Here's a comedy juggler and carpet clown from Russia called Lev Usachev, performing in 1963 at Tbilisi Circus. Lev was born in 1930 and died in 2019. He graduated from the Moscow circus school in 1950 as an acrobat, working across several disciplines before becoming a solo juggler in 1955. He didn't want to continue standard juggling with clubs and rings but instead he wanted to work with everyday objects. Since 1980, Lev worked as a teacher-director at GUTSEI, including a stint of teaching circus skills at a school in Cuba. Here's a quote I found on an old, Russian circus website:
“Slowly, in a peculiar rhythm, with a sly smile, he walks around the arena, as if saying, “Look how cleverly I can do everything.” And suddenly the cane becomes a hanger, at the right moment the coat becomes a washbasin; the suitcase turns into a desk; a vase, saucer and cup appear on the table. In free handling of objects, juggling combinations are established. No one brings or serves these items. Usachev, in the image of a comic juggler, does not need assistants – all the objects are with him, but hidden from the prying eye until a certain moment.”
Here's a rather grainy video of Lev performing in Tbilisi Circus in 1963:
https://youtu.be/MnlSBOKGzJs?si=wpXJWptf8wdrEWMg&t=57
