Snake Encounters

Born in Greenville, SC, Daryl Sprout has lived in the Dallas area most of his life. Very much into dinosaurs as a kid, his first encounter with a snake was in his great-grandmother's back yard in Jackson, MS. It wrapped around his finger, and by the end of the day, around his heart. By the time he reached sixth grade, his knowledge of the topic was sufficient to generate requests for presentations to classmates. By the time he graduated high school, that had added up to quite a few snake talks.

Meanwhile, Daryl's mom ran the school's theater department (his first bit part was at age six) so he grew up on and around the stage, learning acting, comedy and stagecraft. Dr. Geoffrey Stanford, Director Emeritus of the Dallas Nature Center, asked him to become the reptile guy there. Presentations for that facility led to inquiries from moms wanting the show for their kid's birthday parties - and Snake Encounters was born. At the time he owned and operated a small business called Mailroom Express in Dallas, and party shows began to become a steadily bigger percentage of his time.

A friend's mother who avidly read the ENTIRE newspaper every day, including the classifieds, spotted a two line ad that read, "Field Herpetologist Needed - call 1-800..." She clipped it, glued it to an index card, and mailed it to Daryl, his only correspondence from her ever. He was hired as a Field Herpetologist and began taking Snake Removal calls, removing offending snakes, identifying and diagnosing the underlying causes of the clients' snake problems, and educating them about solution strategies and local species recognition. Today, he holds the position of Senior Field Herpetologist, and when a large commercial (or very large residential) call falls outside the range of a local field rep, he is flown wherever the need arises, which has included cases from coast to coast.

The show continued to grow in popularity as Daryl's reputation for a unique approach, a dry wit and an overall entertaining presentation led to an affiliation with Animal Planet. At first Daryl was providing animals and humorous/educational material for Peter Gros, star of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. They developed a friendship and working relationship that continues today. Later, AP booked Daryl directly providing shows for cable affiliates as a promotional reward for launching their products. At the same gig (Houston Children's Festival) where Daryl met Peter, he also met and befriended local illusionist James Austin Banner, who later created the first stage illusion to be incorporated into the Snake Encounters show. Since then, Daryl has become proficient in both stage and closeup magic, and his comedy/magic/snake show has evolved into an experience that has earned him the title of "The Worlds Only Prestidigitating Herpetological Humorist." Indeed, The Las Vegas Sun said "Sprout may be the only standup comic snake handler in the world."

Science and Nature Museums, fairs and festivals, corporate events and parties of all kinds who were looking for "something different" have all found this extremely unique show to be the perfect fit.