B&T Extra: Guiness record holder David Rush

Summary

The BOB & TOM Show Free Podcast

B&T Extra: Guinness Record Holder David Rush

Date: January 6, 2026
Guest: David Rush
Host(s): Bob Kevoian, Chick Magee, Christopher

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Episode Overview

This episode features David Rush, famed for holding more Guinness World Records than anyone else. The hosts dive into David's world of record-breaking, discussing challenging feats, the importance of a "growth mindset," balancing a career in tech with a passion for records, and how he encourages others—especially young people—to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The conversation is peppered with humor and admiration as David shares behind-the-scenes insights about the realities (and occasional absurdities) of chasing world records.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

David Rush’s Journey in Record-Breaking

• David is renowned for holding the most Guinness World Records globally, with his tally constantly shifting as new records are recognized or lost to others.
• He breaks records to motivate youth towards STEM fields, illustrating grit and growth mindset.

Family Involvement and Memorable Records

• Breaking Records with Son, Peter (04:13–05:10)
  David recounts how his 7-year-old son Peter wanted to break a record, so together they tackled "the fastest time to clear Hungry Hungry Hippos (team of two)," achieving 5.8 seconds.

  "You're seven, you know, you can do anything that you set your mind to." — David Rush (04:32)

• Travel and Family Adventures (10:19–10:47)
  David’s family travels extensively, visiting all 63 US National Parks, yet, per David, his wife never includes juggling photos in their annual newsletter, much to his chagrin.

The Mechanics and Motivation Behind Record Chasing

• Keynote Message & Purpose (14:28–15:28)
  David uses record-breaking as a tangible example in public speaking to inspire perseverance, hard work, and STEM engagement.

  "If you have a growth mindset and understand that grit—that's not giving up when things get hard—is the number one predictor of success..." — David Rush (14:57)

• Practice and Juggling Passion (05:33–06:11)
  He shares his practice routine, always traveling with his juggling balls and often practicing internationally (e.g., juggling on the Great Wall).

  "Everywhere I travel I take my juggling balls with me. I was in Tokyo and China a couple of weeks ago with the whole family and I'm out there juggling on the Great Wall." — David Rush (05:58)

• Juggling Tools (13:48–14:01)
  David prefers professional, purpose-built juggling balls rather than everyday objects:

  "They're purpose-built juggling balls. My preferred brand is G Balls. For the normal stage production, I do E8 pros. And for speed juggling, they're N8 pros." — David Rush (13:48)

Notable and Challenging Records

• Manual Dexterity & “Moonshot” Feats (05:18–05:54)

  • Most juggling catches in a minute: 586 catches.

  "That's almost 10 per second." — David Rush (05:54)

• Endurance Challenges

  • Longest duration juggling: 13 hours and 10 minutes (15:44).
  • Furthest distance run while juggling: 29 miles, five and a half hours, no outside help (13:28).
  • Fastest mile run, juggling blindfolded: 7:54 (16:15–16:41).

    "When you drop a ball, you have to take the blindfold off, go back to where you dropped it, put the blindfold back on, and then restart." — David Rush (16:26)

• Unique & Practical Records

  • Preparing to break “most consecutive stairs climbed while juggling"—over 2,000 stairs, with logistical challenges due to building heights in Idaho (08:01–08:47).

Media Appearances and Public Setbacks

• Media Mishaps (09:24–09:54)
  David reveals his nerves and eventual failure at breaking a record on his first Today Show appearance, waiting three years for another chance.

  "It was literally three years before I had another shot at another TV appearance." — David Rush (09:54)

Connections, Work, and Motivation

• Professional Life

  • Works as Senior Product Manager at a tech company—balancing tech career with record pursuits.
  • When asked by his boss and boss’s boss about being hired as a technical asset or a publicity stunt, the response was humorously: “Yes.” (11:59–12:28)

• Team Collaborations and Friendships

  • Reunion with friend Hollywood Hannon in London to compete on a game show and break the fist bump record (10:53–11:17).

Humor and Perspective

• David is self-aware, embracing the comedy around his record pursuits.

