In Memorium: Aaron Daniel Tucker

Aaron Tucker graduated from the Ringling Clown College in 1988. Here he is in the graduation performance with Eric Zander performing their lumberjack gag. 

Clown College 1988 Lumberjack Gag

Aaron performed on the Ringling Blue Unit in 1989 and then the Red Unit in 1990. Here he is performing a cowboy gag on the Blue Unit in 1989 with Kevin Thompson.

Ringling 1989 Cowboy Gag

Post Ringling Aaron studied with Avner Eisenberg, aka Avner the Eccentric and also Aitor Basauri of Spymonkey, and he was frequently involved with The Celebration Barn in Maine.

Aaron also toured with Fabulous Problemas, a trio show that he co-wrote and performed with Amanda Huotari and Daniel Orrantia. 

The Fabulous Problemas

More recently Aaron performed all over Japan with the renowned Kinoshita Circus alongside many clown partners, most recently Jessi Hoffschildt and Randy Brake. Here he is performing on Kinoshita with Sean Hartman in 2002.

Kinoshita 2002 Ring Toss

Aaron Tucker passed away on April 2nd.

More information from Aaron’s longtime friend, Jay Stewart:

“Not mentioned here are that Tucker was a founding member of The Seaside Clowns in Myrtle Beach, SC, as well as a powerhouse member of The Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit at Boston Children’s Hospital, and Hasbro Children’s Hospital, in Providence, RI.  And, it should be noted that Tucker was an accomplished musician, fronting his own band, The Sleepwalkers, as well as walking stilts all over New England for Bravo Brothers Entertainment.

Tucker showed that the word “Clown” is a big umbrella, covering a lot of disciplines, skills and outreach.

Rest in Peace, brother”

Please feel free to share your memories or photos of Aaron in the comments.

Cirque Du Soleil: "Best of Clowning"

Over an hour of Cirque Du Soleil clowning from the shows Totem, O, Luzia, Alegria, Saltimbanco, Volta, Kurios, Dralion, Kooza, Le Cirque Reinvente, Luzia, and Novelle Experience.

Clown College 1993: Edge and Trick

Edge (Edzui Szumowski) and Trick Kelly performing a Greg DeSanto directed gag in the 1993 Ringling Clown College graduation performance.

Tickey the Clown

"Tickey the clown was South Africas premier clown from 1960s onwards and become a household name in South African entertainment. He was named after the smallest coin in circulation, the tickey. He is seen here performing with his long time partner Lew Mitchem, circus performer and impresario."

Los Pepín León Trio

The Spanish trio, Los Pepín León performing in the Cirque Achille Zavatta in Paris for the 1982/1983 season.

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!