PRORODEO Sports News - June 1, 2026

a new barrel right now, retrofit ted with Kevlar on the outside to spread impact

a bull in pursuit. “I tried for years. It doesn’t work.” The Landis the crowds see and interact with is personable and waggish. Landis, one of the few ro deo clowns who wears a classic red sponge nose and makeup, adopted his signature schnoz after fellow clown, “Gordo Bones,” was hit by a bull and jumped up with his red nose in his mouth. “I got to laughing so hard,” Landis said. “And I started wearing a red nose from then on. That way, when I get hit with a bull, I could stuff it in my mouth and jump up (out of the barrel) and spit it out.”

His approach to the crowd is equally intentional. Before every show, he works the

stands: selling toys to kids, cracking side jokes, and

making sure he’s known before ever setting foot into the arena. This way, the crowd doesn’t need to be sold on the clown at the beginning of the show; they already like him. “Red Skelton said you could get away with murder if they liked you,” Landis explained. “And the only way they like you is to get to know you.” His acts have always been original, including a trained flea that climbs a platform, dives into water, and exits

and resist horn penetration, with a center tube made of heavier battle ship-grade aluminum, because once metal dents, it stays compromised. This is the Landis the crowds don’t typically see: the man who has spent decades studying the movements of bull riders, bullfighters, and the bulls themselves. “You can’t outrun them,” he said of

32 PRORODEO SPORTS NEWS DIGITAL MAGAZINE JUNE 1, 2026