Family tragedy in the circus Dustin Nicolodi: "I had to be funny in the ring, even though I was grieving"
Bruno Bötschi
28.7.2024
As a comedy magician, Dustin Nicolodi makes the audience at Circus Knie laugh, even though he fails at every trick. But the 40-year-old doesn't let things get him down so easily. It has to do with his fate.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Dustin Nicolodi is the star of this year's Circus Knie tour. blue News editor Bruno Bötschi visited the comedy magician while the Knie was performing in Zurich.
- Nicolodi fails almost every trick in the ring. This goes down well with the audience, who give him a standing ovation.
- However, if people knew about the family tragedy that the 40-year-old artist suffered three years ago, many would probably stop laughing.
- Dustin Nicolodi's wife took her own life ten months after the birth of their son (3).
Last spring, Circus Knie performed for four weeks at Sechseläutenplatz in Zurich. The second part of this year's tour started this week.
Sechseläutenplatz is not only a special place for the Knie family. The square is also a piece of home for comedy magician Dustin Nicolodi. This is where his father Willer Nicolodi and his mother Béatrice Aschwanden met.
Willer Nicolodi, who grew up in the Moulin Rouge variety theater in Paris and is now known throughout Europe as a ventriloquist, performed as a handstand acrobat in the Knie back then. "My father is my role model," says Dustin Nicolodi. "I always wanted to be like him."
Nobody laughed at his first appearances as a comedian
In 2007, Nicolodi junior did the same as the senior. He toured Switzerland as a handstand acrobat with Circus Knie. A year later, fate struck for the first time.
Dustin Nicolodi suffered a serious shoulder injury. As a result, he had to reorient himself.
The acrobat became a comedian. His first appearances as a comedian were terrible, says Nicolodi: "Nobody laughed." But he refused to let it get him down.
Today, the 40-year-old combines the disciplines of comedy and magic to perfection. He performs as "The Great Coperlin". His fictional character is a David Copperfield lookalike.
Dustin Nicolodi plays a gigolo with painted-on eyebrows and a painted-on moustache. A magical comedian who dreams of being a successful artist, but whose successful days are long behind him.
Dustin Nicolodi: "My wife suffered from depression"
When Dustin Nicolodi goes back to his caravan after the performance at the Knie, he is first and foremost the father of his three-year-old son Justin. The two are united by a family tragedy.
"Ten months after Justin was born, his mother took her own life," says Nicolodi. "My wife suffered from depression." After her suicide, Nicolodi was unable to work for months.
Fortunately, his parents stood by him at the time. "I am grateful for the love Justin and I received from my mother and father."
The fact that Dustin Nicolodi can laugh again today has a lot to do with his family and friends. And he was lucky enough to meet a new favorite person over a year ago in Australian dancer Stefanie Macdougall.
Transparency note:This video portrait was first published on June 29, 2024 .The story will be published againat the start of the second part ofthis year's Circus Knie tour.
Suicidal thoughts? You can find help here:
- These services are available around the clock for people in suicidal crises and for those around them.
- Dargebotene Hand counseling hotline: Telephone number 143 or www.143.ch
- Pro Juventute counseling hotline (for children and young people): Telephone number 147 or www.147.ch
- Further addresses and information: www.reden-kann-retten.ch
- Addresses for people who have lost someone to suicide:
Refugium: Association for bereaved people after suicide
Sea of fog: Perspectives after the suicide of a parent