"Dr. Hal, if you could have any opening act for your show that you wanted, who would it be?"
Answer:
That's a tough one. You know, we've had some great openers, astounding performers in their own right. Rubberboy, for example. And just look how the career of Jolie Holland has taken off. But if I could get anyone, I might choose Matthew Birchinger, the "Little Man of Nuremberg." An eighteenth-century German, Birchinger played four musical instruments including the bagpipes, was an expert calligrapher and the most famous stage magician of his day. I tell you, he performed tricks with the cup and balls that have never been explained. Yet he had no hands, legs or thighs, and was less than 29 inches tall.