Clowning Around

I’ve been posting a series of blogs and videos about the history of performance, discovering the art of acting, improv and movement. As I said in a previous post, I was inspired by a colleague that never heard of Viola Spolin.

Here is a modern icon. As a kid, Bill Irwin was introduced to me as the guy in Robin William’s POPEYE who’s head was squished into his chest by Brutus. Of course he appeared on numerous shows demonstrating “walking down the steps” and other clowning and mime gags.

While modern performance seemingly throws away all these broad gestures of movement and humor, players without the training seem dead inside. Minimalism is not without its inner fire. Dead pan comics, trying to be the next Steven Wright, without an inner life are just lazy.

Discover the world of story and play of a true master clown. When you go to perform seemingly mundane 1 line roles for TV, you will be anything but mundane.

Classical mime and clowning has huge over the top beats. Practice these in your preparations. Then present a smoother, more natural performance, but these beats will be there, more subtle, virtually undetectable, except that your performance will have a shape and rhythm, never flat.

I had the distinct pleasure of working with Mark Jaster. Mark is a renowned mime in the Marcel Marceau tradition. If you are working as an actor or comic, or have aspirations, seek out a master class on mime and clowning. Discover Commedia dell’arte. While too many get stuck in the classics, fi ding it difficult to work in the modern theater and cinema, this training gives you a strong foundation. Also, I find actors with these skills also have far more endurance for long rehearsals and busy performance schedules.

Walt Frasier has 25+ years of professional credits in comedy, Theater and music. He got his big break in TV performing comedy sketches on MTV’s Stankervision, Late Nite with David Letterman, TruTV’s Friends of the People, and most recently on HBO’s Pause with Sam Jay. As an actor, Frasier has appeared on NBC’s Blacklist, CBS’s Blue Bloods, USA’s Royal Pains (Filmed in Puerto Rico), Netflix’s Lilyhammer (filmed in Norway) and NICK’s Naked Brothers Band. In addition to 1000s of live performances around the world, Frasier has also appeared in numerous commercials, industrials, webisodes and reality TV shows.