Apparatus such as unicycles and trampolines are built for stunts. They’re cool and all, and excellent comedy has certainly been done with both, but I’ve always been more drawn to physical comedy that uses objects commonly found in the real world — chairs, tables, doors, stairs, etc. Maybe that’s why I also like parkour and flair bartending, living proof of the appeal of circus techniques applied to everyday life.
So all things being equal, I prefer a comedy bicycle act to a comedy unicycle act, and I’ve most enjoyed trampolining that has incorporated other scenic elements into the act. One such element is a wall (and platform), transforming trampolining into — you guessed it — wall trampolining. Cirque du Soleil has been doing some version of this for a couple of decades, but now it is is attracting participation by dedicated amateurs and is being touted as the latest, greatest extreme sport, as evidenced by this video piece in last week’s NY Times:
Here’s the Julien Roberge routine mentioned above.
More theatrical was the wall trampoline act I saw almost two years ago in Cirque de Soleil’s Ovo. The sheer number of acrobats and the use of a customized climbing wall, with all its nooks and crannies to hold and step onto, creates a multitude of variations. Here’s a one-minute excerpt:
Not exactly physical comedy, but you can see the potential, and I do seem to recall there being a few “king-of-the-mountain” comic moments as rival leapers struggled to supplant one another atop the wall. Likewise, actors (or their stunt doubles) and physical comedians have for centuries been using springboards (usually concealed) to catapult them to heights and distances they could not otherwise reach — what you might call “augmented reality.”
Click here for the 2008 showreel for trampolinist, stuntman, and freerunner Damien Walters. This one’s all wall trampolining.
The typical contortion act — you know, with the platform and the mouthpiece and the 13-year-old girl doing a Marinelli bend — puts me to sleep. And then there’s the snake dance of French performers Janik & Arnaut— Janine Janik (1931 – 1985) & Christian Arnaut (1912 – 2003). This isn’t exactly physical comedy since they’re not going for the laughs, but the partnering work is amazing: not just the unique positions, but the sinuous flow of the snake around the charmer’s body. In most partner acrobatics, the base is muscling a lot of the moves; here, much of it is accomplished with little or no use of Arnaut’s hands, much less his biceps; he guides more than he lifts.
Maybe it’s all those magicians writing for my blogopedia, but I couldn’t help think there could be a sharper ending, an illusion with Janik morphing back into the fake snake….
I like comedy cycling, but I also like just plain old biking. Yes, I’m one of those annoying bike evangelists who bikes everywhere and tries to make you feel bad for not doing the same. Not surprising, then, that I’m awed by Danny MacAskill and his amazing bike tricks — what I am officially dubbing bicycle parkour™ — and which I featured in this previous post.
That ride from 2009 was unbelievable enough, but happily there are two more recent professionally produced videos. Way Back Home (2010) takes our man Dan on an amazing journey from Edinburgh to Skye. Thanks to Martie LaBare for the link!
And from last month (aka August 2011), here’s Industrial Revolutions from the project Concrete Circus. Who knew rusting industrial waste could be so much fun?
Don’t try this at home, but if you do, wear a helmet!
For more cool stuff, check out Danny’s web site and the MacAskill page of his corporate sponsor, Red Bull.
The Venice Biennale is a bi-annual world fair of art, complete with national pavilions, long lines, and manufactured hoopla. The U.S. pavilion went up in 1930 and has usually housed big-name artists, starting with Edward Hopper that initial year. But this time around, instead of sending an established solo artist, our government has chosen to have us represented by two less known collaborative artists who are centered not stateside but rather in Puerto Rico — Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla. And for apparently the first time ever, the visual artists are also performance artists. I haven’t seen their work, but what interests me about them is their whimsical humor and physicality, in this case involving a troupe of former Olympic gymnasts in their piece.
