Extra! Extra! Clowns Found Not Scary! (with Clown Cabaret)

Occasionally, we have guests who are involved in a subculture so alien to me that I have to dive in and gleefully demonstrate my ignorance. For example, greeting a troupe of classically trained professional clowns who have performed everywhere from Disney to Spain to Ethiopia with, "So which are scarier: clowns or zombies?"

(from left to right) Matthew Pauli, Rich Potter, and Karen Beriss
(image from Clown Cabaret's successful Kickstarter)

Having Trouble? Please try our RSS feed.

Seems like an innocent question, until you realize that clowning is so much more than a jackass with face paint who jumps out at you in a haunted house. Real clowns don't get up in your face. Assholes do. And the members of Clown Cabaret were quick to set straight my understanding about the matter. Also, I have secured explicit promises that the Clown Cabaret will never hide under your bed and scare you. Don't say I never did anything for you.

This episode, we were joined by the three founders and producers: Rich Potter (the tall one), Karen Beriss (the girl), and Matthew Pauli (that other guy). We discussed the role of makeup in clowning as a magnifying glass. Matthew explained how his graduate courses in classical acting examined clowning alongside techniques such as neutral mask, movement, and mime. Karen described working in hospitals with Big Apple Circus Clown Care. And Rich took us on a orthographic tour of collective nouns (by the way, it's an "alley" of clowns, since I know you were on the edge of your seat).

(image by Clown Cabaret)

"A clown is a performer who's very aware that they're in front of an audience… whether or not there's makeup, or if it's comic or pathetic varies wildly." - That Other Guy

(image by Clown Cabaret)

"Clowns tend to be fairly vulnerable. They are not just there with the audience, you get to see the real person… you can't get in front of the audience and freak out and try to hide that as a clown. If you're going to freak out, you have to share that with the audience." - The Girl

(image by Clown Cabaret) 

"Everyone is a clown. It's just a matter of most people try to hide it. People like us put our foibles up on stage for everyone to enjoy and laugh at so they don't have to get up on stage and get laughed at. But throughout the day, everyone does something stupid." - The Tall Guy

The most fascinating section of the podcast revolves around the relationships within a troupe (or gaggle or alley) of clowns: the leader, the (optional) middle man, and the subservient. Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello - not a smear of makeup between them, but they all follow classic formulae of clowning. With no words, and a well established hierarchy, two clowns can make the act of going through a door take five hilariously awkward minutes. Keep an ear out for the power structure through the podcast.

Here's where you can find them and get up to speed on the awesome medium, genre, process, and true art of clown (and they're also funny, and not in that awkward "people get angry when I laugh in MoMA" kind of way):

• Website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Swellmagic (Karen and Matthew's magic)
• January 14 performance
• February 13 performance (noon) at the Harman Theater of Delusions of Grandeur ("Three well-meaning, but misguided, clowns attempt to create epic theater. The show devolves into Shakespeare.")

Thank you, Rich, Karen, and Matthew for coming on the podcast. Can't wait to make it out to one of your events.