  "You can't laugh at yourself, you can't be in this business." — David Rush (14:25)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Parent-Child Record-Breaking:

  "You're seven, you know, you can do anything that you set your mind to." — David Rush (04:32)

• About Tech and Juggling Balance:

  "My main job is I work in tech... Juggling doesn’t pay as well." — David Rush (06:13)

• Handling Record Loss:

  "I have zero notifications on my world records... Guinness publishes a video and it’s got a record. And I’m like, wait a second, I used to hold that record." — David Rush (06:58)

• Philosophy of Growth Mindset:

  "Grit—that's not giving up when things get hard—is the number one predictor of success." — David Rush (14:57)

• Humor from Bob:

  “I was thinking you could do one [holiday card] that would be a very traditional shot of the family... except you would have a GoPro on your head.” — Bob Kevoian (10:01)

• David’s Lightheartedness:

  “You can't laugh at yourself, you can't be in this business.” — David Rush (14:25)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Breaking Hungry Hungry Hippos record with son Peter: 04:13–05:10
• Most manual dexterity-intensive record (fastest juggling): 05:18–05:54
• Juggling while traveling internationally: 05:58–06:13
• Number of current records held (198): 07:36–08:01
• “Moonshot” stair-climbing record preparation: 08:01–08:47
• First TV appearance failure story: 09:24–09:54
• Family travel and juggling holiday cards: 10:01–10:47
• Hollywood Hannon and team record attempts: 10:53–11:17
• Juggling ball preferences and gear: 13:48–14:01
• Growth mindset and keynote speaking: 14:28–15:28
• Hardest and "impossible" records: 15:44–16:41

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Flow & Tone

The episode flows conversationally and humorously, with the hosts both ribbing and admiring David’s feats. David is passionate yet lighthearted, emphasizing not just the records themselves but his educational message about perseverance. The tone is lively and supportive, maintaining a blend of comedy and genuine curiosity about David’s unique pursuits, making the summary full of both practical insights and entertaining commentary.

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For New Listeners

This episode stands out for those interested in the quirky world of Guinness records, the drive behind extraordinary achievement, and insights on balancing ambition with real-life responsibilities—all delivered in an entertaining, comedic style.

Transcript

[Christopher]

Welcome back. It's another Bob and Tom Extra. This is Christopher. Not only is the Bob and Tom show live every weekday morning, but every afternoon we'll give you a little extra. In case you missed anything on the big show today, Guinness record holder David Rush. He's coming up in just a minute.

[Bob Kevoian]

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[Chick Magee]

Auto parts, Setting the mood for the holiday season. Dear Santa, Merry Christmas. Christmas, it's your old friend Chick Magee. I am writing you this letter even though I'm 43. Though it may seem kind of silly for a grown man to do. I have asked Da Vinci's notebook to sing my wish list to you. First, let's talk about my family. Mommy says she needs a bucket to put up with all my crap. And daddy wants some naked ladies for to dance on his lab. Give my sister penicillin to make her clap Go away. Bring my brother leather undies. May his Yuletide be gay. Now for all my friends at work. Little Bobby wants some boobies and a case or two of Stroz and a shiny new belt buckle made out of mistletoe. I told Tom I'd try to help him. Leave our fights in the past. Please give him the man from Orkin to kill that bug up his ass. Hi, Christy. I didn't forget about you. Christy's rack has gotten bigger cause she's nursing again. So please let young Sophie breastfeed until 2010. And while we're on the subject, we would all give great thanks if we got some film of Christy getting down with Tyra Banks.

[David Rush]

Okay, that was one really for the band Chick. Didn't want that.

[Chick Magee]

Send my wife on a vacation like a 14 month cruise and a brand new walk in closet for my 10,000 shoes. But the most important present. Dearest Santa, pretty please, won't you send me Tanya Memmi to give my yulaga squeeze? My Yulaga squeeze squeeze. Merry Christmas, Chick.

[Bob Kevoian]

A great way to get your morning started.

[David Rush]

This is Bob and Tom.

[Bob Kevoian]

Extra. And I believe we have a special guest joining us. It's our surprise guest. Our Santa. Surprise. No way. I think I know who that is.

[David Rush]

David Rush here.

[Bob Kevoian]

Oh, my goodness. You know, it's nice to finally meet you, sir. Hey, David. I was actually as much as fun as we make of you. David Rush, by the way, has the world record for holding world records. David Rush's son, Peter. Is it Peter?

[David Rush]

Yeah, Peter, my seven year old.

