History Podcast / TheOrbitingHumanCircusOfTheAir

* TheEiffelTowerEffect: The promo art makes a point of highlighting the Eiffel Tower in its skyline to establish the podcast's setting.

* HypnoPendulum: [[spoiler: Julian unintentionally hypnotizes John Cameron by waving his arms while singing. He later ends up hypnotizing all of Paris when showing an actual hypnotist how he did it.]]

** John Cameron, the Circus's host, too.

* MassHypnosis: [[spoiler: Twice. Julian hypnotizes the Orbiting Human Circus audience into a trance accidentally, and his grandfather (in a flashback) hypnotizes all of Paris intentionally to make everyone happy.]]

* PushedInFrontOfTheAudience: {{Zigzagged}}. While Julian may repeatedly find himself falling from catwalks and otherwise bumbling onstage when the show is on-air, it's obvious to his personal InteractiveNarrator that Julian is really hoping to {{Invoke|dTrope}} an opportunity to ingratiate himself with the staff and audience as PluckyComicRelief. It [[SubvertedTrope hasn't worked]] yet.

* ShowWithinAShow

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: The title ''The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air)'' appears to be modelled after GoldenAge RadioDrama ''Radio/TheMercuryTheatreOnTheAir.''

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: The "Featured Presentations".

''The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air)'' is a serial SurrealHumor podcast from the Creator/NightValePresents network, created by [[Music/NeutralMilkHotel Julian Koster]]. It follows Julian, a lonely janitor whose fondest wish is to be promoted to on-air talent in the eponymous Orbiting Human Circus, a mysterious, glamorous radio variety show transmitted from a ballroom at the very top of the Eiffel Tower. Julian is accompanied in his adventures by his own personal {{Narrator}}, who tries to reason with Julian that his ill-considered plans to win the staff's attention will go awry, to no avail.

* AirVentPassageway: Episode 1 opens with Julian's {{Narrator}} describing Julian having managed to get backstage by holing up in a heating duct, preparing to sneak into the Circus's ballroom studio for the third time in a week.

* FetalPositionRebirth: In Episode 1, Julian's {{Narrator}} draws attention to the posture Julian's taken in a "womb-like" AirVentPassageway, [[LampshadeHanging blatantly pointing out]] that Julian is going to be born into the role of protagonist from this moment on.

-->'''Narrator:''' Who is this personality, who has gone so far as to imagine a {{narrator}}, to keep him company announcing the events of his life, as if he were the star of screen, stage or story?\\

* PushedInFrontOfTheAudience: {{Zigzagged}}. While Julian may repeatedly find himself falling from catwalks and otherwise bumbling onstage when the show is on-air, it's obvious to his personal {{Narrator}} that Julian is really hoping to {{Invoke|dTrope}} an opportunity to ingratiate himself with the staff and audience as PluckyComicRelief. It [[SubvertedTrope hasn't worked]] yet.

* WickedStepfather: Julian tells his {{Narrator}} of times when his stepfather would discover him hiding in the basement and pretending to record a radio show on a tape machine rather than cleaning, and lift him by the hair, or box his ear until it bled and rang. It's strongly implied that Julian was otherwise expected to spend ''all'' his time cleaning house.

* WaxingLyrical: In "Thirdly... How to Disappear (Lesson I and II of III)"

* AbusiveParents: Julian's stepfather used to hit him, and one time hit him so hard on the side of the head it's possible he gave Julian brain damage.

* NotEvenBotheringwiththeAccent: For a show that takes place in France with characters that have been established to have lived there for a long time, Leticia and Mr. Chounarde are the only reoccurring characters that speak with a French accent. Anyone else with a French accent are occasional, one-off characters.

''Circus'' aired biweekly on Wednesdays from October 12th, 2016 to February 1st 2017 and can be found on [[https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=1158759190&mt=2&ls=1 iTunes]], [[http://orbitinghumancircus.libsyn.com/ Libsyn]], [[https://soundcloud.com/the-orbiting-human-circus SoundCloud]], [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTUzofKaoYAtTOkdnlkOUsg YouTube]] and the [[http://orbitinghumancircus.com/podcast.html Orbiting Human Circus]] website.