Virtual Clowning

C.O.V.I.D. has caused fundamental changes to how clowns work. Many of us are doing virtual clown work. We stare at computer screens and do our best to entertain our audiences. This is a new challenge for performers. It offers some impediments as well as some new opportunities. I recently came across an excellent essay by Charlie Peters that discusses some of these challenges. As we do the work, we can still make connections with our audiences.

Recently, I did a virtual clown workshop with my D.R.I.V.E. Forward clown colleagues. The D.R.I.V.E. team has performers from Georgia, Massachusetts, and California. We were finishing a series of clown workshop for a group of kids in Massachusetts. The kids received a packet of clown supplies for the workshop (a clown nose, Juggling scarves, among other things). 

While doing this workshop, I performed a short bit. I usually perform this routine in person, face the face. It is the first time I've done it virtually on Zoom. I didn't know if these children would like it. I start by doing a juggling routine with my juggling balls. Halfway into the bit, I toss one of the balls so that it lands on the brim of my hat. It's a big and sturdy juggling hat. So the ball sits there, comfortably on the brim. I stop juggling, and I ask the kids, "Where is the other ball"? Of course, they see the ball sitting there on my hat, and the kids tell me where the ball is. Being a clown, I misunderstand the instructions they give me to find the ball. They say, "It's on your hat." I reach up searching for the ball. I touch every inch of my hat except the brim, where the ball sits. Then, they tell me to take off my hat. I take it off and look for the ball without finding it. Then I place the hat back on my head while managing to keep the ball on the brim. One girl, I'll call her "Lucy," took over for the group. She tried her best to tell me where the ball was. She giggled as she patiently gave me thorough instructions. The other kids watched from their computers as they laughed. She tried her best, but it never worked. 

Eventually, the ball falls off my hat, out of the camera's frame and onto the floor. I reach down and "find" the ball. I look at my computer. I see the kids looking back at me from their computers. They are laughing even more now. I thought to myself that bit went well. 

 After the juggling routine, My two clown colleagues and I moved to another activity. Several minutes later, we hear a voice, "Hey, guys, I can't find my clown nose." Someone has lost some of the clown supplies we sent them. I scanned the boxes on my computer screen to see who it is. It's Lucy. She has stopped everyone in the workshop to make her announcement. She speaks up again, this time louder to make sure she's heard. We all listen. She shouts, "Guys, I can't find my clown nose!" I look at her, and I see the elastic strap of the clown nose across her forehead. I can see that she's put her clown nose on backward. The clown nose is at the back of her head. I try to help her. I tell her, "You have your nose on backward. She pauses and looks around with a blank expression. Then Lucy says, "I don't know where it is." I look at her and again say, "Your nose is behind you." Lucy turns to the left, then turns to the right and looks around as if she doesn't know what I'm saying. I tried my best to help her, but it never worked. 

Then I realized what she was doing. She is performing her version of the clown routine I have just done moments earlier. She's decided to "lose" her a clown nose. And like me, not understand those helping her. It was very entertaining. The other children chimed in to help. They continue to offer instructions as Lucy does an excellent job of not understanding them. I'm sitting there looking at my computer in amazement. This 10-year-old girl just fooled me with my own material. I look at her from my laptop with a huge smile. She looks back at me with a look on her face that says she still doesn't know where her nose is.

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