The show must go on, because if it doesn't, the barrelman loses his job.

Much of the bull riding action takes place behind the chutes and out of view of the crowd. Loading the right chutes with the right bulls, coordinating the rides with the cowboys, flanking, re-penning, and a whole lot of other hustle-n'-bustle. This requires focus, manpower, patients, a little under-the-breath cussing, and a whole lot of luck. Even with all work to keep the fire burning, there is inevitably distractions and setbacks that bottleneck and back the whole system up.

Enter the barrelman. The barrelman is the fiber that restores balance to the force. He keeps the action flowing and enjoyable for all the crowd. He has to be entertaining enough to awe the crowd without creating a bigger problem by stealing the focus of those working the chutes. Injuries, live commercial breaks, and behind the chute bottlenecks is the barrelmans que to take the show and maintain its energy.