My job is to rile kids. I get them to a fever pitch of laughter, then leave them in the hands of their parents, completely mad with laughter and cake.
I balance on a thin point as a children’s performer, I can get kids laughing so hard, they fall over the edge and get completely out of control. I’m playing with fire, it does happen.
As a performer, I think I have to keep everything at a fever pitch but that’s tiring for an audience, it’s tiring for me. Think of Raider’s of the Lost Ark. They have great action sequences then moments of quiet and calm. The giant ball rolling, the natives chasing, getting to the plane, then safe and calm. The next scene Indiana is teaching a college course.
Children have the most fun laughing screaming and generally going nuts. Making kids go nuts is not too hard, it’s the order of your show and the calm between bits that takes a lot of thought and what makes a show a show.
I love story tellers. A story teller, is closer to being a musician than an actor. When you watch a story teller work, when they go into story telling mode; Everyone sits, jaws slack, eyes diffused, very similar to an audience listening to an orchestra.
Within my show, I go into the story teller “voice” and calm the children down. It happens fast, I mean really fast. I have the kids bouncing off the ceiling and suddenly I say, “Long long ago, I used to work for a circus...a tiny itty bitty little circus...called Ringling Brothers Circus...” It’s a joke but establishes where the story is going. The children stop in their tracks and stare at me quietly. It’s by far the biggest magic trick I do within my show. The complete control at that moment is amazing.
I’m not an expert at story telling, in fact of all the arts, story telling frightens me the most, I feel completely emotionally exposed. I can’t really explain what happens but when I tell a story, it takes over and pulls me along. The few stories I use in my show pull me and pull the audience.
I’ve taken some small workshops in story telling, it’s an amazing craft, it’s certainly no wonder it’s been done since the caveman days.
Performers look for “honest” moments within a show. It’s the moment a musician completely lets go while playing or singing, the moment an actor can’t tell where the character ends and their own personality begins, the moment in a movie that sweeps you away and you forget you are in a movie theatre with 200 people.
My “honest” moments are within the quiet moments in my show. When I get swept up in my own story. It’s really no wonder this moment captivates the children, it’s the moment of me being on my own tight rope, I don’t know if my next step is failure or safety.
If you find these moments, the audience is in the palm of your hand. At the moment you realize you have them in your palm...the honest moment is gone.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Name Tags...
My best friend the name tag.
On an episode of Seinfeld someone ran for mayor on the platform that everyone should wear a name tag. In that episode, he lost the election but won me over. The idea of name tags for everyone has been in my head for 20 years.
For birthday parties, I suggest to parents use name tags for the children, asking “what’s your name?” over and over puts an impedance between the children and myself. As a children’s entertainer, I’m constantly thinking of ways to get my audience closer to me, i.e. participate more.
Children very seldom pick up on how I know their name, they just accept it. This eliminates lots of warm up, we are instantly old friends.
I also suggest name tags to parents because it’s likely parents know a number of names from school, play-dates etc. But does dad or grandma know all these kids? Doubtful.
Of course in my case, I did the day to day care, play-dates, work in the preschool, so it was my wife that didn’t know. I’m super dad!
Names with faces are tough, why bother? Give yourself a break, very very few people are good with names, in fact, it’s abnormal to be good with names and faces. The people that really good with names and faces go into careers like college admissions, high level sales, political advisors, casting agents. Very specialized positions, because it’s an unusual talent!
One of my goals as a clown is to be magical, the children put me in the same category as Santa and Mickey Mouse. That’s a big trust. Knowing their names gives me another magical edge.
For anyone that works with children, substitute teachers, teachers, PTA parents, clowns. You can create an instant rapport with children, simply by calling them by name. The name tag, a very powerful tool!
On an episode of Seinfeld someone ran for mayor on the platform that everyone should wear a name tag. In that episode, he lost the election but won me over. The idea of name tags for everyone has been in my head for 20 years.
For birthday parties, I suggest to parents use name tags for the children, asking “what’s your name?” over and over puts an impedance between the children and myself. As a children’s entertainer, I’m constantly thinking of ways to get my audience closer to me, i.e. participate more.
Children very seldom pick up on how I know their name, they just accept it. This eliminates lots of warm up, we are instantly old friends.
I also suggest name tags to parents because it’s likely parents know a number of names from school, play-dates etc. But does dad or grandma know all these kids? Doubtful.
Of course in my case, I did the day to day care, play-dates, work in the preschool, so it was my wife that didn’t know. I’m super dad!
Names with faces are tough, why bother? Give yourself a break, very very few people are good with names, in fact, it’s abnormal to be good with names and faces. The people that really good with names and faces go into careers like college admissions, high level sales, political advisors, casting agents. Very specialized positions, because it’s an unusual talent!
One of my goals as a clown is to be magical, the children put me in the same category as Santa and Mickey Mouse. That’s a big trust. Knowing their names gives me another magical edge.
For anyone that works with children, substitute teachers, teachers, PTA parents, clowns. You can create an instant rapport with children, simply by calling them by name. The name tag, a very powerful tool!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
"Why Modern Family Gets It"
Making fun of clowns is such a lame easy joke. In fact, it's so easy, it's become part of our culture that clowns aren't funny and clowns are scary.
Odd when you think about it...clowns are funny that's um...the definition of a clown. If they're not funny, they are something else. Let's replace the word powerful with scary, the clown is a very powerful character.
Modern Family makes jokes about clowns. The character Cam is a retired clown, they did a hilarious spoof of Cam sleep clowning where he gets up at night and puts on his make up. Last night they did an episode of clowns sending one of their mentors off at a funeral.
It was really funny and made fun of clowns. hmmm kudos to the writers for not taking the easy boring way out.
