Thursday, August 18, 2011

LearnSlapstick.com

[post 182]

Christopher Lueck, producer and host of The New York Downtown Clown Monthly Revue, has a new project, teaching slapstick comedy by means of instructional videos offered through his new website, LearnSlapstick.com. Here's the infomercial you'll see if you go to the site.



From there you have to sign in with your e-mail address to receive a link to view a free sample video on comic tripping, which as it turns out has less to do with LSD or magic mushrooms than it does with the path of your foot being interrupted, not that the two are mutually exclusive. You'll also learn (spoiler alert) that Christopher is selling a 40-minute DVD teaching slapstick basics. I'm out of the country and have not yet seen the DVD, so you're on your own here. Meanwhile, here's Christopher and fellow NYC clown Joel Jeske slapping each other silly in their touring show, The Hey-Ya Brothers:


Click here to see the rest of this promo video.

And speaking of slapstick, I can't resist reposting this rambunctious, no-holds-barred "rough house" act posted yesterday by Jonathan Lyons on his excellent Comedy for Animators blog  — which you should all be following! Not sure yet who this is or what movie it's from, but it was put up on YouTube just four days ago by Stephen Worth of the Hollywood Animation Archive.  (I have written Mr. Worth to see if he has more information for us.)



Update:  Jonathan Lyons writes:  "Stephen says it's from "Let's Go Crazy", 1951, with Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers in his first film appearance."

2 comments:

Jonathan Lyons said...

Stephen says it's from "Let's Go Crazy", 1951, with Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers in his first film appearance.

Jon Davison said...

That rough house routine is pretty much the same one as here, 6 years earlier, credited to Donovan and Byl (I don't know who is who), one of whom appears in both versions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4S14SWijYA