It was shot on a phone in the spare room of his Acomb home.
But the mesmerising film has enchanted viewers around the world – clocking up 13 million views and leading to demands that he perform in Vegas.
Steve Bullen is well known to York residents as street entertainer the Magic Ball Man.
But for winter he has adopted a new persona: the Icicle King, complete with frosty costume and make-up.
The Icicle King! Perfect for Christmas/Winter Wonderland events ???
Posted by The Magic Ball Man on Wednesday, 23 November 2016
To promote the new act his wife Mirella shot some footage of Steve performing as the Icicle King. And its origins couldn’t be more simple.
“Lots of people think it was filmed at a corporate event or studio! It was filmed in my practice room – the spare bedroom – with a bedsheets pinned to the wall and some Christmas lights attached to them,” Steve told YorkMix.
The costume is by Radioactive Dreams, with Steve’s own make-up completing the look.
Magic – and hard work
It is not surprising that so many people have enjoyed the video on Facebook. Steve’s skill and dexterity as a contact juggler seemingly gives the glass balls a fluid life of their own.
That’s taken a lot of hard work: “Making the juggling look magical has taken over eight years now,” Steve said.
He posted the video on November 23, and by clocking up 13.3 million views so far it has become “the most viewed clip of contact juggling ever,” he said.
Global inquiries
Steve was hoping to finish the year on 7.5K Facebook likes; instead he has nearly ten times that.
“It’s great getting so much publicity, I am getting some really interesting booking inquiries from all around the world.”
In fact there’s only one place he hasn’t had any interest…
“For all the publicity I have had no booking inquiries in York…”
The Icicle King is a character who is perfect for Christmas or ‘winter wonderland’ events. While he has yet to make his York debut, he did turn on the festive lights in Norton.