The Daily Boost #544

Clowning around

I find a lot of wisdom in this list of clowning principles from Avner the Eccentric, a “European-style red nose clown.” Do any of the points resonate with you? In what ways do you “clown” as you “work” on the “stage” of your daily life?

1. The body tells the story.

2. Be interested, not interesting.

3. The work happens on stage. The effect happens in the minds and bodies of the audience.

4. We paint a picture in the minds of the audience using their paint and their canvas; we are the brush.

5. The most basic technique of the clown is to create and maintain rapport.

6. Everything can be seen as a problem to be solved, a knot to be unravelled.

7. Everyone needs to breathe all the time, even when on stage. The audience unconsciously breathes with you.

8. Don’t tell or show the audience or your partners what to think, do, or feel.

9. Have an emotional reaction and invite the audience to join in your experience.

10. Tension without release undermines your performance.

11. The clown enters the stage to accomplish a task, not to get laughs. If there are laughs it is an interruption.

12. Find simple ways to accomplish complicated tasks, and complicated ways to accomplish simple tasks.

13. Don't leave your comfort zone. Make your comfort zone bigger.

14. A clown is costume and makeup. Clowning is a verb.

Avner the Eccentric

(My thanks to Avner the Eccentric, via

Matt Ruby

at Funny How: Letters to a Young Comedian.)

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