LOU JACOBS: Photo by Stanley Kubrick (1948)

Happy First of May!

BUSTER KEATON: Cirque Medrano (1947)

Promotional postcard for Keaton's appearance at the famed Cirque Medrano in Paris, 1947

MARK LOHR: Theatricks Circus Camp

My good friend and performing partner, Mark Lohr...

Festival International des Clowns 2011 TERGNIER

FOOTIT ET CHOCOLAT: "Chaise en Bascule" (1899)

CAPTAIN KANGAROO: First Look

Photo courtesy of David Burd

A photo taken on location from the first day of shooting the latest incarnation of Captain Kangaroo. 

We were fortunate enough to have a wonderful cross-section of variety artists join us that day and it never ceases to amaze me just how many talented people I've been lucky enough to meet and work with in my travels.

I deeply appreciate everyone who joined us and so generously shared both their time and their talents.

FELIX ADLER : Circa 1940s

WHO'S WHERE 2012: Scandanavian Edition

Courtesy of John Cooper

Denmark.

Cirkus Arena: Jimmy Folco; Toto Chabri & Co.

Cirkus Arli:  Martino & Co.

Cirkus Baldoni: Danilo & Danila.

Cirkus Benneweis: Versace.

Cirkus Dannebrog: Cesar Dias.

Cirkus Krone: Alando

Cirkus Macot: Alex and Lulu.

Sweden.

Cirkus Brazil Jack: Jose Michel Clowns.

Cirkus Maximum: Totti (Totti Alexis)

Cirkus Olympia: The Balders.

Norway.

Cirkus Merano: Don Christian.

Cirkus Arnardo: Sterza Family.

 

Finland.

Sirkus Finlandia: Bonbon & Tiina.  (N.B. "Sirkus" and "Tiina" are spelt correctly here!)

Thank you, John!

AM I DON QUIXOTE?

Am I Don Quixote?  (IndieGoGo) from HomelessMan Productions on Vimeo.

CHARLIE CAIROLI: Sullivan? Hollywood Palace?

CAPUCCCINO & LORENZO MARTINI

WHO IS WHERE 2012

The following is a list of what clowns are on what American circuses this season. This list is not intended to be exhaustive as clowns perform in all manner of venues outside of the traditional circus.  If you know of any clowns or shows not listed please let us know so that we can update the list...

                        WHO IS WHERE 2012





Big Apple Circus

Barry Lubin
Scott & Muriel



Kelly Miller Circus

Ryan Combs
Steve Copeland
Raul Oliveras



Universoul Circus

Shuckey Duckey
Zeke
Onionhead



Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Blue Unit


Andrew Hicks
Jared Monjeau
Frances Tiffin
Kelli Argott
LaRena Rose
Taylor Albin
Billy Murray
Alex Barney
Henry Castillo
Sandor Eke
Ivan Vargas
Oscar Liendo



Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Red Unit

Kyle Barker
Jeffrey Branin
Kelli Brown
Sean Davis
Rodger Fisher
Brandon Foster
Joy Powers
Dustin Portillo
Julio Ramazini
Richard Stringer
Chris Sullivan
Rudy Wollrabe



Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Gold Unit

Dean Kelley
Victor Franke
Anton Franke



Circus Vargas

Jon Weiss
Matti Esqueda



Circus Sarasota

Bello Nock



Circus Zoppe

Giovanni "Nino" Zoppe



Circus Flora

Giovanni "Nino" Zoppe



Carson & Barnes Circus

Alex Acero



Clyde Beatty Circus

Elmo Gibb



Culpepper & Merriweather Circus

DJ Weiss



Cole Bros. Circus of the Stars

Kellan & Company



Circus Gatti

Leo Acton



NoJoe's Clown Circus

Joey Thurmond
Lee Andrews



Royal Hanneford Circus

Unconfirmed



Walker Bros. Circus

Orlandito



Piccadilly Circus

Jack Cook



Hamid Shrine Circus

Larry Clark



Bindlestiff Family Cirkus

Keith "Kinko Bindlestiff" Nelson



Circus World Museum

Nathan Holguin
Michelle Musser



Circus Circus Hotel & Casino

Benny Schultz
Huel Speight
Dave DeDera
Scott Linker
Tonya



The Yankee Doodle Circus

Pat Cashin


(overseas Jessi Hoffschildt and Kelly Van Cleave are on Circus Kinoshita, Tom Dougherty and Lorenzo "Pepe" Silva are on Circus Arlette Gruss, David Larible is on Circus Roncalli and dozens of people working theme parks and cruise ships)

ROAD REPORT: Kelly-Miller Clown Alley

Word comes to us today from Steve Copeland, today beginning his fourth season with America's One Ring Wonder - The Kelly-Miller Circus...

