In any town we played you could always count on having to do public relation work or "p.r.'s" as we called them. We had a bulletin board in Clown Alley where the forms for the p.r.'s were posted by the Boss Clown for the alley to review. The p.r.'s could ranged from radio, print media and television. These were the days before the Internet became such a dominant presence in our world.
The clowns were either interviewed or performed a skill oriented routine or gag. So, as a clown you had your own little "bag 'o' tricks" you favored for such occasions. I usually brought along my mini-me marionette along with some juggling props. Sometimes the p.r. could as simple as a backstage tour for special guests as on of the above forms show. In those cases you really were not expected to clown as you conducted the tour but if children were around I always tried to make sure to put a smile on their face. But generally speaking those were the easiest p.r.'s to do.
Me and my shadow.
I got the ones for Spanish media. I had extra p.r.'s in places like Arizona or southern California. There was usually a brief interview where you were asked about life in the circus and then you might break out the props for some funny business. Often times you tried to include the interviewer if possible because they like to play too. having a marionette really set me apart though and got me extra photo opportunities. That's a good thing.
Sometimes the p.r.'s were meant for a particular clown. Sometimes they were assigned to a clown or clowns if no one singed up on their own. If it was an early morning p.r. on a one show day that meant you didn't get to sleep in and you'd be at your trunk getting ready long before any other performer set foot in the building. Clown Alley never feels so empty as it does in the wee hours of the morn'.
Each and every p.r., though, was a very valuable learning experience, especially if you were on your own. Sometimes things don't go as planned and you have to be ready to think on your feet. On rare occasions an interviewer might ask a question that is meant to catch you off guard and possibly embarrass you. Pammy once told me of an interview where she was asked what she thought of the t.v. movie "It" based on the Stephen King novel by the same name. In the story there is a monster that can change it's appearance to look like a clown in order to lure his victims, usually children, to their doom. In the movie Tim Curry played the part of the clown/monster. Pammy answered by saying " Tim Curry is playing the part of a monster that assumes the form of a clown. He's a wonderful actor but he isn't a clown and isn't playing a clown in the movie."
Pam hamming it up for Today Show p.r. on the performance floor at Madison Square Garden.
As a performer it those experiences allowed us to create material that we didn't use the show. Chad Miller and I wrote a gag we used on a Spanish television show when we played in San Diego back in 1995. We went shopping for props at a hardware store in New York City and left with metal buckets two mops a broom and dustpan. Hardware stores are full of clowny goodness. We spent a few day working out the gag idea then rehearsed and refined it until the opportunity arose to use it and it went well.
We haven't done p.r.'s like those in a long time but we know if asked we could go to our trunks and bring out our trusty "bag 'o' tricks" once again.
