"I had been involved in the very first alternative circus in England," he said. "It was called Circus Senso. I was one of the first professional circus people they employed. We took a bunch of street performers and trained them in trapeze and juggling and so on, and created a circus. We had a great little four-piece band and, much like Cirque du Soleil, everyone appeared in everyone else's act."

Brian invited Guy and Gilles to an alternative circus festival he helped organize in London, and they in turn invited him and his children, Sally and Nicky, to Montreal to take part in workshops with director Franco Dragone. A year later Brian joined the cast of the first Cirque show to visit Las Vegas at The Mirage, Nouvelle Expérience, in which he played the Grand Chamberlain and performed a tightrope act with Sally and Nicky.

After touring with Cirque for several years in Nouvelle Expérience and Fascination, Brian became artistic coordinator for both Mystère at TI and Saltimbanco in Europe. He was then asked to become artistic coordinator for Cirque du Soleil's production "O" at Bellagio. Soon he felt it was time for a change, and for Brian Dewhurst that meant a return to performing. But when Gilles Ste-Croix asked if he would be interested in stepping in for Wayne Hronek, who was retiring from the role he originated as the clown in Mystère, Brian at first hesitated. "I told them I'd try and see if I still had it in me," he said. But following a trial run, there was no question that his shenanigans would be a hit with the public.

"Wayne played the part as rather a dark, bitter clown," said Brian. "When I took over the role I used the same feeling for a couple of months, but once I realized it wasn't me, I had to change the interpretation, and now he's a completely different character."

The other major draw for Brian was the fact that his son Nicky was the show's ringmaster – and the victim of the clown's most outrageous pranks. "Working with my son was amazing," he said. "It became very much a double act. Now that I'm working with different people, it's again developing into something else, and that all helps keep it fresh."