Practicing Being Clever

I'm perceived as very clever.  Fast wit, a lot of comeback lines.

I absolutely don't think of myself that way.  I've been doing this so long, I have to go lines.  My strengths, I'm a pun guy.  I imagine, many people that do clowning are pun people.

After 50 or 100 shows, the puns start to repeat, at least what I call the peg for the pun.  

These don't have to be puns, they can be jokes, it can be falling down at certain points in your show, it can be be having a balloon get stuck to your tongue, it can be making a comment when a child picks their nose (yup, I've had that a number of times in my shows).

Being clever is being present, being very very present, paying a lot of attention to what's going on around you.  Often just pointing out the obvious can be very clever, e.g. a kid picking their nose.

Yesterday, I asked a little girl her name her name was Sienna.  I said "Toyota Sienna?  Is this your boyfriend Honda Odyssey?"  That's a new joke to me but it will come up again and again and again.  Sienna is a popular name right now.  Not as popular as Emma but it comes up enough, I can get a joke in.

I'm clever because I pay a lot of attention.  I can use that exact same joke over and over. Paying attention means, I need to say that joke when it's quieter.  When there are parents around to laugh.   I have to ask a child's name.  I need a little boy or brother very close to her to make the joke.  The joke is different if I have to go looking for a little boy...although, it would be very funny if I looked around for "Honda Odyssey".  Focus at that point has to be on me.

I'm giving you a glimpse into my brain as I work on this joke, as I write this joke.  I can use it in a lot of ways.  When a little girl says her name is Sienna.  I can say "Oh, Toyota Sienna?  You're a good minivan"  Or "Oh, Toyota Sienna, your parents must love their car to name you after it"  or "Oh, Toyota Sienna, is your husband Honda Odyssey here?"

I've got 3 quick jokes there.  I stumbled on the joke Toyota Sienna.  I can use it now as a peg to hang other jokes.  In my head, I have that peg titled "Toyota Sienna"  in my mind closet.  It now looks to the world like I'm an incredible improvisor.

When I see a joke come up twice, I use it as a peg in my brain.  If something comes up twice, it's going to come up again at some point, all I need is a peg.  There are a lot of Indian families where I live, especially in the high tech area of San Jose.  The name Rohan is a very common boys name.  I created the peg Rohan.   "Row row row your boat"

A lot of school names have the word "day" in them.  "Children's Day School, Marin Country Day School"  come up a lot.  These are two private schools near me.   The word "day" is a peg.  I say, "what do you do at night?"  or "what happens to the school at night?"  (Developmentally, opposites are very important to stimulate a child's brain.  Up/Down, Day/Night, Hot/Cold.)

"Creek"  Lots of schools have the name "Creek" in them.  "Really, you have to go to school in a creek?  don't you get wet?"

I look for a word, then use it as a peg.  Look for the repetition in your shows, pay attention to things that happen again and again.  You'll have a huge bag of clever on your hands before you know it. 

More Fun with Balloons

I know why you're reading this post.  You want comedy bits.  I've been creating comedy with balloons forever, let's have some fun.

How do you FEEL about the balloon you're holding?  That's the question.  That's where to get the comedy.  Below are a lot of bits of balloon business but it's funny only when you have a relationship with the balloon.  Treat the balloon, like a baby, then have it snap in your face.  That will be a funny shock to the audience!

Blow up a balloon and let it go around a room.  
     So many ways to have fun with this.  You can be mean and hand it to someone and the balloon will spin all around the place.  You can pretend to tie the balloon.  Just go through all the tying motions, then hand it to someone, then let it go.  Make a small joke.  "have you ever wondered why they cut the umbilical cords on babies, if they didn't this is what would happen (let the balloon fly)" Try to tie the balloon so fast, it gets away from you and you chase it.  Make a balloon animal backward then let it come undone (this takes a bit of skill to keep the balloon tied around your finger, then let it undo).  Blow up a balloon, let it go and continue making the balloon like nothing happened, then wonder where it went.  Put it to your eye like you're a pirate looking through a spyglass, then let it go and say arrrrr  You can let a balloon fly around over and over.  You should be able to do this 3 or more times in different ways

The balloon arrow.
     If you push your finger or thumb into the knot end of balloon, it will fly away from you, like an arrow from a string.  Blow up your balloon, start to make a balloon but it shoots away from you.  Do this again and again.  Take out an invisible bow.  Pull out the balloon, pretend to put it on the string, pull it back and fire.  The balloon made a poo poo noise, you have to give it a talking to.  The balloon runs away, every time you try and talk to it.  Do the pirate gag again. It will be funnier because the kids will be waiting for it this time.

