The man behind the only Toilet Show in the world

Mikkel Rugholm is the kind of person who is so full of energy that meeting him leaves you feeling exhausted. In a good way. But you need plenty of extra energy if you are to achieve everything the 20-year-old DTU student has accomplished thus far.

When he is not studying Design and Innovation at DTU, he is driving all over Denmark putting on magic shows. And if he is not out performing, you can be sure he is sitting in his room, wondering what to choose as the subject for his second book. Or if he is not doing that, then he is probably working on new concepts for his show. Even when he should be asleep, his brain keeps on churning.

“I always keep my mobile phone within reach at night, so I can record ideas while I’m dozing,” explains Mikkel Rugholm. There is always something going on. And that’s how it’s always been.

Magic Kid
The desire to perform blossomed in Mikkel Rugholm when he was given one of the leading roles in a school play. After that, he started devoting his free time to the stage.

As a result, he started performing at corporate and private functions, and when, at the age of 14, he won the ‘Cirkus Arena Magic Kid’ talent competition—which involved putting on a magic show for a panel of judges comprising actors and a circus director—his career as a performer really took off.

He was awarded a three-year entertainment contract from a large shopping centre in Horsens, Jutland, which resulted in him spending almost every weekend for the next three years in the centre, perfecting his individual style.

For example, he is probably the only entertainer in the world who offers to put on a ‘Toilet Show’. This involves him juggling toilet rolls and encouraging his audience to put on adult nappies and try target shooting at the toilet bowl.

“The idea behind my Toilet Show is to take something extremely familiar and put it in a new context,” explains Mikkel Rugholm.

Family of engineers
You might think that he neglected his school work during this period of this life—but he most certainly did not.

Mikkel Rugholm comes from a family of engineers, so he always knew which direction his studies would take. That is precisely why he chose to study product development and design at Vejle Technical College, and despite all the irons he had in the fire, he succeeded in graduating with a 12 point grade average.

“It took a lot of self-discipline, but I knew that if I wanted to be a skilful entertainer and land a place on the Design and Innovation programme, then I would have to work very, very hard.”
In Mikkel’s opinion, being an entertainer is in no way incompatible with being an engineer.

“After all, one of the key engineering skills is the ability to think creatively and to develop the things we surround ourselves with. And entertaining teaches you a lot about people. This is invaluable when it comes to putting your case to other people.”

Familien Lokumsen (The Toiletsen Family)
After starting his studies at DTU, Mikkel Rugholm plunged into yet another ‘free time’ project: writing a children’s book. With his usual—or, perhaps more correctly, ‘unusual’—work ethic and commitment, he started examining what makes a good children’s book.

“I interviewed librarians, read a lot of literature about how to build up a book from a purely dramaturgical perspective, and paid close attention to the parts of my act that made children laugh the hardest when I was out performing.

In addition to writing the text, he also drew all the illustrations, found a printer willing to print the book at a reasonable price, and finally did all the layout work. What is more, he financed the entire project himself.

Familien Lokumsen og den usynlige hund Tosse (The Toiletsen Family and Nitwit the invisible dog) was published in November 2014, and thanks to his talents as a salesman, he succeeded in getting it on the shelves in Coop stores. This is an honour normally reserved exclusively for bestseller writers. If you ask Mikkel Rugholm how an unknown author could manage to land such an agreement, he has no hesitation in replying:

“First and foremost, I think it’s down to my positive attitude. I don’t see problems and obstacle, but challenges and opportunities to learn.”

He is tight-lipped about the financial outcome of his working relationship with Coop, but he does admit that he is satisfied with the arrangement and that the book’s sales figures are healthy.

“Just a few days after publication, I had already sold more than most good children’s books sell in their entire sales cycle.”

Portrait in DTUavisen no. 3, March 2015.