Using a mouth coil for a renaissance fair show seems perfectly acceptable, even mild compared to what some of the acts are doing. Mouth coils in a restaurant? Oh no, not a good idea at all. Generally I don't like the idea of mouth coils, but presented with the right character in the right venue can be very entertaining. Of course, as posted previously, the paper doesn't have to come from the mouth. Your hand, a hat, behind an ear, etc. I liked the idea of putting cotton candy in your mouth which then becomes the mouth coil. Food should go into the mouth. Insert it anywhere else and it just doesn't taste the same.

Cotton candy could be a good lead in to bubble coils.
I use mine after blowing a few bubbles..sometimes real sometimes only in our minds.

Harris

I perform the balloon swallowing for adult and teen audiences. I think it's wasted on younger kids, besides the fact that there's no room in the shows for it.

If there are a few kids in the room, I'm still going to perform it for those who appreciate it, as long as the audience composition is right. It's one of the most requested and talked about items in my repertoire. Considering the so-called mishaps that I've had while doing the stunt, it's obvious that handing a young kid a balloon animal is much more dangerous than performing this in front of a kid.

I remember when there were actually more parents that acted like adults. When I was 5 and my brother was 4, we received our first lesson in gun safety, when my dad brought home grandpa's revolver. Was the gun and ammo under lock and key? No! We knew that if we did something stupid, we would get a spanking. We never touched the stuff without permission. It's too bad that parents blame others for their own inadequacies, today. When I was growing up, I never tried to do the dangerous stuff that I saw on TV. Political correctness has resulted in a lame society where parents expect someone else to teach their kids. Maybe, someone should point out to some people that they're screw-ups who shouldn't breed.

I don't like "mouth" tricks. No matter how clean YOU might think you are, it always seems to be unsanitary (and image is everything ... right?) For me it's not so much the safety aspect as the "Yuck!" factor.

I once knew a magic bartender who would do all kinds of mouth tricks (cards from mouth, jumbo coins from mouth, etc.) accompanied by a throaty regurgitation sound ... followed by mixing drinks into which he placed garnish with his hands. There was something unsavory about it.

I blow balloons my mouth, and I even find that a bit repulsive, handing kids a little bag of air from my lungs, spittle on the nozzle, etc.

I stick a TT in my mouth and pull out a silk

I suppose it's better than what I saw one Renaissance Faire juggler do. He'd chew an apple and spray the pieces into the audience as her talked. It's hilarious, but I sat far in the back, the second time that I saw him perform! LOL

I love Cards to Mouth (see avatar) and the Robert Baxt mouthcoil routine. Both are huge hits at my shows.

Brian

I have been doing a mouthcoil routine in all of my kids shows for years and would never leave it out.
Den

Add me to the list of folks using various mouth coil routines. I recently watched Robert Baxt's mouth coil routine and Tony Clark's Paper Balls Overhead with Mouthcoil finale both intended and well performed for kids. One of them instructs to places the torn wad on your lips rather than in your mouth ... that seemed a bit cleaner. Either way, they have played well for me over the years.

Dan.