STREET COMEDY

[Peter Voice]

Chris played the Prince Patrick Hotel during the Melb. Comedy Festival circa 1993. Bev and I went with Phee Broadway to see him. He was brilliant and manic but the stage seem to restrict the show, intensifying it without doing much for it. None the less, he was the "must see" show that year.

[Butterfly Man]

I don't want to live in fear

Rex,
Yes, you understood exactly what I meant ... pushing the envelope beyond a typical audience members expectations (balloon doggies?) ... the above subject "I don't want to live in fear" was, I believe, coined by Jango years ago and relates directly to his early days as a street performer (pre-Friends Roadshow?) where he would do just about anything (a la KeaneO/Lynam) to get a laugh/tear.

The reason I include Philippe Petit into that illustrious group is well, hmmm, I guess he deserves some credit for walking between the twin towers ... though I could understand an argument that that was "fear" of a different kind. He was an innovator, nonetheless, and hats off to him for that.

Leo Bassi, to me anyway, stands almost alone as a provocateur extraordinaire ... the tales I was told as I traveled through Italy & Europe ('80's) were nothing less than, well, unbelievable ... when I finally did see him in person, I was not disappointed ... though I didn't expect this "legend" to be so, uh, ordinary looking ... he should've at least had 6 toes or something.

KeaneO ... well, I have a bit of a problem with him (who doesn't) but mine includes a kind of hero worship ... I have shared a pitch with him and even done duo shows with this magnificent performer ... he is, in my eyes, (along with Charlie Barnett), one of the true kings of the street of the last 25 years ... he might have been born as an illegitimate protégé of Chris the Piss but KeaneO has (in some ways) outdone his master.

[scot]

Robin Williams did street and so did The guy that played Earnest in all those earnest movies.

Doing standup in the streets is the hardest. Keep in mind it's not about getting through your material. It's about connecting with the crowd. Alot about your energy is the same, but at the beginning, everything will seem different. Change with it. Be docile to the changes and stringent with your character.

[Butterfly Man]

True and False

What scot says about doing street I believe also to be true ... especially what he says about the importance of crowd connection. I also like what he says about "being docile to the changes and stringent with your character", though I'm not sure exactly sure what he means by that.

However, to my knowledge, Robin Williams and Jim Varney (Earnest P. Worrell) were never street performers (in the true sense of the word).

Robin sometimes came down to the Cannery to see comic Frank Kidder and magician Harry Anderson ... but that was his only real street connection. Sometimes he would do some funny Shakespeare shit, but it was only once in a blue moon when the weather was perfect.

Jim Varney, on the other hand, never did any street performing. He was a very private person and would never do stuff like that in public. He did, however, have some variety skills (like ball spinning and nun chucks).

[pablo]

Robin in a restaurant

I live in Milwaukee WI where the legendary restaurant Kalt's (now closed) used to host ComedySportz - an "audience participation" improv group that is now national. Robin Williams (whose wife is from Milwaukee) was having dinner with family one night at Kalt's in the 80's while ComedySportz was performing, and he got up & joined the act. Although this was not a street performance, it was pretty close.

[Rex Boyd]

ComedySportz in Milwaukee is fantastic. I saw them at Kalt's and at their own venue as well in the early '90's. Several excellent performers and a really upbeat show you can't fail to enjoy.

That same improv spirit and some of the same games were of course taken to the street by Derek, Eric and North, the 3 Canadians. They even invented some of their own versions of Theatresports games that were then mentioned in a book by Keith Johnstone, their very own improv guru from Calgary.

I think doing improv games is a great way to present comedy on the street while trying to break away from the same old skills show approach, but I also think the real ultimate challenge is still doing straight stand-up on the street and that is why there are so few examples of it being done. The right location and type of crowd for the shows is always going to be much more important for a stand-up, but I think it really comes down to being completely vulnerable as just a performer and the words you say. There's no chance to fall back on easy applause points or a big build up to something "dangerous". The audience is either going to like you or not.

About Robin Williams... I have heard many stories about him joining in with improv groups or stand-up shows when he just turns up. I think he really does enjoy the chance to perform in that setting and why not? It would be VERY interesting if one day he did a street show with the 3 Canadians somewhere. Now that would be worth seeing.

Rex

[Rex Boyd]

Slightly changing the direction of this topic...

The last time I saw Jeff Bradley several years ago he had been doing lots of comedy club work at the time a so this was influencing his street style. He was using a mic stand and playing a tighter circle and probably doing very much the same variety performance set that he was doing in comedy clubs at the time. Anyone seen Jeff lately?

This is a good chance for me to point out that a proper hand held mic is always going to sound much, much better than a headset or lapel mic. You can also get a very good hand held mic for less money than a cheap wireless. AND that mic will last you many years. I've had my hand held for about 8 years of battering on the street and it's still good as new. I've been through several wireless mics which always cause hassle. Most comedy clubs and rock venues will use the Sure SM58. The mic I have is a notch down on the Sure list and I think it's called the 14. The main difference is that mine has an on/off switch on the mic. This is bad for a stage performer who doesn't want to accidentally turn off the mic, but it's good for the street performer who wants to lay down the mic for a moment without having to run over to the amp to turn down the level to avoid feed back.

Last summer I tried once to do a couple of minutes or so of stand-up style on the streets on a show I was enjoying. I have never done a show of just stand-up however, although I usually do a lot of talking and improvising on the mic in the crowd gather. Having said that I am now doing a fair bit of stand-up indoors and am very interested in using the streets to work on it. Main problem of course is finding the right pitch and the right time to work it. Much of my indoor stand-up set is not going to be appropriate in front of an all ages street crowd. I think I will force myself to get out there and try when the weather turns nicer though. Anybody else up for a little self-imposed challenge and we can compare notes?

Rex

[Famos Bramwells]

Talking of Chris Lyneham, I was compering at Glastonbury in about 88/89 in a venue called the mummerandada tent. Chris headlined every night and the audience would arrive 30 minutes beforehand to make sure they got a seat. One night he lost the audience so totally and then got them back so brilliantly that it was gobsmacking to see.
One day at Covent Garden he hit me really hard for laughing at a sexist joke he had just done (I was sitting in the front row of his audience and he didnt know who I was) and all I could do was carry on laughing.
Genius.

[GlassHarper]

Red, Red Robin, Bob, Bob Bobin'

Hey, Butterfly --

In a recent "Actor's Studio" interview on the Bravo Channel Williams makes reference to his experiences doing mime on the steps of New York's Metropolitan Museum when he was a student at Juliard.

[Butterfly Man]

so he's a liar and a thief

Robin Williams ... working as a mime while at Julliard ... sure he did ...

granted, I've seen him pretend to be a street performer, but he never was one ... he's a fuckin' liar ...

[Juggalicious]

how would these street comedians start there show? what was the draw? How did they even possibly gather. It just baffles my mind.