Tag: Monkeys
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!
Pop quiz: What do King Kong and eccentric dance have in common? I had no idea, but it turns out the missing link is Andy Serkis, known to millions as Gollum in Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as the giant ape in King Kong, as the chimpanzee Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and as Captain Haddock in The Adventures of Tintin. Millions except for me, that is, but now thanks to our resident eccentric dance expert, Funny Feet director, and guest poster Betsy Baytos, I am being properly schooled. In addition to voicing these characters, Serkis’ body language and facial expressions were digitized by means of motion capture technology and formed the basis for animating each one of them. Not surprisingly, this leading motion capture actor with the circus name is also a student of eccentric dance. Take it away, Betsy! —jt
I’m not in Thailand for physical comedy, but I do keep my eyes open. I like to believe that clowning is universal, as natural as human error, but that doesn’t mean every place you visit is a hotbed of variety theatre, much less of inspired foolishness. Here in Chiang Mai, “cultural capital of northern Thailand,” physical comedy has proven to be an elusive commodity.
I guess it’s a generational thing, but when I mention parkour to anyone over 40, I usually get a blank stare, which if nothing else makes me feel young and in the know. If you too are going “huh?” just think of those videos you’ve probably seen of ridiculously agile teenage daredevils — Spidermen without the web — jumping on, over and off walls, railings and other structures that get in their way. They are called traceurs presumably because they trace a path through space while leaving only a faint imprint.
As I said in my previous post, I have a bunch of additional material relevant to each of the twelve chapters of Clowns. This is especially true of Chapter 5, because it focuses on physical comedy. In fact, you could view this entire blog as Chapter 5 supplemental material! In addition, I’m still a huge fan of the Hanlon-Lees and I could overwhelm you with stuff on them, but I’m going to wait for the publication this fall of Mark Codson’s book (see below) to dive back into their work.
Chapter 5 from my book, Clowns: A Panoramic History
One more background piece. This chapter from my 1976 history of clowns dealt in detail with the development of physical comedy in the nineteenth century and, ultimately, its influence on American silent film comedy. Good stuff!
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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