"Dealing With The Obvious..."

I once got a bad review on a workshop I was teaching because I reminded the group to pay attention to where they held a balloon while being photographed.

My point? I get enough jokes about the phallic shape of a balloon to last nine lifetimes, I don't want this in photos. So...hold the balloon sideways or behind my back. Don't hold a balloon between your legs.

Obvious? So obvious that I see it all the time when I'm working with other people.

So, I stand by this, pay attention to very small details. Acknowledge small details. Are you sweating? Make a joke "I'm hot!" (pose for picture)

This is what makes us professional, small details. In one of my very first blog entries, I wrote the difference between a $1000 magician and a $200 magician, the $1000 magician shines his shoes.

I want the legacy of the clown to go on forever. This is very important to me, so I pay attention to the way I pose. I also take a little time to pose the kids. If I'm in a big group, I have them all make a funny face at the camera. I usually do this after the regular "cheese" photo. I get the kids spontaneously laughing. It's always a better shot. That's what I want the clown to bring out, funny.

Little details. If it's a birthday party, I take the 2 minutes where I whisper in the birthday child's ear "thanks for inviting me! Happy Birthday" Just a detail but hopefully a special memory.

If a little girl is wearing a lot of pink on her clothes. I guess her favorite color is pink and make a big joke or a big deal out of "me tooooooo!" Little detail. To a little girl who loves pink, I'm the most magical person she's ever seen.

The first 10 years of being a clown are learning techniques, crowd control, the magic in a magic trick, comedy timing. The next 30 years are finding details and refining them forever.

When I was in Clown College, I didn't understand, because I was so young. The art of clowning is the forever exploration and looking at finer and finer details.

I was listening to Chris Rock the other day. He was talking about one missing word will ruin a joke. One! And that's from the greatest living stand up on the planet. He's still exploring and refining.

If Chris Rock is still working on this, I better keep looking as well.