[Bob Kevoian]

You and Peter set a world record we were talking about yesterday with Hungry Hippos. I thought that was so cool. Can you tell us quickly about that one?

[David Rush]

Yeah, I heard you guys were saying, I don't even know my family. I break summary record.

[Bob Kevoian]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, we did that. Yeah.

[David Rush]

So my, my 7 year old, he's wanted to break a record for a while and he's like, what could I do, dad? And I'm like, I don't know. You're seven, you know, you can do anything that you set your mind to. The importance of having a growth mindset to pursue science, technology, engineering and math. And then I saw this Hungry Hungry Hippos when I thought, you know what? This one might be one we could do. And he took the initiative. He's like, my friends got a set. Let's go over to their house, we'll practice. So we knocked on their door, practiced. And I'm like, I think, I think with more practice we can do it. So we went to Target, bought our own set, practice at home, and we officially broke the Guinness World Records title for the fastest time to clear Hungry Hungry Hippos team of two in 5.8 seconds. Yeah. Congratulations.

[Bob Kevoian]

We do a regular feature on this show. We call it Stupid World Records. And some of them. I, I am your biggest fan. David.

[David Rush]

On.

[Bob Kevoian]

Because you're, I know you're a tremendous juggler. Among other. If you had to go through your records, what takes the most manual dexterity because you've got a bunch of very complicated records. Which solo, solo thing that you do takes the most skill?

[David Rush]

Probably the world's fastest juggling in terms of speed, dexterity, precision. It's the most juggling catches in one minute. And that was one of my moonshot records I set early. And the first time I tried to break it, it was 422 catches in a minute. I currently hold the record at 586 catches in a minute. That's almost 10 per second.

[Bob Kevoian]

Do you practice juggling every day?

[David Rush]

I wouldn't say every day, but I do practice juggling on a weekly basis and everywhere I travel I take my juggling balls with me. I was in Tokyo and China a couple of weeks ago with the whole family and I'm out there juggling on the Great Wall.

[Bob Kevoian]

Do you juggle on the Great Wall? Do you juggle for hire?

[David Rush]

Yeah, not usually I can, but my main job is I work in tech. I'm a senior product manager at a technology company making wireless routers. And that's my main job. Juggling doesn't pay as well. The keynote speaking to talk about, hey, how do you build a record breaking mindset in your corporation to achieve more and have huge stock gains that I get paid for a little bit more.

[Bob Kevoian]

Now we're speaking with the world record holder, David Rush. And I have friends that are in like business business which I don' understand at all. But they have like a thing on their computer if some stock thing goes a certain way, said dings. Do you have something on your phone that if someone breaks one of your records, it dings so you can go back and fix it?

[David Rush]

I have zero notifications on my world records. The main way I find out is I actually watch a YouTube. Like Guinness publishes a video and it's got a record. And I'm like, wait a second, I used to hold that record. And then I have to be like, okay, I gotta create an application to reclaim my record. And I hope you only feature half my records in your stupid world record section. Because half of them are like just really silly. But they're fun to practice a lot of the time. Half of them actually. Okay, they're all silly, but they're a lot of fun.

[Bob Kevoian]

Oh, they're great. I'm a huge, I am a huge fan. We're speaking with world record hurdle, David Rush. David, at this point in time, at this moment, how many records do you currently hold? Do you know?

[David Rush]

Okay, so that's a tough one to answer because it changes on a daily basis and you got to break it. There's a several month delay, often before Guinness improves it and then somebody else could break it. And they don't necessarily get notifications, but I did just look this up yet yesterday. I'm currently at 198 records. And so my goal now is to hold 200, which is there's two other people in history who have ever held 200 and 198 is currently the most in the world.

[Bob Kevoian]

Wow.

[David Rush]

Do you have your eye on those two? Do you know which ones you want to do? So, yeah. So one of them is the most consecutive stairs climbed while juggling. It's a very practical skill. So you don't, you don't, you don't want to trip when you go up and down stairs. Right. The current record, it's a little over 2,000 stairs. The problem is there's no building In Idaho. Tall enough so you obviously gotta go up and down a bunch of times.

[Bob Kevoian]

Oh, yeah.

[David Rush]

Can you do those rolling stairs like at the gym? Could you.

[Bob Kevoian]

Do we have to go to Pachu meet you or whatever? David Rushed.

