How I learned to Juggle....

How I learned to Juggle....

My older brother could juggle two things, I thought that was pretty cool and tried and tried and learned to copy him.

I thought I was pretty cool.

When I was 11, I was in summer camp. I was in a skit and was dressed as a girl with a bikini top and oranges stuffed in my breast top. (hey, once a clown, always...)

I was goofing around and showed one of the councilors my ability with two, thinking I was pretty good. He said, “three is actually easier” and showed me the classic juggling pattern, I picked it up pretty quickly...

That summer, I juggled everything in site. Oranges, peaches, tangerines. I moved onto tennis balls.

I have always juggled but I didn’t really realize there was a world for jugglers till I went to Clown College.

Now at Clown College, there were really good jugglers. My friend Randy (Bless his soul, he was one of the very first people I knew that succumbed to AIDS so long ago, I miss him). Randy used to constantly practice 5 club back crosses.

So, I worked on it.

When I was in the circus, I had a roommate that worked and worked and worked with me. Thanks Rich Potter. He said once to me, you know you will be a professional juggler within the next 6 months.

And I was.

I worked a lot on passing juggling clubs with Rich.

Then I was home. I had two friends from Clown College, Woody and Brady, we created Kloons on Ice! A comedy, skit, improvisational, clowning, juggling troupe.

Woody was a very good juggler in his own right, prior to Clown College, I know he juggled a lot. If you knew Woody, you would know his focus made him a very good juggler. Focus has allowed Woody to become a very fine clown, a great juggler, a writer of history. Plus he turned into my brother in law by marrying my sister in law Nancy (rowr, a Kloon joke).

While we were hanging out, practicing, writing material, deciding on our crazy future, we used to meet in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, every day and juggle.

We were a good team of club passers. I didn’t know at the time but it was pretty impressive what we did. Always focused on the silly but still very skilled.

From copying my brother to standing in front of 5000 people juggling...it’s quite a journey.

"This Year's Big Show!"

Regular fans of Boswick know that each year I rent a theatre around Christmas time and do shows for families.

I have a giant passion for theatre. I love theatre, I have a college degree in Theatre Arts, when I go on vacation I see plays, when I get invited to shows, I go, when I'm in a bookstore (like those exist anymore), I will stop myself from going to the theatre section to daydream.

I was bored the other day and was thinking about all the shows I see. I consider myself a homebody. But I counted and realized I average one theatre experience every single week. Often I will see 3 things in a week.

So, it's a total passion of mine. Theatre and children is just fascinating to me. It's the one area everyone acknowledges is important but very little is done for kids. People plan their yearly trip to the Nutcracker but is that really for kids? I don't think so, it's neat and palatable but theatre for kids looks like Barney on stage.

People don't see the value of this kind of entertainment because what children respond to is simple and loving. Um...corny and sappy! So, it's hard for adults to get what's going on.

But children love theatre.

I do a stage show every year because it's such a treat for me. Selfishly, I want to see kids walk into a theatre and look at the lights, the red velvet seats, look at the stage and get exited.

I'm a one man band. I do the writing the performing, the promotion, I'll do the ticket sales, the press releases, I gave a check to the theatre, so I'm the producer and I will answer the phone describing the show.

I will be totally honest and say, IT'S FRUSTRATING! In the end though, it's really fun. And I'm fulfilled.

It's October and I woke up last night with the realization I'm behind on everything. But people will show up, they always do, it's just scary.

So, I am writing the show, I have some rough new ideas of what I want to do.
I need to make a page for a web site so people can find out about the show.
I need to find a way to sell tickets,
I need to contact literally thousands of people to sell the 100 tickets I need to break even.

On the other hand, it's pretty neat. My dream is to theatre shows, I love them. I love being in a theatre, I love the quiet when no on is there, I love the lights in my eyes, not knowing exactly where the audience is.

It's a process but hey, all big projects are.

The Great Clown Influence...

When I was a kid, I used to spend a couple of weeks each summer with my friend Gary in Oregon.

It was always exciting. I lived with another family, new crazy rules, they had things like soda in their refrigerator, amazing to me. I thought that was only for families that lived in commercials. The first place I visited, they lived in a place without sidewalks. Wow.

It seemed like a million miles away, they lived in Oregon. Mostly Eugene, later Beaverton, outside Portland. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, going to Oregon was an amazing adventure; it rained in the summer and there were trees everywhere. They had wild berries encroaching every untended area of their lives. The berry situation was so bad, if the highway maintenance guys didn’t cut it back or more likely poison the bejesus out of it, they would grow onto the highway, popping tires enjoying their mischief toward the crazy humans.

We sometimes would pick the berries. That was pretty cool but terribly painful. Blood oozing from thorn holes in my skin.

My grand influence is Bill McAdam. I’ve thought so much of him over the years what a goofy guy he is.

Bill sold toys for a living. It seemed pretty amazing for a kid to know you could sell toys as your job. I know now sales are sales, If there's money to be made, there will be salespeople. At that time, there was a toy market in drug stores, five and dimes. There were no Targets or Walmarts. There was Toys R Us but that was heresy to say that name in their house.

It was a great house, no one cleaned up, there were toy samples all over. They never used the kitchen table, it was piled chest high with mail, bills, old report cards and trash and of course (sigh) toy samples.

This is where I learned to to be goofy, this is where I would laugh and eventually where I learned to juggle. My friend Gary and I went to the same summer camp in Portland. At a talent show, I (of course) dressed in drag walking around like a goof. I had oranges in my bikini top. One of the counselors showed me how to juggle after my spectacle of an appearance.

