It's Like This and Like That

I have always liked the circus and though I never tried to join one, I did study clowning for a while. It sounds weird to say I "studied" it, but I did. The first teacher I had barely spoke any english except to give directions like "it's like zis but no... zen it's like zat", or "it is everysing and zen it is nozing". For weeks sometimes this was all he would say, and then "don't sink about it". Every day we would have to stand up in front of everyone and all he would say was, "be funny". Most of us would make faces, or do a silly dance or make fart noises with a hand in our armpit and the teacher would sit there with a stone face and say "nozing", then we'd give up and walk off the stage and he'd sadly shake his head and give a big doleful sigh. Finally, he gave an example and walked out on the stage all cocky and pompous and confident, he just walked back and forth, totally proud of himself, all Mick Jagger and General George Patton,and then he fully screamed like a girl and jumped crouching onto a chair, trembling and whimpering and pointing to an imaginary mouse. See? Like zis but no, zen like zat.

I was remembering this because I read about this new street circus this morning. I like acrobats, all they have to do is be physically perfect. (Watch the whole thing, it gets better and better as it goes on).