[David Rush]

I train on the StairMaster. Absolutely. But the more difficult part is actually descending the stairs while juggling. But those stairs don't count for the record.

[Bob Kevoian]

Yeah. Oh, be ascending. I wonder what is the longest continuous staircase in the world? Do you know?

[David Rush]

I don't, but I bet Guinness would have that somewhere. Let me see if I can look it up.

[Bob Kevoian]

No, because that'd be the place to go. Because you do do a lot of international stuff. Because whenever we talk about your records, I'll often it'll be, here's David Rush in Spain on some TV show doing this stuff. And you've traveled all over the world for your records. Have you ever tried to do one on one of these TV shows that didn't work out? Or do you try to do two or three? So one of them at least goes no.

[David Rush]

In fact, my very first time ever on TV, it was the Today show in 2016, and it's my first time ever on national TV and for all I know, the last time ever. And I was trying to break the record for the fastest blindfolded juggling. And I got so nervous, I just dropped the balls multiple times, went home devastated. And it was literally three years before I had another shot at another TV appearance. So it felt like a failure. Like the biggest shot of my life. I failed. And for three years I was like, this is devastating.

[Bob Kevoian]

I have an idea for a joke for you. You've got a nice family and do you do a family holiday card?

[David Rush]

Oh, absolutely.

[Bob Kevoian]

I was thinking you could do one that would be a very traditional shot of the family. Everyone would look totally normal except you would have a GoPro on your head. Because every time I look at you on these world records, you're almost always wearing a GoPro.

[David Rush]

Oh, my goodness. Yeah. So when my wife loves to travel. And so we travel all over the world. In February, my 7 and now 9 year old boys finished visiting all 63 US National Parks. And so my wife creates this newsletter of all the places we've traveled throughout the year. And I juggle every place we go. And I tell you on that Christmas newsletter, there is not a single juggling photo. Jealous.

[Bob Kevoian]

Now, I know that your friend Hollywood Hannon, is it? Did he move to Michigan?

[David Rush]

Oh, my goodness, it's terrible. Yes, we text every day, but he moved to Michigan. We did Have a reunion in London in May on the Fox TV show 99 to Beat, where we were competing for a million bucks. I actually turned the show down initially, said, hey, I've got too many other stuff going on. But then he said he was going. So we went and filmed the show in London. So we got some time together there where we rebroke the record for the most fist bumps in 30 seconds.

[Bob Kevoian]

We did that story, and I was very nostalgic. Oh, we were singing. We're singing Reunited. You're still living in Boise, Idaho, is that correct?

[David Rush]

Yep. Yep, I'm in Boise.

[Bob Kevoian]

Are you a skier?

[David Rush]

I do love to ski. However, my wife doesn't like the cold. And so to keep the family together for the time off from breaking records, I don't usually get to ski that much.

[Bob Kevoian]

Okay, now I remember there was a thing last year where you made kind of a. Or this year you made kind of a big deal about the fact that you're going to be doing less world record stuff because you have a real job. Does. Does your new boss understand that this is part of the. The appeal of you as an employee as having these cool records?

[David Rush]

So I went to a conference a few months ago, and I was presenting all the technical aspects of the routers and the speeds and feeds, the wireless nonsense. And the CEO of the host of the conference is like, did this digi company hire you because you're a technical product manager with an engineering degree from MIT or is a publicity stunt? And I took that back to my boss and my boss's boss, and I asked them point blank, why did you hire me? And the answer was yes.

[Bob Kevoian]

Excellent. David Rush is our guest. He is the world record holder for world records. Many of them take a lot of. A lot of work. Most of them take a lot of work, but a lot of skill. Do you have any of the records for distance running while juggling?

[David Rush]

Yes, I do. In fact, that was one of my other moonshot ones, was the furthest distance traveled on foot while juggling. And the rules are you have to be juggling the entire time. You have to be moving forward the entire time. But the one that I really tried to get Guinness to revoke but they wouldn't do it, is they said, nobody can feed you food or water. And I'm like, I can only run about 15 miles without food or water. In fact, this morning I ran 13.1 without food or water already. But after about 15 miles, I need a drink. And so I had to wear the backpack with the camelback backpack. With the hose in my mouth the entire time. And I made it 118 laps around the local high school track. 29 miles miles in about five and a half hours before I dropped a ball, ending the attempt.