Step on a balloon.
     Did you know that if you step on an unshaped balloon animal it's not going to pop?  At least very very unlikely.  There is so much flexibility with balloons, the air will move if you step on the balloon.  Make a big deal about the noise of a popped balloon, you don't want anyone afraid, so you're going to prepare the crowd.  Step on the balloon, it doesn't pop.  Do it again, it won't pop.  Sit on the balloon, step both feet on the balloon.  Jump on the balloon.  This is so unexpected, you should get a lot of laughter with this.  Pretend to be a master magician, you've created the unpoppable balloon, then step on it.  Do this one very slowly, have the children put their fingers in their ears to avoid the noise.

I will continue this thread.  There are so many things you can do, I just don't want this to get too long.  If you are confused by my description, please let me know, I'll clear it up.  If you want to ask how to use this in your performing, please let me know, I'll help or brainstorm with you.  david@boswick.net

Why I'm a Total Geek

I just took a 3 day workshop.  It was on viewpoints, contact improvisation, Suzuki method and ensemble performing.  (If you are saying ????  Me too)

I went in not knowing a thing about what these teachers do.  I went because my friend Brady said, "do you want to take a workshop?  I know the teacher it's good"

I've been dying to do a class lately, the time worked, the price was ok.  I'm on board.  I guess I'm one of those easy sells.  That's how I've purchased cars, I need one, this looks good, I can do the payment. Where do I sign?

I'm now geeking out on what is the difference between waiting and stopping on stage?  If that question doesn't make sense, you are not as in your head as me.

If you stop on stage you can pull all attention to you.  Look at the human statue.  You see these folks in tourist areas.  You can't help but watch.  It's amazing.  I am very good at the human statue, I never use it.  I have a bit of mime training and holding a frozen position is something I can do well.

It's so powerful, I'm not sure how to use it while performing.  (read here GEEK too powerful!)

Waiting, is a new distinction for me.  Waiting on stage, is pausing or holding.  In acting parlance waiting a beat.  Yet it's pausing with anticipation.  If you're holding a needle in front of a balloon for an extra second.

If you start messing with waiting and stopping on stage, you also have to be aware the audience waits and stops with you.  If you wait before putting a needle through the balloon a extra second, the audience will stop breathing.

If you've got something so powerful on stage the audience pauses their breath.  You also have to let them breath on the other side.  You poke the needle into the balloon, then pause again.  The audience will gasp, laugh, sigh whatever your looking for there but it's another wait, in order to allow the release.  Allowing that release is where the big moments come.  For me, I want that big laugh.  Others want a tear.  Two sides of a coin.

As a children's performer, I'm using it as part of a story I tell.  It's a control point.

Because I took this workshop, I've put a lovely story of an old trapeze artist back into my show.  He flies for the last time but never comes back down to earth.  It's a pretty story, more whimsical than funny.  The last few years, I've been looking for funny.  So I gutted the story in my show till it's 15 seconds long.

It's fun to put it back in.  Gives a new level to me as a performer.

Stopping and Waiting.  Those have brought lightness, fantasy and flight to my show. 

Wow, a Balloon!

I've been thinking a lot about balloons.

My brother told me I should just make a video of me making balloons.  No clowning, just blowing up balloons.  My niece and nephew were much younger then but what he was saying, they love balloons, they never tire of seeing a balloon.

I think of Curious George floating away with a balloon, one of my very early favorite stories.  The 21 balloons, I loved that book so much in 4th grade I read to my children.  The movie UP.  Shrek has one of the funniest scenes of all time when Shrek blows up a frog and Fiona blows up a snake and makes it into a balloon dog.  The image of a balloon seller in Central Park.

We love balloons.

I'm around balloons so much, I could care less about them.  I'm around other clowns that forget what an incredibly special thing a balloon is.  We talk a lot about, cutting off a balloon line.  If we make a very cool balloon, will it get us in trouble when the line gets out the door?  What are the best brands? How do we deal with angry parents?  

We seem to have lost that bit of magic.  I've been thinking a lot about balloons, about Curious George Floating over New York.  About Fiona blowing up a snake and making it into a balloon animal.

If you want to get to the basics of clowning, think balloon.  Just one simple red balloon.  Maybe yellow, your choice.

What can you do?  It's happiness, love, peace, surprise, joy all in one round hunk of latex.

I'm thinking the very essence of clown is hidden right there.  Everyone knows you can blow up a balloon, give it to a child, make it float, use it to decorate, over inflate it and make it pop, forget to tie it and let it fly around a room, make it sound like a fart, let it inflate you, fill it with helium and lose it in the rafter, fill it with water and throw it.  Every 5 year old knows exactly what a balloon will do.

All these things from a child's toy.  A toy every person knows how to play with.  That little magical toy that costs a nickel, can fool you.  It can fool me, while I'm blowing it up and endlessly, endlessly fascinate us.

That's clowning.  So so simple.  So So magical

Wow, a Balloon!

