DEBORA SHAULIS | On the Scene Native Donald Banks finds comedy success ballooning

Hey Dubya -- remember this?
"Shake, shake, shake,
Shake, shake, shake,
Shake your booty,
Shake your booty."
Skip Banks, AKA Youngstown native Donald James Banks, believes no president is above getting down to a KC and the Sunshine Band disco tune.
Banks now lives in San Diego, Calif., where he makes his living at performing specialty comedy acts. His Presidancers act is in demand this election season.
Five Presidents -- George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and Abraham Lincoln -- are featured. Banks lines up in the center as Lincoln. The other four are, all jokes aside, life-size dummies. Their heads and mouths move. All are connected at the hips, knees and ankles by rods that Banks controls to put them into motion.
Over the years, the Presidancers have changed out of business suits and into hip-hop attire. The act begins with the Presidential March, followed by various rump-shaking Top 40 and dance songs. Audiences hear outtakes from various presidential speeches, too. It ends with the unfurling of an American flag and Lee Greenwood's patriotic song, "God Bless the U.S.A."
The Republicans have a 3-2 advantage in the Presidancers by coincidence. "That's about the only masks that were available," Banks explained.
Banks has taken his Presidancers to pro and college basketball games and a lot of fund-raising events this year, he said.
Balloon Man
What Banks really is known for is his Balloon Man act.
Banks uses custom-made latex balloons that cost $58 each and inflate to 5-1/2 feet in diameter. Then, in about 90 seconds, he wriggles his way inside a balloon, while the M.C. Hammer song "U Can't Touch This" plays in the background. "The music brings levity to it," Banks said.
For that feat, Banks has been featured in the Orange County Register, a Southern California newspaper; on cable and network television; and, earlier this month, at the Las Vegas Comedy Festival.
What's it like inside a balloon? "It's cozy in there," Banks said. "I'm looking around at different things, making sure I don't see pinholes. I'm lost in thought, looking for defects in the balloon. I can tell whether I'm going to be gentle with it. The more movement, the funnier it is."
There's always the risk that the balloon will break. "If it pops, I get mad," Banks said. As for injuries, "It'll sting. It depends on whether it breaks against my neck or cheek."
Balloon Man has been Banks' ticket to traveling around the world. He performs with Circus Quirkus, a Cirque du Soleil-type show. He's been to performing arts centers in Australia and New Zealand. He performed in Dubai, in the Middle East, earlier this year, and on a Disney cruise ship. Closer to home, Banks performs at county fairs, baseball games, rodeos, private parties and corporate functions.
Banks has other acts as well -- the World's Largest Elvis, a k a The Big E; The Lil' Country Kicker; and The Littlest American Idol.
Business grows
"There's not enough of me to go around right now," Banks says of his growing business. He remembers advice he got from RAC Clark, son of TV producer Dick Clark, who said it was up to Banks to create demand for his acts.
"A light went off in my head and stayed on ever since," he said. Banks had a reputation as a conservative person when he lived here, so people may be surprised by his career, he said.
His father was a Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube worker. The family moved from the city's West Side to Liberty, where Skip graduated from high school in 1970. He worked at an Isaly's and spent his money on comedy records of the era -- Bill Cosby and the like. He loved to play those records for whomever would listen. "I enjoyed being the conduit ... turn off the bad times and listen to this," he recalled.
Banks pounded spikes on the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad for more than seven years. He left Youngstown in December 1978 for California and a goal of becoming a comedian.
He took odd jobs on the railroad and as a delivery truck driver while participating in lip-synching contests on the side. He experimented a lot with his act until "little pieces of the puzzle came together," he said.
He hasn't been back to Youngstown in at least eight years. He's never performed here. "It would be really cool to play Youngstown someday," he said.
Perhaps the Presidancers should issue an executive order.
XDebora Shaulis is entertainment editor. Write her at shaulis@vindy.com.