Here’s the beginning of the preview that appeared in the NY Times a couple of weeks ago:
On a nondescript street in Long Island City, Queens, is a mysterious gold-painted door with a drawing of a colorful tent and a sign that reads “Circus Warehouse.” Inside is a cavernous space with a flying trapeze, gymnastic rings and ropes, ballet bars and piles of thick practice mats. It was here on a recent spring morning that about a dozen people were gathered around two pairs of strangely familiar objects: identical models of airline business-class seats, impeccably fashioned in wood…. The group watched as Sadie Wilhelmi, a young professional dancer and gymnast, bent her body in graceful movements over a seat: wrapping herself around the tray table, draping her body along the edge of the seats, limbs splayed, forming a perfect split, and finally alighting on the divider, a leg gracefully extending high in the air — Brancusi’s “Bird in Space” sculpture come to life. The routine lasted 17 minutes, far longer than the three-minute routines typical of professional gymnasts.
Sounds promising! You can read the whole article here.
The exhibit has since opened in Venice and the first two reviews I’ve read were thumbs up. The critic for The Daily Beast wrote that Allora & Calzadilla were “presenting some of the best art I’ve seen at any Biennale.”
The reviewer for the London Guardian was likewise enthusiastic: “This year, the spectacle that is wowing the crowds is the huge upturned tank outside the American pavilion.”
I haven’t yet seen any video from Venice of the gymnasts in action, but I’m hoping some will surface soon. (If anyone finds a clip, now or down the road, please let me know.) Meanwhile, I thought you might find this video of an Allora and Calzadilla piano piece interesting.
You can find variations of this on YouTube.
I know it’s not the same thing, but it did remind me of this Hanlon Brothers bit from the 19th century:
So in conclusion: not exactly physical comedy, not exactly sure what it all looks like, but intriguing nonetheless.
I don’t know much about Compagnie Ieto, another product of the French circus school system. I’ve never seen them perform, but based on this video — thank you to Jeff Seal for the link — I like, I like. Strictly speaking this is more nouveau cirque than physical comedy, but there’s a strong kinship in terms of partner acrobatic work, engagement with the material world, and sheer creativity.
Click here for a review in English.
Click here for a review in French.
Click here for their web site.
INSPIRATIONS
« If your friend limps to the right then limp to the left. »
Renard J, Journal, 1906
I’m a semi-serious runner, so I’ve put in my hours on the treadmill, but I never had this much fun. This is OK Go performing Here It Goes Again (The Treadmill Video).
Some nifty moves but, like I said, not exactly physical comedy. For some actual treadmill humor, see this previous post of Sacha Baron Cohen (akaBorat) fighting for his life aboard the moving belt.
I’m a big baseball fan, I coached Little League for something like seven years, and I still like to play, though I prefer a game of softball, the kind where you grab a beer as you’re rounding first. For two or three decades there was this one fantasy play that my circus brain always used to dream of. And now here it is, done for real and captured on video! Patience is indeed a virtue.
We live in an age of heat-seeking missiles and biometric surveillance, so when Thai rebel leader Arisman Pongruangrong pulled a Douglas Fairbanks and escaped from a hotel surrounded by Bangkok police by climbing a rope down the side of the building, we had one of our more retro physical comedy moments in recent years. Better yet, the deputy prime minister had just gone on national television to announce that they had their man! Pongruangrong, who’s also a pop singer, was hugged by his adoring supporters before being spirited out of there in a get-away car. Zorro, anyone?
No comedy here, but I like biking and this has the most amazing bike stunts I’ve ever seen — parkour on two wheels!
Here’s some background from the YouTube page: Filmed over the period of a few months in and around Edinburgh by Dave Sowerby, this video of Inspired Bicycles team rider Danny MacAskill (more info at www.dannymacaskill.com) features probably the best collection of street/street trials riding ever seen. There’s some huge riding, but also some of the most technically difficult and imaginative lines you will ever see. Without a doubt, this video pushes the envelope of what is perceived as possible on a trials bike.
Joshua Allen Harris is a very clever guy. This may or may not be physical comedy, but I’m guessing you’ll like it. This is a New York Magazine video, and here’s their intro:
Call us boring and simple-minded, but before we saw the work of street artist Joshua Allen Harris we never once considered the artistic possibilities of subway exhaust. Using only tape and garbage bags, Harris creates giant inflatable animals that become animated when fastened to a sidewalk grate. Steven Psyllos caught up with Harris recently to discuss his older works (including a bear and a giraffe) and unveil a new beast that looks not unlike the Cloverfield monster. Video by Jonah Green