Reviews Reviews Reviews

The Sacred Art of Clowning By Cleone Reed

Read This Book Slowly to Absorb It's Impact. 

Cleone asked me to review her book a few months ago. I don't know her, we've never met, never even talked on the phone. She found me by way of my blog and my resume. I found it confronting, overwhelming and frightening to be asked to review someone's personal work

This book took me a long time to read, it made me think and think... I keep the book by my night stand and read it as a source of inspiration.

I was afraid of this book when I was asked to review it. I'm an atheist but spiritual. I've seen far too many Christian Clowns that hide behind their message as an excuse for not being good or funny. I'm generally wary of clown books.

Cleone reveals so much about herself and her journey as a person and a clown. It's a beautiful book, she GETS clowning. She and I have so much invested emotion in clowning, I would often read a passage in this book turn the book over to think about what she just said. Clowning is never about your pretty costume, how many clubs you can juggle, what a wonderful balloon you make, it's about connection with your audience and making people laugh. As a clown and a writer she invites us in to be hugged.

It's wonderful how Cleone talks about visiting a hospital or a senior center and sometimes just making physical contact with another human. Tossing out what you had "planned" is clowning. Sometimes bringing overwhelming comic love into a place is clowning. Being present and learning from one moment to the next, that's what Cleone writes about.

I think this is a beautiful book, written from the heart. It's the kind of book you can flip open to any section, read and get something new every time.

Highly recommended

I Love This Clown Store

I found out I have a fan from Clown Antics.  Apparently they even read my blog.

But I don't know them, I have never talked to them, I just love their store.  I get nothing out of this recommendation other than the chance to look through their site again and again.  I put this on here, because I use this site.  I buy socks.  I buy whoopee cushions, I buy magic.  Mostly, I just buy inspiration from them.

I always buy too much when I shop here but so what?  I often buy things that sit for 10 years and I suddenly "discover" them.   Clown Antics gives me inspiration, I look through the site and get ideas.  Lots and lots of ideas for routines.  It's just fun to look through.

Some people "get it" some people don't.  Clown Antics "gets it". This is a real site for clowns.  I keep trying to find an excuse to buy the giant underwear.

http://www.clownantics.com 

knocking it out of the park

I am coming down from a high.  

Some of it's drugs, I've been enjoying Vicodan to offset my tooth implant surgery from two days ago.  but mostly it's just high from a great great funny show.  

Every year I do a show on the Disney Stage before the San Francisco Pops play for the 4th of July.  It's a show I've done for years, I mean like over 20 years, a long long time.  This year I just killed it.  

When I can just be a clown, I am so happy.  Tonight I had a real clown show.  I brought two kids up and it became just complete mayhem trying to keep them in control as I did my act.  It was hilarious.  It's a very complicated art to have kids out of control yet leading them to an end point, it can go very very badly.  But the risk is worth it.  

The routine is just to have the kids hand me a balloon and I'll make it into something.  I do this while balancing a ladder on my face, which is very cool of course but the lead up to that is something else.  The kids are pulling on the balloon, it's hitting me in the face, the butt, it's flying around, the kids are running after it.  

I knew I killed it when I heard the sound technicians dying laughing.  That's a rarity, those guys just stare.  

When performing goes right, there's nothing quite like it.  It's capturing smoke in a bottle.  This feeling will be gone in a short time.  The laughter I got is forgotten but just for a bit I had comedy perfection on a stage.  

The artists way

I have a mouth full of specialized cotton to stop the bleeding, I'm on vicadin, and an anti-inflammatory to keep my incisions from swelling.  I talk funny and half my tongue still can't feel, 10 hours later. 

But I'm just so happy.

I had a tooth ache some months ago.  It got bad enough to see the dentist, he couldn't find anything wrong, cleaned it up, it seemed to get better.  Then he sent me to a periodontist who said in 4 seconds it's cracked, can't be saved.

I went to the implant specialist but we couldn't align schedules.  Until this morning.  So I've been living with this for over 2 months.  When they pull the tooth out, you will be able to see it in my smile.

I had a fake tooth made for when it was pulled, so I wouldn't have a gap waiting for the implant but it's a retainer thing and will make me talk funny.

It's all over and I'm so happy.  Yes, I've got pain, I've got this retainer thing in my mouth.  I'm learning to talk very quickly with it.

I can still be a clown.  I was just so worried.  I have lovely straight teeth.  I've even had my filling replaced with white ones.  my smile is a big deal to me.

The thing about being an artist, I will do anything to keep moving forward.  I realized after the post operative stuff wore off, I can still do it.  I am so grateful.  I am so happy.

I wasn't sure I could do my upcoming shows in a few days.  I must be an artist. I went through an awful lot today.  I went through it all with clowning in mind.