contract line item

[jester]

Originally posted by Stephon
Is it really that much more significant than a kiss on the cheek?

Would you kiss a cheek that was wet with slobber?

I personally think that if volunteer is happy to kiss your cheek they are probably not going to be upset by a peck.

I don't actually touch lips during the gag myself. One wet kiss a long time ago upset me very very much.

[Rachel Peters]

Originally posted by jester
I personally think that if volunteer is happy to kiss your cheek they are probably not going to be upset by a peck.

Maybe you're right.
I do believe that you guys have the people skills to determine a volunteer's willingness. But there are probably just as many out there who don't have those skills and still do the gag. ...alsdjfl;sj.
(Because the folks who don't have those people skills usually don't realize that they don't have them. ...unless they've been diagnosed with Asperger's Disease or something.)

[le pire]

Jester,

First you wrote:

Originally posted by jester
I think with Sars, Bird Flu and Herpes, the cheek kiss gag belongs on this forum and not in our act.

Where the hell are you performing these days?!!?? Butlins?

Originally posted by jester
Would you kiss a cheek that was wet with slobber?

Ok, and WHAT the hell are you performing? I admit I can get a bit sweatty, but never SLOBBER.

One wet kiss a long time ago upset me very very much.

Yeah... ummm I'm not even going to touch that one.


etienne

[Rachel Peters]

...ahem...

I'm back to retract some comments I made about the cheek kiss gag.
After having thought about it, I don't think I'd walk away or refuse to participate... I think I'd I'd play along, but try my best to take it in a different direction.
There are a lot of possibilities.

challenge.

[jester]

Because of this thread I have been experimenting with the cheek kiss gag and not actually touching their lips. The idea of it and missing by a mile works just as well.

But last week a 17 year old girl obviously saw it coming and said "On your knees and I'll kiss you."

So I knelt down on one knee, and she bent over to kiss my cheek, and as I turned my head, she turned her whole body and I almost kissed her butt.

There were a lot of mildly shocked grown ups but the 8,9,10 and 11 year olds loved it...

So I'm glad I'm aiming to miss at the moment.

[Stephon]

Just curious. . .

. . .about why, after all the discussion about not pulling this gag with underage girls, you decided to go for it?

[Evan Young]

i was wondering the same thing

[Kenny Ahern]

Kissing the Queen

A buddy of mine was working a fair in Kansas and did the "Kiss my cheek?" bit with the Queen of the Fair. She was 16 yrs old, but looked over 18. By the end of the day he had been chewed out by the Queen's parents(for stealing their daughters first kiss), reprimanded by the Fair board and threatened with a lawsuit and arrest for sexual misconduct with a minor.

It was not a good day and he never did the bit again.

Kenny Ahern

[le pire]

I do some variations on this gag, but there are some general rules:

1) NEVER do the kiss gag at a showcase.

2) If she looks less than 25, DON'T DO IT.

3) If she is reasonably modest, don't do it (pick a dirty ho, for cryin out loud!)

4) If she is a mom there with her kids, don't do it.

5) If she is there with her boyfriend who looks like a thug, don't do it.

... I could go on, and I should go on, but I'm tired because I did four shows today. This is the thing- the kiss gag is a little bit of extra icing to a routine and NOT THE ROUTINE ITSELF. If you have the opportunity to use it, than OK. But there are many many prohibitions to this one and if you are not aware of them then you may just totally screw yourself.


etienne

[Evan Young]

It's the performers job to make the volounteer look good. Isn't that the first rule of using volounteers? It does look as if Jester acomplished that with this case (she pulled a gag on him), but I seriously question the choice of targets to begin with.

If we picked Rachel as our volounteer, not knowing her or her past, just that she's a fun looking gal and probably a good sport; I'll bet some of us would be able to pick up on the fact that she wouldn't be an acceptable target for the kiss the cheeck gag, and I'll bet some of those people might try it anyway because when it works it gets the strongest laugh in their show...

[Rachel Peters]

see... I'm just not so sure you'd pick up on that with someone like me. My whole innitial frustration with the gag was because I would want to play along and not ruine the party. I do want to be a good sport. And being a bit of a show-off, I might have played along well enough to fake that I'm having fun, just in order to not ruin your show.
And as we go in circles here, I agree again that it's totally a individual thing.
I mean, someone once (jokingly) accused me of having "intimacy issues" because of this very thing -- my dislike of the cheek kiss gag -- yet, at the same time, I find it absolutely hilarious to grab people's butts for shock value (not in shows. just friends and enemies), and am pretty comfortable with it, myself. I don't know what my problem is. ...but see... a nice, conservative girl like me... you would never pick up on something like that . Because it's just weird.
And like you said, some of you might be able to read these things. ... but more than those some would attempt the gag. A lot of people who can't pick up on this stuff think that they can. So it turns into a bit of a gamble, from performer to performer.
But now I'm totally repeating my previous posts.
I sure am using a lot of italics today.

(I think there should be butt-grabbing in a variation of this gag! Let's see how many harassment suits come outta that!!)

[Evan Young]

what you could do, (since you know the gag)

hold their head by the jaw and back of the head so that if they start to move you can stop them.

point to where they want you to kiss them and ask "there?" in a conformation manner. Then act like you are about to hit that target with a big spit ball.

blow a kiss.

kiss your hand and press it to their cheek (slap)

stick your toung out while you do it.

do what jester's volounteer did, (that's a clever move).



None of these things will ruin the show or make you look like a poor sport if you continue to have fun.

[Rachel Peters]

exactly. That's the only reason I posted on this thread again -- to voice the challenge of becoming a volunteer who might take it in a slightly different direction -- like Jester's experience. Smart 17 year old.
I may have a few surprises up my sleeve... or pant leg. whatever.
I'll keep them to myself for now, in case I run across any of you and happen to find myself become a volunteer. mwahahaha....
Who knows, there may be butt-grabbing involved.

[jester]

Re: Just curious. . .

Originally posted by Stephon
. . .about why, after all the discussion about not pulling this gag with underage girls, you decided to go for it?

Because 17 is not underage in Europe, I had no intention of kissing her on the lips, it seemed like a good idea at the time, a kiss is not regarded as sexual activity in most civilised communities - it has many comic possibilities, because acknowledging that a 17 year old is beautiful is not quite the same thing as pedophilia, because the idea of a bearded middle age man wanting a kiss from a young lady is hilarious in itself, beause you are far less likely to be sued here than in the Uptight Sanctimonies of America, because I didn't think there was much danger of her becoming corrupted, there was not danger of a shotgun wedding, because I quite rightly judged her mentally competent to deal with the gag, because her parents found it funny too...

Funnily enough there were no police proceedings after that particular show...

Oh, and I think what she did was actually very witty and it worked very well.

[Stephon]

Re: Re: Just curious. . .

Originally posted by jester
Because 17 is not underage in Europe, I had no intention of kissing her on the lips, it seemed like a good idea at the time--

waitwaitwait. go back. 17 is legal in Europe?!?

I mean--ah, I see.