The Master of Forgotten Memories

Half-man, half-magic, and all-funny, Chris Karney is flying through Fargo-Moorhead and headlining this weekend at Courtney’s Comedy Club. So, what is Chris Karney doing on the night before his flight to Fargo?

He’s at home in California, packing, drinking beers, relaxing, and thinking, wait, “I don’t even have a good coat. All I’ve got is this one-piece flannel suit,” he said.

“That’s what I’m bringing. I’ll just wear that and sleep on a park bench somewhere with a can of Pedialyte.”

Corn-fed and Iowa grown, this freestyle-bike-riding, card-and-coin-trick dealing, magician street performer comedian has a big bag of tricks… up his sleeve? Not funny. Okay, we’ll leave the jokes up to him.

And it was yet another skill of his that landed him on television where he appeared on the Discovery channel as a featured escape artist! Who is this guy!?

He’s a multi-talented huckster and goes by the name Chris Karney. He’s usually down to hang out with the crowd and tickle some fancies, albeit by sleight-of-hand tricks or otherwise. Shit, if you’re reading this, he might already have your wallet!

Magic hands make for magic moments as you start to realize you’ve misplaced your watch. He wants to be the “master of forgotten memories,” and he’ll tell a bum, “Look at ya. You’ll never get a job. I’ll get ya a bottle of booze.”

“Then they wake up hung-over somewhere and don’t remember how they got drunk,” he said.

In a recent interview, Karney mentioned he’d recently been “pedaling his tractor” down the road and saw the car in front of him hit a squirrel so he swooped over and picked it up quick, brought it to his
buddy’s skate shop, cleaned and quartered it, and fed it to some Berkley folk as duck!

Karney remembers Fargo well. “Is the I-Beam still open?” he asked. “If it’s not, I bet gay people are freezing in parking lots! Come on Fargo. People need a place to dance. People are dying!”

So, yeah, this guy’s hilarious. I’m not joking. Put a chain on your wallet and come out to Courtney’s this weekend! You can even get reservations. I did it once. It felt nice, like I’d taken myself on a date.

You should try it—with a girl or a boy even (as applicable).