The Art of Clown

 Read: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/17/arts/television/grief-stand-up-comedy.html?smid=url-share Listen (to any one episode): https://stand-up-and-clown.simplecast.com/ Write: 3 minutes of "material." Standup, silent, found text, whatever.  Bring: A costume! Must cover your body enough that you could have nothing underneath it. Ideally, you have something on your head!!

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQLIS1ZeNgw

  Here is a link to my presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/188g6eyTER9xvbGFDfBbgKowVvHxEhahmx4ZLvNAUaSA/edit?usp=sharing The pieces of media I referenced in my presentation were: Three Busy Debras - If you only watch one of the things I've recommended here, it should be Three Busy Debras. Really amazing surrealist, feminist sketch comedy which follows the lives of three women named Debra as they navigate their fanciful lives in the town of Lemoncurd. Available on HBO Max.  Sorry to Bother You  - This film embodies a lot of the key aspects of both surreal comedy as well as horror, from a Marxist perspective. The film follows a telemarketer named Cassius as he begins to climb the ranks of corporate America, against a backdrop of an alternative version of Oakland, California. Available a couple places online. I Think You Should Leave - Another sketch comedy show - this one definitely veers a bit more into the wacky side, but in the context of examining ...

Watch:   Josh Blue: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=sGbJd187fIo&t=477s Samuel J Comroe: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=cQycwL74X7o https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=vE6-pa_ac_8&t=372s Kristen Michelle Cills: https://www.tiktok.com/@ kirstenmichellecills/video/ 7038367771943603461 https://www.tiktok.com/@ kirstenmichellecills/video/ 7184437919820549418 https://www.tiktok.com/@ kirstenmichellecills/video/ 7144105443755986222 Read:     https://www.rollingstone.com/ tv-movies/tv-movie-features/ jews-in-hollywood-kanye-west- dave-chappelle-rabbi-explains- 1234645366/ https://www.theguardian.com/ lifeandstyle/2019/sep/27/ jenny-odell-on-why-we-need-to- learn-to-do-nothing-its-a- reminder-that-youre-alive --

Presentation  

Listen to the full soundtrack of Book of Mormon (in order):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmp-xmguqh4&list=PLdUWNyk3iEfpRBJ9h13xP-FqcMxzXhNsU Watch:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m-gO0HSCYk And:  "Nate - A One-Man Show" - on Netflix  Prepare a 1-minute spiel in nose, using found text from the flag-at-graduation thread.   

 Besides your 5 MINUTE PRESENTATION:  Watch Plan B by Maria Bamford  and  Richard Pryor Live in Concert (1979).  Both are on the hard drive in the library, but the Pryor one is also on Netflix if you have access to that.  Like I said, there will be some stuff you find offensive in the Pryor piece, but you have to watch it.  Also,  reminder that the presentation must be between 4:40 and 5:00 (not including setup). No shorter, no longer. This is practice for fitting things into time constraints.  If you need a powerpoint presentation but don't have a computer that connects to the HMDI, you can email it to me and I can open it on mine. See you then!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=sRaF4gk1yhY   https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=nZ5vspsNS1g   and Duck Soup by the Marx Brothers

 For Monday:  Watch Shakes the Clown and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (both on the hard drive on reserve in the library) watch with an eye toward the questions of what is clown, and how do clowns function societally? **Also: remember all your "Game of Many Things" people!! For Thursday:  Prepare a 5 minute presentation on something "clown" that you're interested in. You decide the format, topic, and why it is clown. Feel free to email if you have a question.  

  The Art of Clown Mondays & Thursdays 4:10pm - 5:35pm Lab: Thursdays 6pm-9pm (NOTE: Donna will not be present for lab. This is optional time set aside in Gates for you to practice your own stuff if you want to take advantage of that). Office Hours: By appointment   Email: doblongata@coa.edu   Phone: 845 594 8540 (Note: Email is by far the best way to reach me. Communicating by text makes me extremely grumpy, so text me at your peril .)     Course description:   The archetype of the clown exists in many cultural contexts throughout time - those individuals whose role it is to turn society on its head, poke fun at the powerful and make literal fun of our own flaws and vulnerabilities – society’s pressure-release valve. Contrary to common pop-culture depictions, clown is a form that requires tremendous vulnerability, self-knowledge and the ability to respond spontaneously in any performance context. The work in this class will ...