I spent the next number of weeks in obsession juggling everything and anything. Most of it happened at Bill’s house. They even joked, “I must be preparing for the circus”. Little did they know, little did they know.

Bill loved being a father. My fondest... no greatest kid memory was going for a walk with Gary, myself and Bill. Bill was talking to us, “boys, pay attention, you have to watch yourself in the world” a second after he said that, he hit his head on a low hanging branch.

I busted a gut, I had never seen anything so funny. He was talking about watching out and a tree branch hit him. Man, it was the best.

I recently found out it was a set up. I was probably 40 something years old when he was talking to me and said, he did it on purpose. I was...am so disappointed, I have always thought that was the greatest. I guess that's the key to being a clown, it's the total belief system.

I get asked a lot, why did you become a clown? What’s special about a clown? And the question I ask of myself, of all the types of performing, why clowning, it’s such a niche? It comes back to watching Bill.

When I was quite young, I got to see Bill perform in a melodrama. It was the classic “can’t pay the rent, you must pay the rent” kind of thing. I was all of 9, I don’t remember much of the plot but I had a blast. We could buy peanuts and throw them at the villain.

I am pretty certain Bill played the villain, I don't remember for sure. It was so fun to boo hiss and throw peanuts at our beloved father figure. Another great clown performance. I’m sure the only way to get people to buy the peanuts was to have a great hated villain. You have to be a pretty good clown to play something like that.

I think of people like Bill. When clowning works, there is nothing like it, there is simply nothing comparable to the level of laughter you can get. On occasion, I get people wheezing with laughter, they can’t catch their breath. I am quite pleased and I pay homage to Bill.

Another time, we went fishing in the dead of winter. My mom’s then boyfriend Joe, Gary and his dad Bill. No one could fart like Bill. It was a clown pleasure to be around such heroics.

Bill is kind, funny and a gentle soul. He makes me laugh, sometimes he makes himself laugh so hard he can’t catch his own breath.

I’ve been thinking of Bill a lot. I’ve been doing some of my own soul searching and I realize, I have so much to thank Bill for. Yes, clowns are born and not made but along the way, to become a clown you have to witness other great clowns. Although not really a performer, a great great clown. And that of course, is my highest compliment.

"Wordplay with KId's Names..."

I started playing with kid’s names some years ago.

I don’t think a lot of people do this because they are afraid of making fun of the kids. The thing is, it’s as polar opposite as you can get. The more I make the kids names into something else, the more they want me to do it. Without exception “...do my name, do my name”

It does take practice, you have to develop the ability, you can get stuck off guard unable to come up with a funny alternate name.

I met girl named Daniella today. I called her vanilla. Once you do this you can go in any direction you want. “no Daniella” “oh, Donatello” No...Daniella” “Oh denial, you should go to rehab” Whatever, it’s all silly, you can go in any direction. And it’s so fast, you don’t offend anyone.

I do this with kids on stage, I do it doing strolling entertainment, I do it at birthday party shows. It’s an incredibly strong warm up. The kid’s can get to know your personality and they get comfortable with you in a matter of seconds.

I used to be afraid that Daniella would be called Vanilla for the rest of her life. I doesn’t really happen. Kids forget very quickly, it’s a throw away joke. If I did this with 12 year olds, this would probably happen.

If you want to take it to a higher level, you can use the name as a call back. A call back is a comedy reference to something earlier in your show. I can say that I arrived by bicycle to the show, when I do my balloons for the kids, I can say, I left my pump with my bicycle. If I can remember a name the kids howled at, when I choose a volunteer and I say, sure...Vanilla come up and help. The call back is a comedy device that works like an extra punchline.

Biggest laugh of the night.

The tough part is remembering the funny name. Often I’m just moving on to the next name throwing names out as fast as I can think of them.

Often I get a name that where I can’t think of anything funny. I can cover myself and say “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear your name Daniella” They say Daniella. “say it again Daniella” this gives me a chance to actually think about things that rhyme. If I can’t think of anything, it’s a personal interaction. I can come back in a minute if something pops into my head or just move on.

Mike...Bike? you’re a bicycle? Patricia...Tissue paper? Rohan...row row row your boat? (there is a large Indian population near me. Rohan is a very popular boy’s name).

Kid’s love wordplay. Think Dr. Seuss. this is another way to incorporate rhymes within your show.

"Make a Clown’s Day!"

We’ve had painters at my house for the last 10 days or so. I haven’t come across the workers while in my make up. I was avoiding the interaction. I didn't want to be stared at.

Sometimes, I just want to be anonymous.

I was leaving the house and Blaine, the foreman on the job, said, "wow you look great!" I said, "Yup, you haven’t seen me in make up, but this is the real me, this is my job!"

Blaine said. "You know, clowning is one of the most honorable professions".

That is so cool. I was sort of avoiding clown contact with guys that work with their hands for a living, because it feels a bit awkward. When I’m around “real men” I get a deeper voice, talk about beer and burp.

But that really made my day. Made my week.

I have tons of positive energy around me but I do get the extreme negative a lot. Ewww, I don’t like clowns.

"Clowning is one of the most honorable professions."

I bring people together in laughter. I get to be around people in their happiest moments. Happy moments tend to be when a child and their parent or grandparent share a laugh. I provide laughs, I provide belly laughs.

Providing laughs is rewarding. I wish it were a bit more financially rewarding...I’m paying the painters not out of savings but borrowing against my house. That’s a pretty cruddy feeling.

....he said doing what I do is one of the most honorable professions.

Thanks, I needed that.