Keith Coast found his calling in life 25 years ago.
It is to have fun as he brings joy to others through magic, balloon tricks, music and generally clowning around to make audiences laugh.
Most of the audiences are youngsters at libraries, schools, churches and birthday parties. But also, corporate events and other occasions.
“I do about 200 familystyle shows a year,” said Coast, who is based out of Oklahoma City.
Most recently he performed for a small but enthusiastic group of youngsters at the Eufaula Memorial Library in its temporary location at the Community Center.
He spent an hour interacting with the kids, singing songs, telling jokes and encouraging audience participation, which the youngsters were more than happy to oblige.
Coast first got into magic about 25 years ago, then balloons.
“People started asking me to come to their parties and it built and built over time,” he said.
He’s been performing professionally for over 20 years.
“I’ve been to 18 different countries and 46 states,” he said.
But the Covid-19 pandemic changed the dynamics a bit.
Before Covid, he said he spent three years on the road, traveling with his wife and three children in an RV to his various gigs.
After Covid, he doesn’t travel so much.
“I decided to stick clos-er to home,” he said.
Most of his shows are now in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and other states in the area.
From Eufaula he was going to perform in Bartlesville and then Texas.
He said he once used an agent, but now gets most of his work though his website, Instagram, YouTube and other social media.