The Passing Zone

The Passing Zone was a comedy juggler duo act from Season 1 of America's Got Talent. It finished in the Bottom 5 (of the Top 10).

Background
Owen Morse and Jon Wee met in 1986 at a juggling convention and instantly knew they were destined to be a team. But they decided to graduate from college first. Rather than pursue careers in Economics and Psychology, they lit some torches and started throwing stuff into the air. Two weeks after their first performance together, they won the Silver Medal at the International Juggler's Association Teams Competition. The next year they won the Gold.

That recognition earned an invitation to appear at the Comedy and Magic Club in Los Angeles, where on their first night they were approached by The Tonight Show talent scout and booked for their first national television appearance in September 1990. Johnny Carson enjoyed them so much they were asked back less than a year later. Their first feature film followed, The Addams Family Movie, where Jon and Owen doubled for Gomez (Raul Julia) and Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) in the climactic Mamushka dagger-passing scene. More recently, they appeared in the award-winning comedy documentary, The Aristocrats.

Jon and Owen are known as much for their comedy as their juggling skills. They were featured twice on the gala stage at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal and have opened for comedians Bill Cosby, George Carlin, Bob Newhart, Bob Hope and Penn & Teller. Television appearances have included Comic Strip Live, An Evening at The Improv, MADtv, Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular, Steve Harvey's Big Time and regular returns to NBC's Today. And they were commentators on ESPN for their coverage of the World Juggling Federation competitions. 1

Audition
The Passing Zone's audition consisted of pretending to be hit by a bowling ball, and then juggling six flaming torches while Jon stands on Owen's shoulders while Owen stood on a rolla bolla. Although David Hasselhoff voted "No," Piers Morgan and Brandy Norwood both voted "Yes," sending the act to the Semifinals.



Semifinals
Jon & Owen - The Passing Zone's Week 3 Semifinals performance consisted of "juggling" three studio audience members wearing astronaut suits suspended in the air. Piers Morgan, Brandy Norwood, and David Hasselhoff all gave the duo "✓" votes. The judges chose Jon & Owen as their Week 4 pick to move onto the Finals without being voted on by America.



Finals
Before their performance, Jon & Owen - The Passing Zone were guided by celebrity coach Penn & Teller. At Last's Finals performance consisted of juggling sickles toward each other as David Hasselhoff (unwillingly) stood between with six flaming torches attached to a helmet on his head and four plates balancing on two sticks held in his hands. The duo then juggled three chainsaws. Piers Morgan, Brandy Norwood, and David Hasselhoff all gave Jon & Owen "✓" votes.

Finale
At the finale, Jon & Owen - The Passing Zone was eliminated from the competition after it was revealed that it finished the competition in the Bottom 5 of the Top 10.

After the Show
The Passing Zone's corporate career really took off after a national Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) event in Atlanta, which was quickly followed by other MDRTs in Chicago and Singapore. After main stage appearances at Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the National Speakers Association, YPO, ICPA and others, the industry took notice, and they've been off and running ever since. Clients such as eBay, Firestone, Old Navy, Microsoft, IBM, Kodak and IASB have brought Jon and Owen to their events to liven things up and motivate their people. The London Business Forum recently enlisted The Passing Zone and it was one of their highest-rated events ever.

Jon and Owen have published articles on Teamwork, Work-Life Balance and Taking Risks in countless industry periodicals including Business People, Special Events, Smart Meetings, Networking Times, Financial Executives, Successful Meetings, Home Business and many more. They were chosen as a Best Bet for entertainment by The Wall Street Journal and Special Events magazine named them one of the Hottest 26 Speakers.

The Passing Zone have been awarded five Guinness World Records and 18 Gold Medals from the International Juggler's Association. They were recently presented with that organization's Award of Excellence, for "excellence in the art of juggling through professional performance," which is the most prestigious award in juggling (essentially the Juggling Hall of Fame), given to only thirteen acts worldwide.

In addition to their corporate appearances, The Passing Zone can be seen performing their full evening show titled Gravity Attacks! in theaters and performing arts centers nationwide. 2