Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Pratfalls at Super Bowl 2012

[post 239]

Sunday's Super Bowl had a couple of moments of unintentional physical comedy, which of course is the best kind, at least if it's happening to someone else. First we had Madonna's near-pratfall, as she stumbles during her half-time show extravaganza:



To her credit, she did recover smoothly and — performing alongside acrobats from the Cirque du Soleil — did execute three partner acrobatic tricks; relatively easy moves, but then she is 53.


Far more amusing was running back Ahmad Bradshaw trying not to score the winning touchdown for the Giants. I was watching this with a large gathering of clown types on the Waterfront Museum barge who found his ass-first drop into the end zone hysterical. This one was funny on two counts. It looked funny, as if he were doing it that way on purpose, which if you didn't understand the intricacies of the game (and some clowns don't!) that's exactly what you would think. After all, no one was near him, so why suddenly come to a screeching halt, turn around, and sit on your prat in the end zone?

The answer — and I think it's much funnier if you understand what he was trying to do —was that the Giants wanted to run out the clock. Since they were pretty assured of scoring at least a field goal, enough of a winning margin, it was more important to use up time before doing so rather than give the Patriots almost a full minute to come back. So Bradshaw barrels full-throttle up the middle, only to discover the defense has no interest in tackling him. He's not dumb, he knows what's going on, but he's a big guy with a lot of momentum, and try though he does, he can't quite stop short. Pratfall!




The good news is that though Tom Brady did get his chance, the Patriots failed to score and the Giants won. Had the Patriots pulled it out, we Giants fans might be finding this more tragic than comic, eh?

You can read more about it here.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Not Exactly Physical Comedy: Wall Trampolining

[post 238]

Apparatus such as unicycles and trampolines are built for stunts. They're cool and all, and excellent comedy has certainly been done with both, but I've always been more drawn to physical comedy that uses objects commonly found in the real world — chairs, tables, doors, stairs, etc. Maybe that's why I also like parkour and flair bartending, living proof of the appeal of circus techniques applied to everyday life.

So all things being equal, I prefer a comedy bicycle act to a comedy unicycle act, and I've most enjoyed trampolining that has incorporated other scenic elements into the act. One such element is a wall (and platform),  transforming trampolining into — you guessed it — wall trampolining. Cirque du Soleil has been doing some version of this for a couple of decades, but now it is is attracting participation by dedicated amateurs and is being touted as the latest, greatest extreme sport, as evidenced by this video piece in last week's NY Times:




Here's the Julien Roberge routine mentioned above.



More theatrical was the wall trampoline act I saw almost two years ago in Cirque de Soleil's Ovo. The sheer number of acrobats and the use of a customized climbing wall, with all its nooks and crannies to hold and step onto, creates a multitude of variations. Here's a one-minute excerpt:


Not exactly physical comedy, but you can see the potential, and I do seem to recall there being a few "king-of-the-mountain" comic moments as rival leapers struggled to supplant one another atop the wall. Likewise, actors (or their stunt doubles) and physical comedians have for centuries been using springboards (usually concealed) to catapult them to heights and distances they could not otherwise reach — what you might call "augmented reality."

Click here for the 2008 showreel for trampolinist, stuntman, and freerunner Damien Walters. This one's all wall trampolining.