Look, if you can't make fun of clowns, the world is lost. Clowns are one step ahead making us laugh as they reflect the craziness we do in day to day life. Pointing out how politicians are fools, going to extremes to show us how much we care about fashion and what others think of us. Clowns are making fun of us. So go for it, make fun of the clowns, they will always be a step ahead making fun of you right back, if they get personally hurt, it's their own damn fault for being clowns!
One of my most important lessons at Clown College, you can't make fun of something you don't have a deep understanding of (pardon my ending on a preposition but I'm worked up...did it again!) I tried to do a skit where I was a terrible ballet dancer. I am not a ballet dancer so it didn't work. There are ways I can do it now, with years of experience (for instance simply trying my hardest to do ballet would be really funny) but at the time, throwing myself around pretending to dance was pathetic and not really funny.
Modern Family took an understanding of clowning and knocked the joke out of the park. If you don't know anything about clowns, you can go to the, they're scary, no one likes them. If you take some time and pay some attention to the art, it's hilarious. Getting inside the world of clowns is even funnier because clowns take themselves rather seriously e.g. this blog.
Three whoopee cushions farting at once for Modern Family. (Plus I had a good friend in the episode. They even took the time to use real professionals! Imagine that?)
Odd when you think about it...clowns are funny that's um...the definition of a clown. If they're not funny, they are something else. Let's replace the word powerful with scary, the clown is a very powerful character.
Modern Family makes jokes about clowns. The character Cam is a retired clown, they did a hilarious spoof of Cam sleep clowning where he gets up at night and puts on his make up. Last night they did an episode of clowns sending one of their mentors off at a funeral.
It was really funny and made fun of clowns. hmmm kudos to the writers for not taking the easy boring way out.
Look, if you can't make fun of clowns, the world is lost. Clowns are one step ahead making us laugh as they reflect the craziness we do in day to day life. Pointing out how politicians are fools, going to extremes to show us how much we care about fashion and what others think of us. Clowns are making fun of us. So go for it, make fun of the clowns, they will always be a step ahead making fun of you right back, if they get personally hurt, it's their own damn fault for being clowns!
One of my most important lessons at Clown College, you can't make fun of something you don't have a deep understanding of (pardon my ending on a preposition but I'm worked up...did it again!) I tried to do a skit where I was a terrible ballet dancer. I am not a ballet dancer so it didn't work. There are ways I can do it now, with years of experience (for instance simply trying my hardest to do ballet would be really funny) but at the time, throwing myself around pretending to dance was pathetic and not really funny.
Modern Family took an understanding of clowning and knocked the joke out of the park. If you don't know anything about clowns, you can go to the, they're scary, no one likes them. If you take some time and pay some attention to the art, it's hilarious. Getting inside the world of clowns is even funnier because clowns take themselves rather seriously e.g. this blog.
Three whoopee cushions farting at once for Modern Family. (Plus I had a good friend in the episode. They even took the time to use real professionals! Imagine that?)
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
"My Calling...?"
"You get to do what you love, that's so amazing, so few people get to do that..."
I hear that a lot. Doing what you love. Honestly though, I have no understanding of the world, I'm a kid walking around in a balding, hairy middle aged body.
I look around, I don't understand how normal life works. I don't understand when I see lights on in buildings at ten at night, what in the world are they working on so late? I don't understand when I see people having business phone calls at lunch, I don't understand suits, briefcases and laptops.
So...I'm confused by the statement, I do what I love. I walk around thinking everyone has a job they are called to. All I ever encourage my children to do is go with their passion. Or at least do what they like doing. I assume everyone does what they do because they are drawn to it, like a nail to a magnet.
This is not always a job I love. It's very frustrated being a performer, it's incredible highs... and lows i would not wish on the most horrible of folks. I once did a performance in front of 5000 people, I bombed. I opened for a very famous musician and actually got letters to the producer saying how bad I was. That was nearly 20 years ago, even writing that sentence hurts my heart. If you could sit in on the conversation my brain had with me that night, you would abandon that brain.
Why I get confused by the statement of how lucky I am is because I don't have a choice. I have such a strong calling to perform, the concept of love doesn't enter into it. I am a clown, because it's all I can do. I am not a clown out of love, it's like walking or sleeping enough each night. I could survive if I couldn't walk. I could survive sleeping 5 hours a night. I'm human, I need to move around and sleep. My job is a need.
Some jobs you do some jobs you have to do. I have to be a clown.
I hear that a lot. Doing what you love. Honestly though, I have no understanding of the world, I'm a kid walking around in a balding, hairy middle aged body.
I look around, I don't understand how normal life works. I don't understand when I see lights on in buildings at ten at night, what in the world are they working on so late? I don't understand when I see people having business phone calls at lunch, I don't understand suits, briefcases and laptops.
So...I'm confused by the statement, I do what I love. I walk around thinking everyone has a job they are called to. All I ever encourage my children to do is go with their passion. Or at least do what they like doing. I assume everyone does what they do because they are drawn to it, like a nail to a magnet.
This is not always a job I love. It's very frustrated being a performer, it's incredible highs... and lows i would not wish on the most horrible of folks. I once did a performance in front of 5000 people, I bombed. I opened for a very famous musician and actually got letters to the producer saying how bad I was. That was nearly 20 years ago, even writing that sentence hurts my heart. If you could sit in on the conversation my brain had with me that night, you would abandon that brain.
Why I get confused by the statement of how lucky I am is because I don't have a choice. I have such a strong calling to perform, the concept of love doesn't enter into it. I am a clown, because it's all I can do. I am not a clown out of love, it's like walking or sleeping enough each night. I could survive if I couldn't walk. I could survive sleeping 5 hours a night. I'm human, I need to move around and sleep. My job is a need.
Some jobs you do some jobs you have to do. I have to be a clown.
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