scraps

What are some of life's big clown questions?

How to strike the balance between keeping a story going and reaching for a laugh. Sometimes too huge a laugh will rip apart the story you're telling, leaving the audience dissatisfied by the end of the bit.

How to be all by yourself trying to solve a problem and yet still include the audience.

How to get in the mood. To avoid feeling tightened up, you've got to take whatever's upsetting you at the moment and look for the equation that helps you see what a frail silly creature you really are; then things'll get funny again.

How to draw inspiration from really great comedians without getting intimidated. (A real existential one!)

How to be funny.

How to pay the rent. (A big one.)

Oh, and one of the biggest clown questions in my life right now is how to be anywhere near as funny as my 5-year-old son.

actor and mime Bill Irwin, in the New York Times Magazine, 26 November 1995

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