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[Some of you must have noticed that I’ve neglected the blog big time this year. It’s not that I’ve lost interest in physical comedy. In fact, in New York I’ve been busy directing physical comedy, and this week I’m in Barcelona teaching it at Jango Edwards’ Nouveau Clown Institute. Nope, the problem is that I’ve gotten involved with other stuff, the main one being learning Spanish! Had been meaning to do it for over 40 years, and now I’ve thrown much of my spare time into it. But the plan is to get back to the blog, and here’s a post to prove it.]
I don’t know about you, but I still remember as a kid upsetting my parents by trying the old trick of yanking a tablecloth out from underneath some dishes and glasses with, er, mixed results. I’ve also written about this trick, including an advanced variation, in this blog post. But now I can offer a more scientific explanation….
I must admit I feared a let-down might await me last night as I went to see the new Bill Irwin / David Shiner production, Old Hats. Too much talent! Expectations way too high!! Plus weren’t these guys turning 63 and 60 this year?
Just following up on my previous blog post on the Stolen Chair Theatre Company’s “silent film for the stage” production of Victor Hugo’s The Man Who Laughs….
There have been lots of modern movies made in the style of 1920s silents, many of them quite good, but only a smattering of theatre productions attempt to recreate that aesthetic on stage in front of a live audience. In fact, it makes no sense at all, since the time and space constraints of the proscenium preclude many of the crowd-pleasing elements we associate with silent film….
Downton Abbey is now one of the most popular television shows in the world, no small achievement for a fairly sophisticated British costume drama. The acting, led by the delightfully caustic Maggie Smith, is top-notch, and one of the stand-outs has to be Jim Carter as the butler, Mr. Carson.
When it comes to popular music, I’m a few decades behind, but I do pay some attention to music videos. So while I don’t really follow the music of the band OK Go, I do know their videos play a lot with physical comedy, and I couldn’t help wonder why. Did one of the performers have a weakness for our favorite form of merriment, or was it a particular choreographer or director they were working with?
You may not think of pickpocketing as entertainment, much less physical comedy, but it can be both. I still recall with delight Philippe Petit’s street act in the days before the World Trade Center walk, which included juggling, tight rope walking, and other stuff, including some very amusing picking of spectators’ pockets. Now comes this fascinating article in The New Yorker about another entertaining pickpocket, Apollo Robbins.
When I was six or seven, my parents took me to see a Danny Kaye movie (very likely The Court Jester) and I still remember thinking afterwards that I didn’t know it was humanly possible to laugh that hard. Literally. I wasn’t a sad child, I’m sure I laughed a bunch, but not like that, not that convulsively. Danny Kaye was born one hundred years ago today and I am honored to take this opportunity to finally say thanks and hopefully share his comic genius with some new fans.
I am pleased to be able to introduce a new contributor to this blog who, like my other guest writers, knows a lot of stuff that I don’t. Ashley Griffin is a writer, actor, singer, and dancer whose expertise is in the area of musical theatre, the history of which she has taught at New York University. She has performed on- and off-Broadway as well as in Los Angeles, Chicago, and London. Her plays have been produced off-Broadway, in L.A, and Chicago, and she is most well known as the creator of the pop-culture phenomenon Twilight: The Unauthorized Musical Parody. Ashley has a long-time interest in circus, clowning, and physical comedy, and one of her current projects is a collaboration with Joel Jeske on a physical comedy version of Alice in Wonderland. — jt
Long before there was Blue Man Group, nouveau cirque, and dozens of genre-bending mask / mime / movement troupes, there was Mummenschanz. To see their show back in the seventies was to be at the birth of entirely new theatrical possibilities. Founded in ’72 by Bernie Schürch and Andres Bossard (both Swiss, both Lecoq graduates), and the Italian-American Floriana Frassetto, Mummenschanz was a commercial hit, popular enough to merit a three-year Broadway run.
It’s that time of the year again when I wish I were in London instead of New York. The reason of course is the 37th edition of the London International Mime Festival, which runs January 10–27. Calling it a mime festival is less accurate than its subtitle of “contemporary visual theatre.” Maybe it was more mime-y back in 1977, but these days it’s a rousing mixture of puppetry, nouveau cirque, clowning, dance, mime, juggling and everything in-between. Especially in-between.
Assuming this article is true, and that these photos aren’t just me in a gorilla suit, I can’t think of a better way to wish you all a happy new year. May it be full of Daring Adventures and, as Karen Gersch (who sent me this) wrote, Unexpected Grace. A happy and well balanced new year to all!
Due for release on March 15th, this movie about Vegas magicians looks to be a hoot — and to have a good deal of physical comedy. Wonderstone (Steve Carell) and his former partner (Steve Buscemi) must reunite to take on an up-and-coming street performer (Jim Carrey). Any similarity to Siegfried & Roy and to David Blaine is purely coincidental! (heh heh) Add in Alan Arkin as the elderly magician who inspired Burt and you have quite a heady mix of comedic talent.
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Workshops & Other Events
My first book (1976)
My book Clowns has long been out of print, but you can borrow it for two weeks at a time from the Internet Archive. More information is available here.
My second book (2015)
Visual and verbal humor for the cognitively and artistically curious! Available here.
“A book to treasure!”
—Bill Irwin