[post 447]
You all know Ye Olde Tablecloth Pull, yanking a tablecloth off a table without disturbing the dishes on top of it. It's a neat effect that became what the Victorians labeled a parlor trick, because this was what passed for convivial amusement in their gentlemanly hangout caves, a fine prelude to the next game of cribbage, a glass of sherry in one hand and a cigar in the other. (The spectators, not the gentleman showing off.)
As with most tricks, it's impossible to know for sure who originated this one, but we do know that restaurant physical comedy acts, a heady mixture of acrobatics and juggling, date back to at least Grimaldi's Harlequin and Mother Goose (1806) and served as a climax to the Hanlon-Lees Voyage en Suisse (1870). This sort of thing became the basis for several 19th-century comedy juggling acts, most prominently the 7 Perezoff.
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Kara |
Juggler H. M. Lorette took notes on Kara's act, which included "Pulled
table cloth from under large amount of crockery and spun the cloth on the end of a billiard cue." Other props mentioned are: pool ball rack, chalk, bottle, and a cue, coin, shoe, monocle, candlestick, candle, glass of wine, three straws, tray, bottle, matchbox, cigar, knife, fork, orange, plate, napkin, bowl, ladle, hat rack, and three high hats. Oh yeah, and five juggling balls. But as far as I can tell, it's mostly been presented as a stand-alone trick, independent of any comedic situation.
And a bit of science:
It's relatively simple to do, and probably most of you have already mastered it. But just in case, let's start with the basics. There are several videos on YouTube that show how it works and explain the science of it. This one by Louis Bloomfield, whose How Things Work series is now on YouTube, is my favorite.
When Clowns (pretend to) Do It
Here are the Rastellis mining one of the oldest clown formulas in the book:
Too Easy... so let's make it harder
Of course, humans are only human and performers are perfomative, so new wrinkles have been introduced into that cloth to make it more astounding to the audience. You won't get much mileage out of a trick anyone can do. Adding more objects is the usual route taken, but I think my favorite is the reverse pull by juggler and comedian Mat Ricardo:
But speaking of more objects, I am also fond of yanking the cloth when someone is sitting on a chair on the tabletop. I saw this done in the Big Apple Circus, I think sometime in the 80s, and have tried it successfully. Each leg of the chair is placed on a plate —and you probably don't want to choose the heaviest volunteer available to sit in that chair. Other than that, it's the same. The only video I currently have of it is me showing it in a physical comedy workshop in Toronto in I think 1991. (I see that I did have hair so it was a long time ago.) My yank was more up than back, so it didn't totally work, but you get the idea. I will try to remember to shoot a clean version of it sometime soon and then erase this incriminating evidence of my fallibility from these pages!
But who needs science, who needs skilled performers, when you have CGI?
More elaborate versions have shown up on television and in the movies, but we always have to ask if it's real or if it's CGI. (I was going to write "Is it real or is it Memorex?" but was afraid that would be lost on you youngins out there.) Let's go back to our old friend Mat Ricardo to expose some of the dastardly deception being practiced by our digital overlords:
And who needs CGI when you have AI?
Even Pope Francis got into the act!
But finally to our headliner, WES-P
I promised you evolution, and just like Darwin I have kept my word. All eyes please on the star of the moment, WES-P (Kazuhisa Uekusa), a Japanese comedian whose fame came via Twitter and TikTok and led to his appearance on several different "(Our Nation's) Got Talent" shows. And his signature trick, what first catapulted him to fame, was nothing other than the tablecloth pull. Or rather, multiple insane variations. WES-P is technically brilliant and makes wildly imaginative use of all kinds of everyday objects,
A few examples:
But his main comedy angle centers around his baring 95% of his decidedly pudgy body and threatening to reveal the final 5% should his trick go haywire. Yes, I am talking about his naughty parts. We are light-years from that very proper Victorian parlor!
And in case you're thinking that these are somehow faked, or that he shot it a hundred times before getting it to work, here's one of his many live performances.
Yes and no. I'm guessing WES-P made you laugh. I at least chuckled, and I was amazed. ("I thought I'd seen it all.") But is it funny because it's weird cool? Funny because of his appearance? Funny because penises are funny? Maybe all of the above, but if so, it is still a different kind of funny. There's no gag, no story, no delicious "clown moments" where we see a character caught in a predicament of their own making. It's an amazing novelty act, I admire it, I really do, but it's a specific kind of funny.
Let me contrast it, not with the Rastelli's formulaic clown gag, but with the Pope Francis sketch. The richest physical comedy grows out of a specific character and situation, and this one sure does. (Let's put aside the CGI for a moment.) The dignity of the pope, which is amplified by the setting and the table setting, is a perfect setup for the inappropriate silliness. Who's doing the trick? The pope! We knew he was the coolest pope ever, but really?? But what truly sells it is the startled reaction of the bishop at the 9-second mark. Let's let Steve Kaplan explain why.
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We later came to realize that comedy was watching someone watch someone doing something silly." –John Cleese
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