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Yo I am a person who believes in laughter. I work in live art. My primary medium is performance. In creating art, I revere the legacies of transgressors, defiant sexualities, witches and scoundrels. I am known as a sex clown and I am proud to invoke laughter.
Some of the best laughter comes from absurdity. Laughter bursts and massages. It purrs and murmurs. It erodes calcified, rational, top-down thinking. It appears mysteriously, sometimes even when we think we shouldn’t be laughing. My grandmother Betty used to tell my brother and me, “Now you’re laughing, in a minute you’ll be crying!” We need our tears and hope; I wouldn’t laugh so much if it weren’t something so deeply serious.
1. Solid Gold Dancer Training
I grew up watching my mother teach aerobics classes. It’s in my blood. As part of my artistic practice, I lead “Grumble boogies.” These are dance classes with a high psychic charge and a deeply groggy spirit. We have even taught 24-hour boogie classes.
I love this Solid Gold Dancer workout. I encourage you to do it, adapt it to your body, move it. Look at those outfits, those faces! (I have a crush on Darcel.) Dancing and laughing, laughing and dancing. This is a healthy day. Thank you body.
2. Lynda Gibson, Judith Lucy and Denise Scott
Three legendary women in comedy show us how they prepare to take to the stage in this flashback to the 2000 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Judith Lucy, Denise Scott and the late Lynda Gibson, who is my dear aunt.
When I was about 15, she asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I told her I wanted to act. She said, “Whatever you do, make sure you have fun doing it.”“ Lynda performs here while living with ovarian cancer. Funny, strong, defiant and real. A Golden Gibbo.
3. Flutterbye gets into the fire
A classic. I had one of these when I was little. There’s something so pure about the way the father exclaims “ohhh noooo” at the end. We all have to go back to the purification fire at some point. Fairies are real.
4. Have total control, honey
Lockdowns took a toll on us. During the pandemic I found myself living in a legendary queer house, in a static caravan in the backyard. During one of the windows where we could meet up, a collective I was in called Working Bitches We created a song with our gay uncles Paul Mac and Jonny Seymour (aka Stereogamous). It brings me so much joy to see the music video scene with our friends, mentors, and fellow artists dancing in the backyard.
5. Divine David
This is a mind-refresher to turn to. I’ve been lucky enough to witness David Hoyle live on stage in London a few times. I love his streams of consciousness. His glamour. His fiery, furious, inviting intelligence. You can have a real feast by dipping into his other videos. Do it! They’re truly divine.
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6. Recreational therapy
I know social media can feel like a gamble, and I’ve tried to be very careful with my use of it. I feel it changing my brain. But some things bring real hope, like recess therapy. Kids get it. These kids do amazing things to my brain.
7. Dogs under water
You know who else gets it? Dogs. It was hard to pick a dog video: dogs in wigs, dogs dancing, dogs doing mischief, dogs smiling. I’m not anthropomorphizing them. Rather, they bring me back to my dog nature, and for that I’m grateful. I have a constant stream of dog memes going back and forth between my closest friends. Dog is god.
8. Young woman dancing Vogue
As with the aerobic proposal above, I encourage you to copy his movements, invent your own, and get carried away by the drama. Ecstatic dancing helps us. The look on this child’s face gives me energy.
9. Sammy Obeid
Some of the greatest laughter I have experienced has been created by people who have been through the most difficult times in life. Joy in the face of oppression is a powerful tool to unravel the throes of domination. Laughter can also be a weapon. It can unionize and dismantle power.
10. The spark
My body was shaking and laughing when I first saw this video. It has taken all platforms by storm and rightly so. It’s just great. We love Celtic cheer! Sing along with us!