Post-Fest thoughts...finally.
What? I know, I know. It's been a while, but here is my brain finally closing down the Nerd Parade for the year - maybe it was the fact that George and I had 2 weekends of shows in Wisconsin that made it feel like the season was still churning along in some ways, I don't know. I kept sitting down to write this but I kept feeling like I said the same thing last year or what I was saying wasn't able to capture what I meant, just saying "I have fun" doesn't cut it.
[the Clown]
I don't know what the fuck is wrong with that guy. And I certainly don't understand why people put up with him.
I started doing this stupid character a few years back and it's been an...odd...trip. I came out of the puppet troupe to do it, and had some experience doing "clowning" in the puppets even though I have no formal training in either. I was used to being the opposite of myself in the Jester puppet and took a lot from that, because the Clown needs to be a lot of things I am not. It's strange what you'll find when you spend many, many hours and situations doing the opposite of what you're comfortable with - and the corrosive effects that has on your sense of boundaries and propriety.
In real life I hate having my picture taken, I actually do try to maintain good manners and be thoughtful and I'm nowhere near as forward or as cocky as that fucking weirdo in the hat is - but I've gotten good at reacting the way he would when given the chance and it's fun to sit in the passenger seat in my mind and watch what happens in his wake.
There are so many things I spend a lot of time dissecting about my street performing, or performing as the Clown in general, and there are still lots of things I don't know how I know but they just make sense. Like, breaking down the process of how the audience knows what to do and how we get on the same page. Consciously, I'm at a loss to explain it but if you put me in front of a crowd I can gather a pretty accurate sense of what the rules are, what I can bend and the games I can play - from there, it's just pushing the game until it breaks. And then seeing what games we can make out of the pieces. And so on.
[Kids]
I love working with kids - kids are awesome. Kids know the game, they get the rules and they don't sweat the rest.
I do struggle with the idea that I imagine people like Twig have to deal with in a much more extreme way, that children come out there with such high expectations of me and the weird emotions that go with that - I don't want to let down some kid that spent the whole day looking for me but I also have to eat, make it to shows, breathe every so often, make it to more shows, play with these other kids, etc.
[George]
I always want to avoid posting about individuals but I can't write about Festival and not about George. There's George and then there's everyone else as far as Festival goes.
Twenty. Fucking. Years.
We have been doing this in one form or another for the last TWO DECADES and I don't think it's ever gotten any less fun or any more rational.
We both understand Festival, we both understand how the other understands Festival and we just love doing it together.
We hit a point in one of our best shows this year where the silliness and sheer absurdity of it all just came crashing in - George looked at me with a moment of realization and said "THIS is what we do?!?" while laughing his ass off. We spend so much time in our shows laughing it's hard to believe we're also entertaining anyone else. I love our show and all the stupid things we do all day long.
Yes. This is what we do. We have more fun than anyone should. We get to play as hard and fast and crazy as we can and know that it'll be ok because the other one will be able to handle it - not that we've gotten predictable to one another, far from it - if there's anyone out there that keeps me on my toes and keeps pushing me to be better, stay focused and never lose the fun that makes it all work instead of making it all feel like work - it's George.
[Mark]
Mark is a fucking awesome straight man.
If you can't learn from watching him, you can't learn.
[Everyone else]
Thank you all.
I may not understand why some of this works, I may not understand why you let me get away with any of it. But when I find myself destroyed on Monday morning, completely exhausted and unable to move, I know that am lucky as hell. Best. Job. Ever. I say it as a joke almost every day but I am aware of it and I appreciate it every single time.
No comments:
Post a Comment