Every time you attempt a crash link the ring bounces up and hits you in the nose...

How about struggling like a maniac to unlink two of the rings, fed up you hand them to someone and say 'I give up', Of course the rings are unlinked and the spectator easily pulls/separates them. Take them back and, surprise! The two rings are linked again. Repeat.

Attempt to juggle the rings but they just keep linking no matter what you do.

Walk around holding them up like sunglasses,
:sun: and play peek-a-boo, I see you with the pedestrians.

More later if I think of any...

David

How about runnning up to someone with a ring held up to your ear like a telephone.
"Ring, Ring, (point to ring) It's for you (hand ring to startled pedestrian). I know it's a stretch but, hey, I'm trying.

David

DKmagic,

Those are GREAT ideas. Why? Because they are silly? Partly correct. But, more importantly, because YOU thought them up and they ARE you.

Listen to the guys like tedb, Danny Hustle, Pete Biro and the other pros who post here. There are no shortcuts but they can at least point you to the traps.

And, for other silly ideas, how about some of the clown "how-to" manuals? Or watch some old time comedy videos and vaudville routines? Don't necessarily copy the lines, but use them for inspiration and brainstorming.

Or, you might use a fly swatter to threaten to swat an audience member for a "dumb" remark, or a kid reaching for your props, etc. Clearly in a funny non-threatening way. But as an audience member and you were having fun interacting. For instance, if he says something funny, you could reach in take out the fly swatter, wave it towards him and say something like: That's my line"--then put the fly swatter back away. Do the same thing to another spectator, etc.

A running gag that subconsciously gets the audience involved and subconsciously gets them to interact with you so as to be "rewarded (acknowledged) for their efforts for interacting. A happy laughing crowd will attract more "strollers-by" than a funeral crowd.

Just my two cents worth.

Keep your chin up...you are doing just fine.

Turk

Thanks Turk. I guess that allot of the gags that work for children's parties also work on the street.

I have heard that if you'll just be yourself everything will work out. That's all well and good but what if you already are inclined to act silly and have spent most of your life getting... err... disciplined, no, corrected, no, sent to your room, yes, or the principles office, yes, what if you have spent a bit of time in the principles office for being silly? Oh now I know what mom meant when she said there is a time and a place for everything!

Checklist: Be silly in the streets, draw a happy crowd, jump up and down waving hands and a rubber chicken in the air, do a back flip, fire a pistola into the sky... scratch that last one.

By the way it's Friday... Cheers!

As a former room and principal''s office visitor. I wish you the best of Fridays. But before you go have that pint. . .go do some magic. Cheers!

Mark

Good advice, TURK. How about waving the fly swatter, and telling him to quit "Bugging" you?

Joseph,

Okay, you asked for it. Here's the true story of how I "came up" with the idea for the flyswatter.

My college room-mate was a real genuine certifiable "Weird-Otis". He had two routines that were really my favorites:

1. He'd take a brand new copper-gauze fly swatter and mash some small raisins or currents into the mesh. Then he went to a school football game with the fly swatter under his rain coat. Halfway through the game, he's start moving his head around in head-like convulsions as he pretended to be "tracking" a fly that was annoying him. Suddenly, he'd reach inside his raincoat, remove the fly swatter and swat at the imaginary fly. Then, he'd bring the fly swatter face down to eye level and delicately pick off one of the embedded raisins with his thumb and forefinger and place the raisin ever so daitily into his mouth with his eyes closed. He'd then eat the raisin as he gave a gutteral "HMMMM!" At that point the spectators around him were literally dropping like flys.

2. He would get 6 brand new $20 bills and 6 brand new $10 bills (all sequentially numbered) and a bunch of paper cut to the exact demensions of the bills. Then he'd make two gimmicks (one of 20s and one of 10s--with 3 of each on the top and bottomof their respective stack. He'd then lightly glue the left edge of the stack with the type of glue that is used by printers to make scratch pads. With this done, he would put the stack of 20's in one breast pocket of his sports coat and the stack of 10s in the other breast pocket. (Yes guys, we wore such a prehistoric item of clothing back in the "Dark Ages") Then, he and his "confederates" would go out to a posh restaurant and order a big meal. (And yes, $10.00 bought a lot of food in those halcion days.) Then, at the end of the meal and while the waitress was standing just within earshot (while figuring out the bill), my room-mate would query (just loud enought for the waitress to overhear): "What should we try this time, a 10 or a 20?" After due discussion, and with the appropriate denomination decided upon, my room-mate would open his jacket, take out the prepared stack and "casually" (but noticably) rip off the appropriate bill, set it down on the table and calmly put the stack back in his jacket pocket. Funny, neither the waitress, the restaurant management, the local police nor the FBI found humor.


I originally had the "fly swatter" information in my first post to DKMagic but I deleted it because I thought it might not be the sort of "silly idea" that would ATTRACT spectators. Who knows maybe I erred on the side of caution?

I can see some sort of running gag using the "fake" bill stack somehow in a routine. Just what kind of routine, I'm not quite sure of yet. But let me get back on my medication and I'm sure it'll come to me (grin)

Turk

Well folks, I got out there amongst 'em Saturday. The first thing I learned is that my pitch sucked. This little tourist town that I am working has some great pitches with real potential, that are at the moment unavailable to the street worker. I hope to change that.

So, here I am in a courtyard with a trickle of pedestrian traffic. I have this great structured act all planned. I snag a couple of people and my act goes out the window. I just didn't think it was practical for me to do my whole act, so I went into my tried and proven close up act. I saw a couple of other people in the distance and called them over. I finished my close up show and garnered $4. I took Danny's advice and kept the 1st buck for posterity.

That's pretty much the way the evening went. I was there for only 3 hours. I really appreciate the propriotors for giving me the pitch and the opportunity, however, I've gotta find a better spot until I can convince the powers that be to give me a better pitch.

Under the circumstances, I feel I did the only expedient thing. I could be wrong. I did, however, learn several things, probably the most important of which is: I have to rewrite most of my material with more comedy instances. My close up material worked fine on the lovely few whom I managed to snag but I think it would fall short on a bigger pitch.

I really didn't expect to be brilliant on my first time out. And I wasn't disappointed. I feel confident that I can crack this thing, but like anything that is really done well, it ain't easy.

By the way my hat, from three hour's toiling, totaled $26. (boy, am I ever tempted to lie, here, but that's what it came to, $26 bucks.)

Pat, you made more than me on my first day on the bricks. It's been over a month now and I'm just starting to feel comfortable being out there. Now that I'm comfortable and a little more confident, my hats are increasing. So, Pat, in due time, all in due time.

Pat,

You made A LOT more than I did my first day out. Keep at it, it gets better.

You have already seen the problems and have found the answers.

You will eliminate these things over time and the show will be yours.

Keep at it!

best,

Dan-