Big Apple Circus to Welcome WNYC's Dan Pashman as Guest Ringmaster, 12/13

Big Apple Circus welcomes Guest Ringmaster Dan Pashman to the Big Top at Lincoln Center on December 13, 2015 at 12:30pm for the company's 38th season with the World Premiere of its all-new show, The Grand Tour.

Dan Pashman is the creator and host of WNYC's James Beard Award-nominated food podcast, "The Sporkful," which explores the huge, fun world of food and eating that lies beyond the realm of chefs, restaurants and recipes. It's not for foodies, it's for eaters.

"I went to the Big Apple Circus as a kid, and I still get giddy now when I bring my kids. I love the clowns, the acrobats, the music, and of course, the food," said Dan Pashman. "Molecular gastronomy has yet to come up with anything as amazing as cotton candy."

Dan Pashman started "The Sporkful" as a hobby, but since it launched in 2010, it's grown into the #1 food podcast on iTunes. Typical Sporkful topics include sandwich engineering, the horror of office fridge food theft, the science of chocolate, etiquette and ethics in nacho consumption, and the ideal surface-area-to-volume ratio of ice cubes. You know, the important things. Dan is also the host of Cooking Channel's James Beard Award-nominated web series "You're Eating It Wrong," and a contributor to NPR, Slate, BuzzFeed, and LA's KCRW. His first book, Eat More Better: How to Make Every Bite More Delicious, was published in 2014 by Simon & Schuster. Before starting "The Sporkful," Dan worked as a radio and print journalist and producer covering news, politics, music, and culture for NPR, Vanity Fair, Slate, and The Washington Post. He's reported from the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries and the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay. Dan is originally from Upper Saddle River, NJ. He is a graduate of Tufts University and currently lives outside New York City with his wife and two daughters.

The Grand Tour transports audiences to the Roaring 1920s, the advent of the modern travel era, when the most adventuresome began touring the world in ships, planes, trains, and automobiles. With every seat less than 50 feet from the stage, audiences will be awed by the world-class entertainers as they perform breathtaking acts from the four corners of the globe. Clowns, jugglers, acrobats, and aerialists from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America appear with ponies, puppies and more; the troupe sets off on a whirlwind adventure, accompanied by the live, seven-piece Big Apple Circus Band at each of more than 100 performances.