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1.) The most common description of you is "Certified
Lunatic and Master of the Impossible...." but how would you describe
yourself?
Fool, clown, visual poet, solo performance artist, multi-talented
vaudevillan, comic genius and charming huckster.
2.) What, exactly, do you do? your career has
been so varied, how would you describe it?
I'm a rare type of actor and comedian who uses every trick in the
book to charm, transport, move and elicit laughter from, an audience.
The performance is unique and personal in that I am simultaneously
author, director and performer in every moment being created before
the public's very eyes.
3.) Is it possible to tell me where your inspirations
come from(I know that's a difficult question...)
Mainly inspiration comes from constantly rediscovering what a miracle
it is that we exist and how beautiful and fragile it all is.
4.) Can you tell me what the "local brotherhood
of magicians is? (An article I read said that they taught you "secrets
of the trade")
I joined a magic club of old men when I was 8 or 9 years old. They
were mostly hobby magicians who on weekends did shows at hospitals
and birthday parties. They would meet in a banquet room once a month
and I would be the youngest one there, dropped off by one of my
parents. I learned magic tricks between mouthfuls of buffet.
5.) How did you end up in a Brazilian clown
duo?
I got a job when I was 19 or so through a friend with 'Circus Flora'
which was playing in St.Louis. I would wear an old-timey outfit
with straw boater hat and spats and work the line-up doing schtick.
A father and son clown duo, Leo and Nani Alarcon from Brazil had
one number in the circus where the father played a mean horse trainer
with a whip and there was a fake two-person horse and they needed
someone to be inside the rear half of the horse costume... At the
end of the number the gag was that the horse split in half and the
front half would run away and I was left chasing after it in undershirt
and boxer shorts with the back half of the horse costume around
my ankles.
6.) How did you end up as a "Guest Villain"
with Circus Flora?
I worked my way up from Back End of Horse. Over the course of several
runs they realized my talents were of greater use than me running
around in my boxer shorts. I was given a King of the Pirates outfit
and ran around in pantaloons and got to climb things, wreak havoc
and improvise insults.
7.) Can you tell me about your collaborations
with Boleslav Polivka, Frank van Keeken and "The Right Size" physical
theater company?
With Polivka I've appeared several times on his TV show in the Czech
Republic, with The Right Size I created a 3 man play (MOOSE) that
we toured for a year throughout europe, and with Frank Van Keeken
we would create crazy guerilla-style theater sketches where the
audience never knew what was real or not, like the time he gave
a slide show lecture about canaries and I from the audience started
to shout that he had stolen my prize canary and a fight broke out
between us and I left with the canary as he writhed in pain on the
floor.
8.) Does anyone help you come up with your
ideas?
Mainly I do it all myself and on occasion have worked with directors
or colleagues offering suggestions.
9.) What do you like most about performing?
(also a difficult question, sorry!)
I like all the aspects of performing. In particular, I like being
alone and tired at the end of my performance, and feeling like I
did a great job.
10.) Please tell me about being an international
house-fly catcher.
It was a televized competition organized in the Czech Republic by
my friend Boleslav Polivka. There were competitors from 12 countries
and I represented Canada. We all sat at tables across from our respective
opponents and the room was filled with flies hatched in buckets.
Flies had to be caught in the hand and then released unharmed, then
you would hit a button on a chess clock and your opponent would
go. I caught the most amount of flies in the least amount of time
and brought home the Gold Fly-Swatter award.
11.) Can you tell me about the awards you have
received, is one more meaningful to you than the others, or do you
feel the same about all of them?
They all collect dust equally and are useless other than as paperweights,
but getting them helps with the hype and people think you are more
important just because someone else said you are.
12.) Can you "stop the earth's orbit for three
full seconds", as reported by the New York Post-Star?
It's not so important whether I actually stop the earth's orbit
for three full seconds or not, it's that I am courageous and sincere
in my attempts.
13.) How is it that you do what you do? (you
don't have to answer that, I was just curious!)
Birds fly, bees buzz, sunflowers follow the sun and somehow I do
what I do...
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