Daredevil ‘Human Fuse’ highlights ‘Fully Charged’ circus show

Ten times a week, Brian Miser puts on a suit and goes to work.

His suit is made of fireproof Carbonex, and work is shooting 110 feet through the air from a 20-foot-tall crossbow.

Known as the Human Fuse, Miser is the star attraction in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus show "Fully Charged" performing at the Thomas & Mack Center through Sunday.

"Not too many people can say they love their job," he said. "I can."

Miser, 47, phoned from Colorado, during rehearsals for a publicity stunt scheduled for Wednesday on the Strip. (His intention was to shoot, literally, along Harmon Avenue from the Harley-Davidson Cafe to CityCenter, without becoming an unannounced new addition to the "Viva Elvis" show.)

Miser's act begins when his female assistant lights his suit -- which is drenched with white gas -- on fire and presses a launch lever. After whooshing at 65 mph for two seconds, he lands on an airbag and must hold his breath until he is extinguished, to avoid burning his lungs.

None of this is the scary part, by the way. According to Miser, the process that stresses him out the most is making the calculations beforehand. Heat, humidity and altitude above sea level all determine how far he shoots.

Oddly enough, Miser has no background in physics or mechanics.

"You get one chance to get all the settings right," he said, "because once you're flying through the air, you can't change anything. If you're going too far, you can't slow down."

Miser grew up worshipping Evel Knievel in Peru, Ind., the former winter headquarters for Ringling Bros. and other circuses. He joined the Peru Amateur Circus at 8 years old.

"I always knew that I wanted to be in the circus," Miser said.

Trampoline came first, then trapeze. In 1997, he switched to the human cannonball to distinguish his resume.

"I just designed one, built a working model, and shot a dummy," he recalled.

In April, human cannonball Matt Cranch died during a performance of Scott May's Daredevil Stunt Show in Britain, after his safety net gave way and he bounced off the ground in front of a crowd.

"Well, you know, it's dangerous," Miser said. "There's a lot of things that can go wrong, and you do your best to eliminate all of them, but the danger is still there."

The cannonball act was how Miser suffered his closest flirtation with appearing on the front page of a newspaper instead of its entertainment section.

"The cannon broke on takeoff," he said. "It made me shoot to the side. My distance was OK, but I wasn't in line with my airbag."

The bag bounced him into the scaffolding, and he broke three ribs, his pelvis and a foot.

After 14 years of the human cannonball, Miser recently was asked by Ringling Bros. to develop a new angle. He had already added the fire part to his cannonball routine.

"The crossbow is pretty cool," he said, "and I'm the only one in the world that's ever done it."

Miser said his parents were always supportive, but added: "my dad more so than my mom."

She's OK with her son's line of work now, or so Miser claims.

"She used to worry a lot more, but she's gotten used to the fact that that's what I do."