Timothy J. Holst
Timothy J. Holst (October 9, 1947 – April 16, 2009) was an American circus performer and talent scout for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He began his circus career in 1971 after graduating from Clown College, toured as a clown in 1972, and became the singing ringmaster in 1973.
Holst was born in Galesburg, Illinois, the son of a postman and a nurse. He was a lifelong Mormon and served a two-year mission in Sweden. He studied drama at Ricks College and Utah State University. While performing in Yellowstone’s summer stock theater, he was discovered by a traveling Ringling Brothers promoter.
He rose to become General Manager of the Red Show and, in 1984, Vice President of Talent and Production for Feld Entertainment. Over the next two decades, he identified and signed many new performers for the circus and helped arrange cultural exchanges by recruiting talent from around the world, traveling to 164 countries and bringing in more than 3,000 people.
Holst lived much of his adult life in Sarasota County, Florida. He died in São Paulo, Brazil, while on a recruiting trip in 2009. In 2013, his children accepted the Ring of Fame award on his behalf in Sarasota, with a memorial tribute on St. Armands Key.
He also appeared on a Sesame Street segment as one of the clowns, the eighth one, who bonks himself on the head with a mallet.
This page was last edited on 1 February 2026, at 21:32 (CET).