"You Have To Take The Flop. You Have To Embrace The Flop."

Garage day with Tom Tom. 

Today our clown wants to be a film star. 

Monsieur Marcel tells us to be a film star you must say "Hasta la vista, baby" or "the dingo ate my baby."

Jump to 2:33 for the film star line.

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So in groups of two (and sometimes 3) we had to come out and make the audience laugh by pretending to be film stars. 

"You have to want to be film stars." - It's not casual. It's important.

"You have to take the flop. You have to embrace the flop."

"If you feel the game becomes boring you have to change slightly." i.e. If it goes on for a while successfully that's great, but eventually you need to evolve what you're doing slightly.

"In a team of three, one for sure has to be in another rhythm."

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We learned a bit about how some pairings of clowns work and others don't. e.g. Michael and Sophie are both funny, but they're not a good couple because they are on the same level intellectually. And we need difference. We need contrast. Hierarchy helps. Who is the boss?

Tom Tom spoke about how even though Philippe says to listen to when the audience laughs and make a mental note of it and do it again tomorrow..."you always have to find a new game"… It doesn't mean you don't try what you did yesterday, but you might have to shift a bit. "The clown has to think 'yes I'll do that again' but the actor inside has to be sensitive with it...Keep a bit of insecurity… You listen less to the flop when you are secure." He said it's hard to repeat something funny in a class situation, because we get to know each other and people's tricks. So we always have to try new things.

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Cat and I went up together and started off trying to find a game out of continuing to do our silly runs on the spot. But Tom Tom stopped us saying that we need different rhythms - we can't do the same thing. He then kind of guided us through an improvisation helping out here and there. He got me to play the boss and to tell Cat what to do. As if I have a grand plan for the show. At first I wasn't strict enough. Then Tom Tom got me to be a bit nasty, but like that it became a bit aggressive. It wasn't like we were best friends. But we had a good game for a wee bit in which I would tell Cat not to do something - "Don't move your eyes!" - and the audience could see Cat really wanting to. I had to shout an order, and then immediately turn to the audience and smile. And we had a game where she undermined my orders. Cat was loved like this, but I wasn't. Tom Tom said that I'm more of a white face clown.

 The whiteface character-type is often serious, all-knowing (even if not particularly smart), bossy and cocky. He is the ultimate authority figure. He serves the role of "straight-man" and sets up situations that can be turned funny.

So basically Monsieur Loyale! Although he said this boss relationship I was exploring would only be for the particular pairing of Cat and I.

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Boris, Yung Yung, and Steph had a brilliant moment in which big King Kong Boris was clung to on both sides by his two girlfriends. It was lovely and innocent - even though there were sexual undertones - and they rode the wave of our laughter fantastically.

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After class I asked Tom Tom for advice on something simple to work on at the moment. He said: "Just focus on really taking the flop. Feeling it. Don't rush past it."