It’s always sad when a fellow raccoon passes into the next world. I’m sad to report that former Ringling clown Kevin Ryan recently passed away from complications of COVID. A fellow alum of Ringling Clown College (although a different year than I) he was on the Blue Unit for two years, and after that he worked with other circuses […]
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Barry Friedman was one of the most successful jugglers in the world. His group, the Raspyni Brothers, performed all over television (Tonight Show, Circus of the Stars, Regis & Kathy, etc), stages (opening for Robin Williams, Howie Mandel, Tom Jones, Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, Dean Martin, Bob Hope, and many others), and corporate gigs (over 100 of the Fortune 500 […]
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Juggling is not necessarily easy to do, but it’s easier to do than to explain. Noted juggler and vaudevillian Thom Wall aims to fix that. His new book covers the hard part, explaining how to juggle in a way that just about anyone can understand. The book is called Juggling: What it is and How to do it. and it came […]
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THROW BACK THURSDAY TO THE LAUNDRY GAG! 3 years ago today, my son and I ventured a couple of hours away to Baraboo Wisconsin to see friends Steven Copeland and Ryan Combs perform in our nearly annual visit to Circus World Museum. This version of the Laundry Gag came up in my timehop today, and I thought I’d share it […]
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The first week of August is National Clown Week. It was declared so by Richard Nixon, when Congress on October 8, 1970, passed the following law/resolution: S Since that time period, people have been taking some time during this month to celebrate, and often there are various organizations that meet or hold festivals. And in 1991, people started calling it […]
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It’s a great day in Mudville, people. My pal, Trav SD, (who probably hold the ignominious honor of being mentioned the most on this blog) has announced that he will be giving a regular series of talks on Zoom regarding his specialty (old time entertainment and performance.) If you haven’t read his books, hie thee to a bookstore at once. […]
Read moreI’ve written about Joe Dieffenbacher before, but as it turns out, I’ve written mostly about projects he’s been involved with, or classes he’s been creating. I’ve never written a post directly about him. So It’s time. It’s time. When I met Joe, he was the janitor at the Dell’arte School. He’d graduated a few years before, and was hanging around […]
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Great 30 minute interview (in English) with famous clown David Larible on the podcast/video show Lockdown’s Got Talent. If you don’t know Larible, you totally should. He’s a seventh-generation circus performer who has headlined most of the major circuses in the world, including Ringling, Circus Roncali, Circus Krone, Circus Knie, and many other shows. He’s performed on the stage […]
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Clowns Being Clowns: The PassAlong Video! Sometimes clowns being clowns is enough to make a video about. Inspired by the popular passing videos that are going around (especially the stuntman video) a group of Ringling trained clowns (myself included) got together and said: “Let’s do this!” Planned in a private Facebook group, and organized by New York clown Joel Jeske […]
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Vaudeville has made a number of attempts at revival over the years. Now it is virtual vaudeville’s turn! In 2002, I was part of the short-lived vaudeville revival that took over Times Square. [See this article from the NY Times that features my show extensively: Old Time Vaudeville Looks Young Again What with the social distancing, #coronamadness, and lots of […]
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I’ve been diving into a great new podcast (The Variety Artist Podcast) that features variety artists talking about their work, how they got involved, and tips and tricks for both beginners and working pros. It’s something that I think many readers of this blog would be interested in. (And it makes me a little envious that I didn’t start doing […]
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February isn’t actually Commedia Month (although it does contain international Commedia Day). But in Chicago, Laughing Stock Theatre is doing its darnedest to celebrate Commedia month anyway. They are bringing Antonio Fava, a world-renowned performer, teacher, director and maskmaker from Italy, to Chicago during the month of February. He’ll be conducting a 2 day master class 2/15-2/16 at Links Hall […]
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I got my copy of A Clown In Our Town a few weeks ago, and I have been meaning to write about it. It’s a wonderful tribute to Rob Torres, who passed away unexpectedly in 2018.  I wrote his obituary here: RIP- Rob Torres, International Man of Mirth. Photographer Jim Moore, who has taken more photos of clowns, circuses, […]
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Got sad news from my friend Stanley Allan Sherman, who reports in a heartfelt remembrance that groundbreaking mime Richmond Shepard has passed away. He was 90 years old at the time of his death and still working, operating a mime studio in his apartment. I never studied with Richmond, but I think I met him a couple of times, […]
Read moreI had reviewed Jeff Raz’s first book The Secret Life of Clowns last year and found it delightful. (In fact, I had originally published one of the chapters on this blog when I first read it on Jeff’s Facebook page) So I wasn’t surprised when I received his second book The Snow Clown in the mail. I was, however, surprised to […]
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As mentioned in a previous post, Circolombia’s show Acelere is in town, and we saw it last night. It’s the culminating event of Destinos, the Chicago International Latino Theatre Festival. I’m happy to say that I can highly recommend it. It’s a gritty show filled with music, dance, daring young performers, and some unusual circus acts performed well. Most importantly, […]
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