How else would you expect a bunch of sideshow performers to behave at their annual end-of-season blowout? They've been on the road for months, playing bars, comedy clubs, college campuses, motorcycle rallies, Halloween attractions and theme parks across America. Now, performers with names like Coney Island Chris (a quarterfinalist on NBC's "America's Got Talent") and Thrill Kill Jill get the chance to hang out for a weekend, mingle with fans and, best of all, catch each other's bizarre, head-shaking and frequently hilarious acts.

"Show 'em what we've come up with during the year, or throw some jokes in there that only they would understand," said Ling, who performs with Philadelphia-based Olde City Sideshow. The Sideshow Gathering, held each November in the northeastern Pennsylvania city of Wilkes-Barre, bills itself as the "world's only sideshow convention," a time for sword swallowers, light bulb eaters, glass walkers and human blockheads to unite as one weird and freaky family.

It was started nearly a decade ago by Franco Kossa, co-owner of a chain of tattoo parlors and founder of an annual tattoo convention in Wilkes-Barre called "Inkin' the Valley," to which the Sideshow Gathering is attached.

Kossa, 45, got the idea after a chance encounter with sideshow promoter Ward Hall. They spoke about "how the sideshow is dead," he recalled. As a sideshow fan, Kossa thought it only natural to invite some acts to his tattoo gathering.

"Tattooed people have been (sideshow) exhibits forever," he said. "Sideshow history and tattoo history are conjoined." About 30 acts showed up this year, among them the Rev. Gunn. He bounds onto the stage, his long dark hair flowing behind him. A bed of 500 metal spikes awaits.

"One mistake and bam! My body slides down till my flesh rests against the bare wood, eight inches of sharpened steel piercing its way through my entire body," he says forebodingly. "It would be gruesome." Gunn, a 42-year-old from Los Angeles who founded a wildly successful troupe called FreakShow Deluxe, stolidly eases his frame onto what looks like a medieval torture device. A second nailboard is placed atop his bare belly, and The Green Monster (5-year-old son Grennan) lies down on it. Then daughter Charlotte, not quite 3, stands on The Green Monster's stomach.

Gunn groans from the bottom of the pile. "You guys gotta lay off the snacks. Ah, geez!" Afterward, he explains how he does it.

"The human body is amazing. It can do amazing and astounding things, and all you have to do is train yourself to work together in body, mind and spirit," said Gunn, whose real name is Thomas Nealeigh.

It's not all fun and games and placing hands in animal traps. This is a convention, after all, and there's also sideshow business on the agenda.