I Spent 12 Years in the Blue Man Group

Isaac Eddy was a Blue Man in the the Blue Man Group for twelve years. It’s not a typical job, even among performers. He tells us how he got the job, how the show is put together, the philosophy behind the performance, the makeup process, and some other tidbits you didn’t know about the Blue Man Group.

In a given production, how many Blue Men are there? Are the just three leads and a couple of stand ins or are there 20 guys who rotate in and out?

In the smaller shows there is typically seven full time guys. In the bigger shows, like Vegas, there are upwards of nine guys full time. The reason is because we do so many shows. In New York, the typical Broadway run is eight shows a week, and we will often do much more than that. On a slow week we’ll do 12, and on a high week we can do upwards of 20. So we need those extra guys to do those shows. This is also another reason why guys stick around for so long, because there is less of a grind that way. There will be slow weeks and you can take leaves of absence to do other artworks. Its just a much more stable, supportive environment that way. And for a theater gig… it was 12 years with 401K, full benefits for me, my wife, and my kid, a really stable setup.

The fascinating interview with former Blue Man Isaac Eddy is the first in a new series of articles about people with the most interesting jobs in the world, at Atlas Obscura.

(Image courtesy of Isaac Eddy)