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for both the International Clown Hall of Fame and Porky Pig and the Road Runner. The studios brought
the World Clown Association. While at Clown College, me in help them create six-minute cartoons before
the students and faculty received subscriptions to the feature. I taught both physical and clown-like
magazines which involve clowning, juggling and movements that they used for animating cartoons.
variety arts.
What was the show Kidding Around about? How
What are your hobbies and family lifestyle like? long did the show run for?
I currently reside in Sacramento, California. Hobbies Kidding Around was shown on WMAQ-TV Channel 5,
include attending live theater, gardening and, my an NBC affiliate in Chicago and ran from 1978 to 1985.
favorite, scuba-diving. I’m the middle of three It was a forum for kids, ages nine through thirteen
brothers. My older brother Michael is a retired and an opportunity to take part in a live television
history professor at the University of California- show. The live show was only for the first season; the
Davis. He’s married with a grown daughter Hannah. rest of them were taped.
Unfortunately, my younger brother Scott passed away. Kidding Around was a variety show for kids who had
He was married and worked in library sciences. a variety of interests. I was the host, though I was a
plain-clothed clown - not T.J. Tatters. It was one of my
Who are some of your favorite writers and first jobs after graduating from the Goodman School
TV and film personalities that inspired your of Drama (in 1977).
career? Did you get to meet any of them?
My favorite TV and film writers include Larry Gelbart Which other television programs and films did
(M*A*S*H), Woody Allen and Carl Reiner (Rob Reiner’s you work on?
father who was on The Dick Van Dyke Show.) Authors Around the time I hosted Kidding Around, I worked
I enjoy include Ray Bradbury, Mark Twain and C.S. with Peace Productions. There was the film Where
Lewis. Will the Children Play? The actor James Earl Jones
Television and film personalities who inspired me narrated the piece while I played a mime while
are Jackie Gleason, Johnny Carson and Chris Rock. working as a creative consultant.
Those I had the opportunity to meet include Dick Van I also did commercial with companies ranging from
Dyke, Sid Caesar, Red Skelton and Bill Cosby. McDonald’s to American Airlines as well as hundreds
of TV appearances as an Ambassador to the Ringling
Describe the first gag you did for Lou Jacobs. Brothers Circus.
The gag was called “Dead & Alive” and is a classic clown
routine which involves the clarity of movement, the How many plays and shows have you written?
essence of timing and how to partner with someone. Titles?
It was a teaching tool - and it’s much harder than it At the Goodman Children’s Theater, I took part in
looks. Clown-Town where I wrote “The Magically Marvelous
Lou was being honest and he taught us that (gags) Wonderfully Wacky Seriously Silly Center-Ring
need to be big, arena-style movements. It’s okay if it’s Circus”.
funny (in the front row) but it needed to be adapted Other shows I’d done outside of Goodman include:
for the moment and the size of space. · “Utterly Preposterous Punchline Players” for
What was your two-year “dream position” with the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant franchise which
Warner Brothers and veteran animator Chuck consisted of a troupe of comic actors.
Jones? · “Fantastia della Primavera” (Italian for “Spring
Chuck Jones was a boyhood hero of mine, and I Fantasy) at a Japanese theme park.
admired his cartoons for their great comedy and · “Inspired Lunacy” for a cabaret show.
timing. I met Chuck at a Chicago radio station, and I
invited him to be a guest lecturer at Ringling Brothers Prior to attending Ringling Brothers Clown
Clown College. We became friends and in ’95 he College (RBCC) in 1971, where did you go to high
invited me to Hollywood. In Chuck’s words, he told me school and college?
to: “Play with me in Hollywood!” As previously mentioned, I graduated from Zanesville
So, in 1996 and 1997, I had the opportunity to work (Ohio) High School in 1969. After that, I went to Ohio
on a team of Chuck Jones’s film productions over at University in Athens, Ohio where I majored in theater.
the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California Near the end of my first year, the Kent State shootings
- where they made cartoons including Bugs Bunny,
occurred on May 4, 1970, and the Ohio U
campus in Athens closed down.
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