Damien Walters: Freerunning meets Physical Comedy

[post 378]

I like parkour and I've already written several posts about it. I like it not only because it's cool and acrobatic and creative, but because its use of the existing environment and everyday objects has a lot in common with physical comedy. No wonder that many parkour devotees adopt Douglas Fairbanks and Buster Keaton as their patron saints.

The awesome work of Damien Walters, champion trampolinist, big-movie stuntman, and parkour artist can be seen on YouTube in the form of annual showreels dating back to 2006. What I've done here, exclusively for my favorite physical comedy blogopedia, is to compile a new reel showing you the good (aka physical comedy-ish) parts. Watch Damien hopscotch rooftops; get dressed and undressed in mid-air; fly over, into, and through moving cars; bounce off of trees and fit through "trap doors"; and leap into chairs, sofas, and beds. True, they're not necessarily all done for laughs, but I'm sure you can make the connections. Enjoy!

Blink and you'll miss it, but if you look closely at the 54-second mark, you'll see that the bottle of soda starts by being held between his feet and he grabs it half way through the sommy!

More Rubber Legs: Clown Kotini Junior

[post 374]

Fresh on the heels of my posts on George Campo, comic acrobat and eccentric dancer, comes this clip of the clown Kotini Junior. Born in Ukraine in 1967, he won a break dancing competition there in 1986, and has toured with Cirque du Soleil and Zirkus Roncalli. In this impressive clip, he melds a frantic, madman clown character with eccentric dance—much like Campo—and with break dance, and also like Campo centering it around a stubborn chair. Enjoy!



Thanks for this one goes to Karen Gersch, who I should point out will be teaching "Balancing Bodies: Serious Comedy Partnering" at The (Very) Physical Comedy Institute this June.

Click here for the Kotini Junior web site.

The Four Jokers (1936)

[post 367]

Here's another gem from the Pathé vaults, again courtesy of Betsy Baytos, our Eccentric Dance quadruple  threat (performer, teacher, choreographer, historian). I don't know anything about these guys, but they're a tap-dancing knockabout team with some sharp moves with chairs, hats, and one another. There's no audience, so this was apparently filmed in the Pathé studios. Our gratitude to that unsung hero back at Pathé who had enough sense to get acts like these recorded on film.

Only wish it were longer!

Thanks again to Betsy and hats off to our Archivists of Yesteryear!!