"Today is opening day for the 2012 season of Kelly Miller. Ryan and I are debuting six new numbers: an opening, a cover for the tiger cage strike, a chase, and three production gags."


The very best to the entire cast and crew. Last year's production will be very difficult to top and we're all eager to see what you two have come up with this time!

STEPHEN COLBERT: Slate Article

Stephen Colbert is carrying on in the proud tradition of Dan Rice. With all due respect to Will Rogers, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Chevy Chase, Dana Carvey, Darrell Hammond, Will Ferrell and Tina Fey, not since Pat Paulsen in 1968 has a comedian had so much impact on American politics...

Colbert v. the Court

Why, in the battle over Citizens United, the Supreme Court never had a chance.

By Dahlia Lithwick

Comedian Stephen Colbert hosts a rally in Charleston, S.C. on Jan. 12, 2012.
Photograph by Richard Ellis/Getty Images.

The Supreme Court has always had its critics.  Chief Justice John Marshall had to contend with the temper of President Andrew Jackson (“John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!”). And Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes went toe-to-toe with FDR, who wouldn’t let up with the court-packing. But in the history of the Supreme Court, nothing has ever prepared the justices for the public opinion wrecking ball that is Stephen Colbert. The comedian/presidential candidate/super PAC founder has probably done more to undermine public confidence in the court’s 2010 Citizens United opinion than anyone, including the dissenters. In this contest, the high court is supremely outmatched.

Citizens United, with an assist from a 1976 decision Buckley v. Valeo, has led to the farce of unlimited corporate election spending, “uncoordinated” super PACs that coordinate with candidates, and a noxious round of attack ads, all of which is protected in the name of free speech. Colbert has been educating Americans about the resulting insanity for months now. His broadside against the court raises important questions about satire and the court, about protecting the dignity of the institution, and the role of modern media in public discourse. Also: The fight between Colbert and the court is so full of ironies, it can make your molars hurt.

When President Obama criticized Citizens United two years ago in his State of the Union address, at least three justices came back at him with pitchforks and shovels. In the end, most court watchers scored it a draw. But when a comedian with a huge national platform started ridiculing the court last summer, the stakes changed completely. This is no pointy-headed deconstruction unspooling on the legal blogs. Colbert has spent the past few months making every part of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion in Citizen United look utterly ridiculous. And the court, which has no access to cameras (by its own choosing), no press arm, and no discernible comedic powers, has had to stand by and take it on the chin.

It all started when Colbert announced that, as permitted by Citizens United, he planned to form a super PAC (“Making a better tomorrow, tomorrow”). As he explained to his viewers, his hope was that “Colbert Nation could have a voice, in the form of my voice, shouted through a megaphone made of cash ... the American dream. And that dream is simple. That anyone, no matter who they are, if they are determined, if they are willing to work hard enough, someday they could grow up to create a legal entity which could then receive unlimited corporate funds, which could be used to influence our elections."

Then last June, like a winking, eyebrow-wagging Mr. Smith, Colbert went to Washington and testified before the FEC, which granted him permission to launch his super PAC (over the objections of his parent company Viacom) and accept unlimited contributions from his fans so he might sway elections. (He tweeted before his FEC appearance that PAC stands for "Plastic And/Or Cash.") In recent weeks, Colbert has run several truly insane attack ads (including one accusing Mitt Romney of being a serial killer). Then, with perfect comedic pitch, Colbert handed off control of his super PAC to Jon Stewart (lampooning the FEC rules about coordination between “independent PACS” and candidates with a one-page legal document and a Vulcan mind meld). Colbert then managed to throw his support to non-candidate Herman Cain in the South Carolina primary, placing higher on the ballot than Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman, and Michele Bachmann.

The line between entertainment and the court blurred even further late last month when Colbert had former Justice John Paul Stevens on his show to discuss his dissent in Citizens United. When a 91-year-old former justice is patiently explaining to a comedian that corporations are not people, it’s clear that everything about the majority opinion has been reduced to a punch line.

Colbert took the mainstream by storm in interview after interview that schooled Americans about the insanity of Citizens United and garnered blowback from NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd, who complained that Colbert is “making a mockery of the system” and questioned whether the real agenda was to “educate the public about the dangers of money and politics ... or simply to marginalize the Republican Party?” Then came the un-ironic defenses of the irony of Colbert and the obligatory navel-gazing about whether Colbert is in fact effecting real change or in peril of succumbing to “irony fatigue.”

