Music is my love, performing is my passion and comedy is my religion. Aaron Bonk
Aaron Bonk’s passion leads him around the world entertaining people on cruise ships and around the nation at festivals.
“The Manipulator” — known for his twisted sense of humor, risking his life to make people laugh with his comedy juggling whip show, fire performance and stilt walking — will be the “court jester” for leaders of Geauga County next month.
The annual Leadership Geauga alumni event kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 8 with wood-fired pizza, beer and wine and Bonk’s 8 p.m. show at Geauga Park District’s The West Woods Nature Center, 9465 Kinsman Road, Russell Township.
“Music is my love, performing is my passion and comedy is my religion,” said Bonk, who hails from Clearwater Beach, Fla.
The performer was born in Allentown, Pa., and at age 5, his family moved to Cleveland where he grew up.
He lived in Chardon for about a year and a half as an adult and spent much of his childhood in Geauga County with his dad, who ran a podiatry practice in the area.
“Though stand-up comedians have always been my heroes, I was severely shy growing up,” Bonk said. “I practiced juggling so much just because I love it and never expected it would become my career. Eventually, people started offering me money to come to their events and do what I would be doing at home anyway.”
Bonk attended Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School and spent two years at the University of Dayton before taking time off to re-evaluate his life path, studying a year of audio engineering at Lakeland Community College.
“Then, I started to realize how much I love entertaining people,” Bonk said. “In 2004, I left my last day job and haven’t gone back since.”
Performing on cruise ships has taken him from Dublin, Ireland to Bora Bora in the South Pacific, and from Lisbon, Portugal to Alaska and the Caribbean.
“I generally return home to northeastern Ohio for the entire month of June and then sporadically throughout the year to visit friends and family and perform a few shows here,” Bonk said.
The Nov. 8 event is free for dues-paying alumni and guest fees are $10 per person. All attendees are encouraged to bring a can or bag of dog food as a donation for the Geauga Humane Society’s Rescue Village.
With an estimated 600 members, and going strong in its 20th year, Leadership Geauga continues to blend education, training and networking for current and future county leaders.
According to the organization, its purpose is to develop and encourage current and future leaders from a cross section of the county by exposing them to the community’s realities, opportunities and challenges so they may positively contribute to Geauga’s economic, social and civic development.
“LG is very well organized and funded,” said 2014 alumna Madelon Horvath, president of Geauga Council for Arts & Culture and school board member for Chardon Schools. “‘Movers and Shakers’ from the community as well as regular folks from all walks of life are recruited and go through a year together in classes where everyone learns almost every aspect of life in Geauga County, including heritage, government, education, business, arts and leisure, etc.”
Leadership Geauga President and Trustee Connie Babcock said it is also the organization’s mission to celebrate the “talented people who have called Geauga home during some or all of their lives,” which includes Bonk.
“We last saw Aaron perform at the Chardon Art Jam’s talent show in the Geauga Theatre this past summer,” said Babcock, who previously booked Bonk in 2006 for Junction Auto’s 75th anniversary party.
“I happened to take my eyes off of Aaron during his performance for just a second to see if everyone else was as captivated and the entire audience was riveted to the performance,” she recalled.
Horvath hosted the Arts Jam event with “The Manipulator.”
“He was quite a hit. I’m really looking forward to seeing Aaron again at the LG event, especially since I can just relax and enjoy his work, and don’t have to worry about hosting the Arts Jam,” she said. “It will be really fun, I think.”
Horvath said people learn a lot of communication and leadership skills through Leadership Geauga.
“As we work together, we get very close to some of our classmates,” she said. “It’s neat to see people come out of their shells and really enjoy each other’s company. People also help each other out and we come away with amazing contacts that can help people get things done.”
“While our county has a strong core of community minded businesses and organizations, we also have a quietly diverse populations of amazing artists and LG takes pleasure in introducing our alumni to some of our home grown treasures,” Babcock added.
Leadership Geauga show-goers should expect an original, high-energy, interactive show full of danger, comedy, juggling, whip cracking and general zaniness, Bonk said .
“To me, there is no greater feeling than getting an audience to laugh,” Bonk said. “Comedy is my weapon against a cruel and senseless world. If I can find and inspire laughter in the face of arbitrarily merciless existence that ultimately ends poorly for everyone, then I have won some sort of battle and I have managed to live my way.”
Humor plays a huge role in his routine.
“I will always look for the joke in everything, no matter how sick or twisted, pointing out the absurdity of life is how I deal with it and try to help others to do the same,” he said.
