Rocco Paris Circus Circus

One of my favorite clowns, Rocco Paris, performing as his old man character at Circus Circus in Las Vegas, NV. I had the pleasure of seeing Rocco live last year when our tour stopped in Vegas, and watching him is a true master class in physical comedy.

Les Rossyan

Last but certainly not least, it is a thrill to be sharing the bill with Yann Rossi, the white clown from the wonderful musical clown family, Les Rossyan, seen here at the 1997 International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo.

Fumagalli and Darius

I am also excited to share the bill at Monte Carlo with the great Fumagalli and his brother, Darius, here performing my favorite of his entrées on Italian television in 2014.

Petit Gougou and Eddy Sosman

I am very excited to get to work with Petit Gougou here in Monte Carlo as he assumes the role of Mr. Loyal, the ringmaster of the festival. 

Here he and his partner Eddy Sosman perform an excellent plate entreé on Circus Knie in 1988. 

The Salvini Musical Clowns

The Salvini clowns from Italy performing on a German circus twelve years ago.

Happy Lou Year 2024

What better way to ring in the new year than with the man whose face is synonymous with the word "clown" AND who was born on January 1st one hundred and twenty-one years ago!

My Lou Year's resolution is to start regularly posting on this blog again. It was a busy year for me: being a single father, pulling triple duty as clown, publicity director, and social media manager for Cirque Italia's Paranormal Cirque II (as well as running influencer outreach for all five of the company's units). I am currently in Offenburg, Germany performing with my partner, Ryan Combs, in Zirkus Charles Knie's Offenburger Weihnachtscircus, AND we are preparing to appear in the upcoming International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo!

Ok, enough complaining and shameless self promotion. Stay tuned for a long overdue tribute to the late, great clown, Gaston Häni, and plenty more clowny goodness in the year to come.

Have a great 2024, everyone! 

Charlie Rivel I Clown [1979]

DESCRIPTION COMPLIMENTS OF CIRCOFRENIA

Charlie Rivel, contemporary and friend of Grock, is one of the last great clowns of his generation. When he came to Cortaillod for one of his last shows, Bernard Guillaume-Gentil asked him to tell about his memories, his successes, his best audience and the future of clowns.

What is a great clown? For Rivel: “He is a kind and innocent man. Everyone laughs at him, but he is more intelligent than the others, because it is more difficult to be a fool than an intelligent man.

Charlie Rivel, was born in Spain near Barcelona on April 23, 1896, whose real name was Josep Andreu i Lasserre. From the age of 3, he played in circuses with his father. The latter had fled the famine in Spain for Paris. During a tour in Belgium, he met Charlie Chaplin and a few years later, Rivel imitated Charlot in an acrobatic number. It is a success. Another number with his acrobat brothers will make him even more famous.

Charlie Rivel died at the age of 87, near Barcelona.

Mooky Cornish

 

Mooky as Gloria performing with her poultry partner, Galina, in Regina, Saskatchewan. 

Tom & Pepe

 

Tom Dougherty and Pepe Silva stepping into the ring of the The Great Lilloise Circus Festival in Lille, France.

Circus Vargas: Barbershop Gag

The Circus Vargas Clown Alley performing a barbershop gag in (I believe) 1987. Starring George Clyatt as the barber, Marty T. Clown as his assistant, and a bunch of clowns who are really good at standing around in the ring.

Ringling: Statue Gag

Joe Wesson, Bob Kramer, and Skip Lackey perform a statue gag for a publicity (maybe a Clown College audition) on the Blue Unit in 1980.

Emmett Kelly and Bette Middler 1977

Here are the three Emmett Kelly sections from Bette Middler's first television special on CBS that co-starred Emmett and Dustin Hoffman. Ah, the '70s!

I liked the part where Emmett was weary. 

Ringling: Almax Repair Gag

Al Rios and Max Richardson performing a repair gag on the Ringling Red Unit in 1997

CLOWN ALLEY CLASSIC: Reducing Machine Clyde Beatty 1980

Recently I discovered on an old hard drive that I had saved a lot of the videos from Pat Cashin's "Cashin Comedy Company" Youtube page that got shut down. Many, many, many videos were lost, but luckily I grabbed some! 

I'll roll them out occasionally as a little treat!

From January 28, 2007:

"The Reducing Machine" presented by the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros, Circus Clown Alley on their 1980 indoor tour.

The gag was produced by Dean "Elmo Gibb" Chambers and was announced by longtime Beatty-Cole ringmaster (and former Beatty-Cole clown), Mr. Jimmy James.

I see Mark Friesen as the yellow haired professor, Gary Cooper as the red haired doctor, "Simon" (I only know his clown name) as the yellow haired doctor, Sandy Kaye as the slim nurse, Mike Snider as the busty nurse, John Kennedy "Eggroll" Kane as the woman from the audience, and Miguel Padilla as the blow off. Any help on the other professor would be appreciated! 

My Friend, Grock

A fantastic documentary on Grock from 1962 featuring performance footage I had not seen before. Enjoy! 

Kelly Miller 1996: Darren Burrell and Tom "Popcorn" Sink

Burl and Popcorn demonstrating their skills on the Kelly Miller Circus in 1996

Ringling: Plastic Man

Andrew Scharff performing his Plastic Man routine during the Three Ring Adventure of Ringling's 129th Edition (Living Carousel) in 1999.

Andrew has been performing this routine since he attended Clown College in 1995, and has performed it on Culpepper Merriweather Circus, Kinoshita, the Togni family's American Circus, and clown festivals and performances all over the world!

Jimmy Armstrong: Clyde Beatty

 

Backstage shots of Jimmy Armstrong on the Beatty Show taken by Bruce Davidson in 1958.

Jacko Fossett, Billy Merchant, and Jimmy Scott

A program page from 1974/1975 the Belle Vue Circus in Manchester featuring Jacko Fossett, Little Billy Merchant, and Jimmy Scott.

Thank you to Fudi Zsilak for sharing!

Remembering Pat Cashin

Seven years ago Pat Cashin, the founder and namesake of this blog, passed away much too young. Not a week goes by that I don't think of him, or one of the amazingly funny things he said offhandedly, or a story about him.

I have no idea how he ran this blog so well, because I struggle to post several times a month. He was a great friend and he is missed by so many. May his memory live on in all of the people's lives he touched

Here he is with Aziz Gual and Lance Brown in final gag of the 1997 Ringling Clown College graduation, Three Brothers' Pizza.