At one level, this is all just comedy, and it’s hard to measure whether Colbert’s sustained attacks on the court’s campaign finance decisions are having any real impact, beyond making us laugh. On the other hand, when the New York Times declares that Colbert’s project is deadly serious, and it’s just the rest of politics that’s preposterous, something more than just theater is happening. I spoke to Trevor Potter, former chairman of the FEC and adviser to John McCain, and the man Colbert has designated his “personal lawyer,” about the consequences of Colbert’s assault on the campaign finance regime. Potter is very careful not to ascribe an end game to Colbert’s efforts but says that he has seen Colbert’s campaign finance crusade as an “opportunity to open up to the rest of the world what we lawyers already know: that the whole area of campaign finance is a mess.” He adds that Colbert’s antics are “having a real effect in terms of public understanding about how the system works” and getting people to start to think about how to fix it.

Potter is also emphatic that the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision is not the sole cause of the problems he sees. (You can thank the media for its bang-up job of suggesting that the court singlehandedly designed super PACs with its decision in CU). Potter says Kennedy’s majority opinion is not so much disconnected from reality but, rather, “assumed that the world would work in the way he thought it would.” (In Kennedy’s fantasy, there would be no chance of corruption, no coordination between PACs and candidates, and full disclosure of corporate contributions.) And had the FEC done its job, had Congress passed better disclosure rules, had shareholders been better able to control corporate activity, the Kennedy decision would have been less monumental. (Potter is quick to point out that the court needn’t reverse itself completely for the country to fix the worst problems in the post-CU system.) Still he adds that Citizens United “epitomizes the problem of having a court where no justice has ever run for any office, including dogcatcher.”

Of course that’s precisely the problem: The institutional aloofness that allowed the Roberts court to pen such a politically naive decision is the same blind spot that precludes them from even understanding, much less responding to, the media criticism. And as professor Lyrissa Lidsky, who teaches law at the University of Florida College of Law, reminded me last weekend, there is amazing language in Justice Kennedy’s majority in Citizens United about the need to elevate corporate speech to the same protected status as that enjoyed by the cable news shows. As Kennedy observed, “Speakers have become adept at presenting citizens with sound bites, talking points, and scripted messages that dominate the 24-hour news cycle. Corporations, like individuals, do not have monolithic views.”

In other words, (if you can stand the irony) in Citizens United, the Supreme Court empowered Colbert to create a super PAC so he could answer back to, well, folks like Stephen Colbert. The opinion even notes that “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington may be fiction and caricature; but fiction and caricature can be a powerful force.” Now, courtesy of Mr. Colbert, no one knows that better than the court itself.

PRO CLOWN STORE: Yak Wigs

Just a quick note to mention that I was pulling out my auguste costume the other day in preparation for my 2012 tour with the Yankee Doodle Circus and wanted to give a plug to my friends Tara and Trick Kelly at Pro Clown Store.

My yak wig still looks just as full and as funny as the day I got it. The craftsmanship is absolutely outstanding.

Click here to visit their website.

SH*T MIMES SAY: Jeff Seal

THE CLOWN SUMMIT: Jan. 30 - Feb. 3, 2012

 

The Clown Summit is a free, online, week-long audio event happening January 30th - February 3rd.  During the week of the Clown Summit a new audio interview with an influential clown educator will be posted to the website each day.

The interview will be available to listen to for free for only 24 hours. Then, the next day a new interview will be posted.

For more information, please visit their website by clicking here.

ICHOF: Clown Intensive Cancelled

"It is now official, due to lack of commitments, we are unable to hold the Feb. 14th-thru 18th CLOWN INTENSIVE. We are very grateful for the few that did commit to join us for our unique weeklong workshop, and hope all understand that in order to successfully produce an event of this type, we need to meet our financial obligations to the artists teaching as well as the venues. We hope to re-schedule this event for September 2012. Watch this space for more details."

ICHOF: Clown Intensive (Feb. 14-18, 2012)

 Received this afternoon from Baraboo, WI...

"We are very sorry to announce that unless we get commitments from 8 individuals in the next 48 hours, the ICHOF sponsored CLOWN INTENSIVE scheduled for Feb. 14 thru the 18th will be cancelled. We were hoping this unique opportunity would attract more interest, and hopefully in the next 48 hours, it will. Details are online at www.theclownmuseum.com. Don't let this very special chance to work and develop your clown pass you by. Sign up TODAY!"