What's up, guys? Leslie Robbins here for Young Hollywood backstage at the Pantages Theater where the Circus has come to town.

Circus 1903. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Step right up. Welcome to Circus 1903, here at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. Oh, look! It's the sensational Savsanov, the man with incredible balance in his checking account. To make sure you have enough money when you fall off and go to the hospital. This is no regular circus, my friend. No, we are in a time warp. We've gone back to 1903, the roots of the Circus. This show is a love letter to the traditional circus. Fantastic! Nobody's ever done it better.

What are you doing as ringmaster in the show? Kind of walk me through it a little bit.

Okay, what the ringmaster does is he introduced the acts. He whips the audience into a frenzy and he sets their expectations so the acts can run on stage and exceed them. Hurry, hurry, hurry! Step right up! Good. Now, blow the whistle and you're going to be the ringmaster. Not obnoxious at all. There are some nice moments where I kind of tell the story. Because when the Circus came to town in 1903, you have to remember, this is before the Internet, before radio, before television. It was like the Super Bowl, the Oscars, the Olympics, all rolled into one. And the whole town would come up just to watch this incredible spectacle unfold. The fantastic Fratelli Rossi, the Rossi brothers, all the way from Italy. Look at this. Do you know any other brothers who do this? Most brothers don't even talk to each other. Okay, to be fair, these guys don't talk to each other, either. But they can do this!

Normal circuses have real animals. You guys have?

We have real animals, too, but I don't call them that. I call them jugglers and acrobats. Actually, we do have some elephants. And they are not real. They are puppets. Amazing puppets. Full-size African elephants made by the creators of the Warhorse puppets. Hello, Peanut. Good to see you. Peanut's in the show along with his mother, Queeni, who is a full-size African elephant. And when Peanut and Queeni come out on stage, the crowd obviously goes wild.

Now, what's the reaction you get from children right there when they see the show?

Drop jaw. Our opening night in Australia, I was watching a family and the little boys didn't close their mouth the entire time because when you see actual human beings flying through the air, no Marvel movie will ever compete with that.

Now you, you are a major magician.

I wouldn't say that. Yeah! I love magic, and I've been at- I was in The Illusionist, and I've been doing magic all my life. So, when they said, "Would you be our magical ringmaster?" I said, "Yes, because I love magic, I love the circus, and I love-- What? How did- That's David Copperfield, eat your heart out! took my name. I was David Copperblainejelfield when I started out. But, uh, I've just changed it to Willy Whipsade for the circus. Used to be a bird in here. Stop! No. Anyway, I don't have a bird.

Are you waiting for a bird to come out?

I was waiting for a bird. It's over here. Call! Call! Felix, come! Flew away. We don't have a bird. Can you teach- I, I mean, I did, I did church. I did, I mean, I did, I did church. I did, I mean, I did, I did church. Come with me, come here, I'll go and show you. Okay. Let me just pull these off. Make sure all my fingers are still there. The bird? I think the, the bird is- No, I have a deck of cards. I want to show you one quick card trick. Would you please reach into the pack and take out any- Don't let me influence you.

I'm so excited.

Go to the one you, anyone you like. She's going for- wow, she's going for very selective. Look at it. Show it to the camera. Don't let me see it. Now, bring it back to me. Bring it back to me. Put it back in the deck. Just drop it in there. You're- You want to put it where you want to put it, don't you? Oh, my gosh! I've met people like you. Now, I don't know what your card is. That's the truth. And I don't know where it is. It's obviously lost somewhere in the center of the pack. But watch this. When I shuffle the cards, believe it or not, your card disappears. It's no longer in this deck. I know you don't believe me. Would you hold the cards for just a second? Um, can I see your hat? No! Yes! Let me have your hat. No! Let me just have the hat. No! You're in it. Give me the hat. Hold it up like my magical assistant. No! I can't even. Look, look, look. I'm going to reach in there and pull out the six of spades. Was that your card? Look, drop jaw. Look, mouth is open. This is what we get in the circus quite a bit, so do that.

Right before my eyes. How'd you do it?

There's a bird around here somewhere in the rafters. It's going to happen. Felix! Misha, you are the rolo bolo master. I'm dressed, I'm ready. You're going to show me what to do. I'll help you. Second guest: Okay. Step one, put here and just roll it. Yeah, try to keep it straight. Okay. Yeah, keep it in the middle. Right. Yes, you did great. One, two, three. Hey! Good job. Thank you. Thank you.

Now, how long did it take you to learn how to do all the tricks on that board? Second guest: I start to learn it from the my childhood.

Wow!

My parents were born from circus. We've got circus stars. These people are selected because they're all at the top of their game. And we have a sixth generation circus families here in our show. So, their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents would have been active doing these acts in 1903. It's wonderful.

Can you teach me one magic trick?

Uh, the only trick I could teach you is one of the oldest tricks in magic. I know, this freaks four-year-olds out. It's the old, uh, vanishing thumb. The hard part is when you get into graduate school, you take that, put it in your pocket, put your finger where your thumb was, and then you put the thumb back where the finger was. They changed places. It's going to take an intensive study course. I have an online course that I wrote in 1903. When I say online, it's actually on a line. It's just a line you ride. He's a magician and a comedian. If you don't laugh at the jokes, I'm a magician. If you don't like the magic, I'm a comedian. And if you don't like either one, I'm a motivational speaker. Thank you. Now, where's the bird? Felix! Felix!