Tag: Comedy Acrobatics
When I taught my first physical comedy workshop more than three decades ago, I called it “theatrical acrobatics,” by which I meant adapting and disguising acrobatic vocabulary in order to make it work believably for a character in a comic situation. Everything had to have cause and effect and look natural, not gymnastic. You could learn a lot from silent film comedy, circus clowning, contact improv, Pilobolus, and stage combat, but precious little of it was written down.
When I did my recent post, Comedy Acrobatics Roundup, I meant to include this wonderfully inventive piece by Walter Dare Wahl and Emmet Oldfield, but somehow it got lost in the shuffle. (Senility is a terrible thing.) Luckily Hilary Chaplain recommended it to the NYC Physical Comedy Lab after Audrey Crabtree had led an exercise in creating physical comedy chain reactions, so now here it is!
I was going to call this post “Old-Fart Physical Comedy” but I thought I’d pull in more readers this way. Sexagenarian must have something to do with sex, right? Maybe there’ll even be pictures! No, but while you’re here…
Wow! 400 posts!! (Have you read them all?) Never thought I’d make it this far. But it’s fitting that the big 4–0–0 be about comedy acrobatics. Yeah, my keenest interest is physical comedy happening to real characters in real-life situations, but the truth is I never get tired of comedy acrobatics. By which I mean acrobatic acts that are prone to go wrong because at least one performer is blessed with clown DNA. Or that the act is performed by eccentric movers who are just too damn silly to conform to Standard Acrobatic Form.
Two posts ago I highlighted a strong table comedy acrobatic act by Zahir Circo. I also linked to a couple of older posts where I shared earlier versions of this kind of act. Now comes another predecessor,from the French tv show La Piste aux Étoiles, a three-man, three-table act by Les Pauwels, who hail from an eight-generation circus family. Some real nice stuff, including a triple peanut roll under the table!
This excellent trio comedy acrobatic act by Barcelona’s Zahir Circo is a virtual encyclopedia of partner and table tricks. I’ve seen most of them at some point before, and done more than a few myself, but here they are crammed into a tight, fast-paced six minutes. A great vocabulary builder for anyone interested in (very) physical comedy!
Johnny Hutch, one of the unsung heroes of physical comedy, would have been 100 years old today. As things turned out, he not only made it past his 93rd birthday, but remained active as an acrobatic performer until age 69, and as a teacher and choreographer late into life, last working as a stunt coordinator for the Royal Shakespeare Company at the age of 87. He was also married to the same woman, Jane Phillips, for 66 years, passing away — probably not coincidentally — months after she did in 2006.
Yes, right here! I hit the jackpot this past weekend, and of course I’m sharing the wealth with you. Here’s the story….
British television comedian Benny Hill made a long career out of sight gags, British musical hall routines, and leering sexual humor. Other than his trademark Yakety Sax sped-up chase scenes, however, you wouldn’t necessarily think of him as a very physical comedian… and this skit probably won’t change your mind. “Scuttle’s Keep Fit Brigade” has some fun with acrobatics, but that’s about it. Like most of Hill’s work, very uneven, some good bits, nothing great, but at least there’s a lot crammed into a short amount of time. In other words, modern television.
Here’s a sweet husband-and-wife comedy acrobatic act with a few choice tricks and lots of personality — very funny. Thanks to Tanya Solomon for the link.
Here’s a simple but effective comedy idea. How do you make a highly skilled but somewhat standard hoop spinning act more engaging — not to mention funny? Simply perform it while trying to fetch and drink a glass of red wine! Here’s Annabel Carberry in A Glass of Red.
Post #200. Wow! I thought I was getting out of this business, but I guess the money’s just too good. (Yes, that was sarcasm.)
Here’s a riddle for you: what do the sticky floors of New York City subway cars and dusty, musty books on Elizabethan drama have in common? For the answer, just read on….
“Washington Square Park is the entertainment capital of the world.”
— Tic and/or Tac
(Hey, they’re twins, they speak in unison; how am I supposed to know which one said it?)
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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