[Bob Kevoian]

Man. Now, do you have a case for juggling balls? Like, like bowling bag?

[David Rush]

I have, I have several, actually.

[Bob Kevoian]

And are there, Are there specific? Are there specific. Are they like hacky sacks or are they like tennis balls? What do you like to juggle the most?

[David Rush]

No, they're. They're purpose built juggling balls. My preferred brand is G Balls. For the normal stage production, I do E8 pros. And for speed juggling, they're N8 pros. But they're all specifically designed professional juggling balls.

[Bob Kevoian]

That's hilarious to me.

[David Rush]

I had no idea they had.

[Bob Kevoian]

Yeah, I guess every gig, Every gig has its thing. This is like talking to our old producer dean about guitars. Well, the Gibson sg. Oh, you've got the GX mine. Juggling balls. That is so cool. Well, David, we are huge fans and I'm glad that you take it in stride that usually we make fun of what you. But you're also.

[David Rush]

You can't laugh at yourself. You can't be in this business.

[Bob Kevoian]

But also. And there's a purpose behind this, which you mentioned. You're trying to get young people to get into science and technology and not just spend time staring at their phone looking at dumb cat videos.

[David Rush]

Yeah. And trying to build this growth mindset. I've been keynote speaking for about 15 years, and I would talk about my story of not being smart enough to get into the Idaho Public Education System gifted program, but through hard work, was eventually admitted to mit where I got my electrical engineering degree. And I would go tell students this, but I'm like, hey, if you struggle at science or fail a math test, you can still become an engineer. If you have a growth mindset and understand that grit that's not giving up when things get hard is the number one predictor of success. And I'm like, well, how do I make this a more tangible example? And that's when I got into breaking Guinness World records. Started with one one, became two, BQ became 200. And then obviously it's an obsession that's taken over my life, but I love it. It's a lot of fun. And I get my family and I've broken records with, you know, probably almost 100 different friends at this point.

[Bob Kevoian]

That's so cool. David Rush, thank you so much for your time. One last question. I remember when Bob Beeman broke The broad jump, the long jump record. Excuse me. They said no one will ever do it. Which record of yours do you think is the least likely to ever be broken?

[David Rush]

Well, that's a tough one. The hardest record I've ever broken is the longest duration juggling at 13 hours and 10 minutes of continuous juggling. But I think that one definitely has a chance of being broken. I think the other, like the. I rank my records easy, medium, hard, impossible. Easy as somebody else in this room can probably do it. Impossible is may. May never be broken. Is the possibly the fastest mile run while juggling blindfolded. And I did that in 7 minutes, 54 seconds.

[Bob Kevoian]

Now did you do that around a track or was it a. Just running straight on a desert or something?

[David Rush]

It's blindfolded. It was. It was straight, straight down a big wide desert road. I had runners on either side of me as guides, people behind me telling me, where am I in street? And I did drop the balls 10 times. And when you drop a ball, you have to take the blindfold off, go back to where you dropped it, put the blindfold back on, and then restart. And so I was running maybe around 615 mile pace.

[Bob Kevoian]

Wow, that's great. Well, David, what a great pleasure. Thank you so much for taking the time. Yes, thank you. We're big fans. We'll keep. We'll keep making funny.

[David Rush]

Josh Christie, thanks for having me on.

[Bob Kevoian]

Okay. Thanks, man.

[David Rush]

Absolutely.

[Bob Kevoian]

Wow.

[David Rush]

Yeah.

[Bob Kevoian]

Very nice to finally talk to.

[David Rush]

Surprise.

[Bob Kevoian]

We had no idea. That's so fun, Jason. Thank you. That's.

[Christopher]

That's it for another Bob and Tom show. Extra. Catch us on itunes, Google play and stitcher for Bob and Tom. Extra. This is Christopher. Take care, everybody.

[David Rush]

The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. soccer Podcast. My name is David Goss and I'm joined by my co host, Megan Kleinenberg. Everything up until this point has been an outside look at the World cup and now we're giving people an inside blue. It is just total pressure cooker. Watching flags come out of little plastic balls is like the epitome of everything that I love. And the World cup is everything. It's why I became a soccer fan. The U.S. soccer Podcast. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.