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Nashville – Friday evening in Stampede days, energy inside Bridgestone Arena was electric. Of course, watching world -class athletes take place in bulls of almost 2 tonnes had a lot to do with that. But the man fueling the fire, keeping thousands of fans on their feet and shouting, was Brinson James.
People at home could call him a rodeo clown. And, of course, it was that too. But the professional bull (PBR) does not consider itself a rodeo. The rodeo is entertainment. PBR is a sports competition. And Brinson James is a artist – A media threshing man.
“It’s the best job, that’s for sure, it’s the best job,” James told Outkick. “A bull’s rider told me that when the crowd screams, I have the impression that they could set up any bull that they are taking care of. So I have the impression that it is my work, just to make the crowd scream, to beat them, to show them that it is the best spectacle on the dirt. We will have fun here, the party. So I am just – if you are 2, 22 or 102 – You are 2, 22 or 102 – You have fun here, the party.
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Brinson James The Entertainer performs at the national Canadian professional championships in Edmonton in Roger’s place. (Ron Palmer / Sopa Images / Lightrocket via Getty Images)
Brinson James was intended for the arena
Originally from Florida, James was born in this life. His father, “Hollywood” Harris, has been a rodeo clown for almost 40 years. Together, they played as a father-son act across the country.
“While growing up, I was Boogerhead. It was my name of Rodeo clown. It was Hollywood and Boogerhead,” said James. “And for 18 years, we have traveled the country, going to different rodeos, pbrs, Canada, everywhere.”
James still laughs at his old nickname.
“No one knows who is” Brinson James “in Florida. Everyone calls me Boogerhead,” he said. “I love it. This is my name for sure.”
This family heritage is deep. His father performed during the global PBR finals in 1994, and Brinson grew up watching his father’s global finals.
“My father was there like the artist just before [legendary barrelman Flint Rasmussen] It was, so all my life, I grew up looking at his final loop of the PBR world, “said James in an interview of May 2024.” So, it’s my dream since the age of 10 or 11. “”
He realized this dream last year, winning his own loop at only 30 years old.
The former MLB star, Josh Hamilton
Brinson James The Entertainer performs at the national Canadian professional championships in Edmonton in Roger’s place. (Ron Palmer / Sopa Images / Lightrocket via Getty Images)
From Boogerhead to PBR Entertainter
At 12, James performed alongside his father. At only 17, he had his first chance of directing the show by himself.
“PBR Canada hired my father and I to come and do all their events in 2012,” he said. “Richard Jones, our musical director, was in fact in charge of all this at that time. He had seen my father work a thousand times and wanted to use us as a team up there, but my father had a broken leg and could not get there. So, my father told Richard that he thought I was ready.”
He was. This break launched a career that prevented him from “Boogerhead the Rodeo Clown” to one of the main PBR artists. It was an adjustment, but he did.
“There is a difference between a rodeo clown and a PBR artist,” said James. “So it took a bit.”
Best work in the world
Today, 31 years old, James checked each box on the artist’s list of buckets – from the start to the global PBR finals to Canada’s performance and the United States to the size of his own identity, according to his father’s traces.
And if there was any doubt, it was a family business, even Brinson dogs were part of the law. Re-Ride and Cheddar (“The Wonder Dogs”) have attracted the crowds over the years with frisbee towers and barrels between the rides.
Brinson James reacts at the Bull Riders World Riders in 2024 at the AT&T stadium on May 19, 2024 in Arlington, Texas. (Click Thompson / Getty Images)
For James, it’s a thrill that never ages.
“It’s the crowd,” he said. “I love the electricity of the crowd when they really react, like here in Nashville, these people want to party. No matter what it is … They want to cry, they want to party, they want to have fun,” James told Outkick. “So it’s my favorite game, it’s walking there, asking the crowd to do something funny, and they react, and they have fun with me.”
This is why he never hesitates when he asked him what this career means for him.
“This is certainly the only job I have ever had, and probably the only job I have ever. It’s incredible.”
