunk driver killed Brandon's
Speaker 1: seven year old daughter and left Brandon crippled.
Speaker 2: There was four of us in that vehicle, and we
Speaker 2: were all in separate hospitals. Didn't get to see each
Speaker 2: other I didn't get to go to my daughter's funeral.
Speaker 2: I mean, it busted me up from head to toe.
Speaker 2: It took my Rodeo career, and to be truthful, probably
Speaker 2: the first six years of it, I just pouted. I
Speaker 2: was in a deep depression. You know, my whole life
Speaker 2: had been completely turned upside down.
Speaker 1: In this time of darkness, Brandon turned away from Rodeo
Speaker 1: life completely.
Speaker 2: I kind of cut myself off from even my good
Speaker 2: friends that were Rodeo on I just kind of, like
Speaker 2: I said, I just pouted, stayed to myself. I tried
Speaker 2: to change my whole lifestyle because Rodeo was such a
Speaker 2: deep part of who I was and had such a
Speaker 2: huge influence on me that I just completely just cut
Speaker 2: myself off from that world.
Speaker 1: In the absence of Rodeo, Brandon hungered down at home
Speaker 1: and focused his energy on the family cattle ranch. He
Speaker 1: deepened his connection with his family and his faith in God.
Speaker 1: He started up a little church that he became a
Speaker 1: pastor of. But even though Brandon had turned his back
Speaker 1: on Rodeo, Rodeo wasn't about to let him go that
Speaker 1: easily because the passion Brandon once had for Rodeo was
Speaker 1: beginning to show itself in the next generation of duns.
Speaker 2: I guess he was about twelve years old or so.
Speaker 2: He kept telling me. He said, Dad, I really want
Speaker 2: to fight bulls. I really want to fight bulls. And
Speaker 2: the little rascal, I said, the son, if you want
Speaker 2: to do this, you're going to have to put out
Speaker 2: some efforts. Showed me that you want to get in shape.
Speaker 2: Of course, he's twelve years old, but the kids started
Speaker 2: coming home when he started running, and he started doing
Speaker 2: push ups and set ups every night, and I thought, well,
Speaker 2: now dad's got to put up or shut up. So
Speaker 2: I bought him a little little bitty miniature zebu bull.
Speaker 2: I thought, well, this man, he was mean, little rascal,
Speaker 2: and I thought, this little sucker, he's going to eat
Speaker 2: Brindle's lunch up, and that'll be that. We'll be through
Speaker 2: with this.
Speaker 1: But instead, Brandon's son fell in love with that little bull,
Speaker 1: and his interest in rodeoing only grew. And as Brandon
Speaker 1: watched his son Brendle's passion for rodeo blossom, his old
Speaker 1: love for the sport re emerged.
Speaker 2: So I thought, well, the only way that I know
Speaker 2: to goud this deal is maybe get me a barrel
Speaker 2: and see if I can go back to just being
Speaker 2: inside the barrel and doing my clown ax and stuff.
Speaker 1: So a few years after Doctors narrowly managed to put
Speaker 1: Brandon Dunn back together again, he was back out in
Speaker 1: the rodeo ring.
Speaker 2: And sure enough it took off. The first probably three
Speaker 2: or four years of Brindle's rodeo career, we were working rodeos,
Speaker 2: me and him, and so I really never had intentions
Speaker 2: of coming back to the level of the game that
Speaker 2: I'm at right now. But God's kind of brought it
Speaker 2: all back full circle, and it was because of Brindle.
Speaker 2: Here we are in life is good.
Speaker 3: How does it feel to have your son following in
Speaker 3: your clown truth?
Speaker 2: You know, I've always told Brindle from an early age.
Speaker 2: I said, son, you don't have to do this because
Speaker 2: I do this. And honestly, there's times out there that
Speaker 2: I couldn't be more proud. But there's time said, man,
Speaker 2: I just want to stick my head in the barrel
Speaker 2: and not see what's happening. I told him, I said, son,
Speaker 2: if you ever want to go play Tidley Winks, let's
Speaker 2: just go play Tiddley Winks. So we'll be the tidy
Speaker 2: wing champion. It'll be a whole lot easier on your dad.
Speaker 1: But of course this is a done we're talking about,
Speaker 1: and Brandon's son is the next generation and a long
Speaker 1: lineage of people born and bred for the rodeo ring.
Speaker 2: I never dreamed, even when I was fighting bulls, that
Speaker 2: I would be able to share the arena with my
Speaker 2: son the way that I do now. And we have
Speaker 2: lots of highlights, especially when he's in the bullfights and
Speaker 2: I'm in the barrel. He brings that bull to the
Speaker 2: barrel and it's just a total conversation while that barrel
Speaker 2: is getting mucked out by that bull. Brindle's per checkting
Speaker 2: that barrel and we'll talk and we'll laugh inside that thing,
Speaker 2: and from the outside, I'm sure people in the stands think,
Speaker 2: you know, one of us is fixing to get killed.
Speaker 2: Brental's got total control over the situation. I feel just
Speaker 2: completely safe in his hands when I'm in that barrel,
Speaker 2: and every time we get out of it, we give
Speaker 2: each other one great big hug. That's probably the highlight
Speaker 2: of my whole career.
Speaker 1: For on the job. I'm Avery Thompson. I'll see you
Speaker 1: down that dusty trail.