Comedy wins over technical juggling every time...

I understand the source of the this statement, and the validity there in, but I entirely disagree with it. Technical juggling and comedy need not be compared, or sacrificed, one for the other. In my experience, those routines, acts, moments on stage which are the most powerful, are those which touch universal emotion within the hearts of the audience.

Laughter is a great commonality among people. People of all races love to laugh (as far as I can tell.) Although humor is culturally defined, all cultures seem to have it. Laughter is the wings of the soul. It is something that strikes an instinctive chord in all of us by creating something from nothing. A fantastic phenomena.

Technical juggling in performance can do the same thing. Everyone moves and has to relate to objects in the world, and as such, people have some innate understanding of shape, size, flight, gravity, and speed. In life, everyone must face their own humanity and the limits that it implies. The juggler demonstrates, and offers to the audience, a vision that defies those limitations. Few things are so enthralling than watching someone doing the impossible. Remember, for the audience, even juggling three balls _is_ impossible. They can relate just enough to the action to imagine what it must feel like, but not enough to be able to achieve it.

Dramatically, juggling and comedy offers similar aspects as well. The most important of these that I consider is risk. The technical juggler takes obvious risks. He/She might drop, failing in their attempt to execute a trick. One thing that can make one's comedy effective is to put a great deal of risk behind it. After all, comedy that plays it safe, putting nothing on the line, is something that the audience can do as well. Everyone has a sense of humor - some more developed than others. Everyone can tell a joke - some better than others. But, not everyone is willing to take risk. That risk creates tension in the audience.

If you have studied with Avner, you will remember that he talks about creating tension in the audience. It is the job of the performer to control that tension, managing when the tension builds and when it releases. The tension built in a joke is released as laughter. The tension built in a complex juggling trick is released as applause. The tension built in a dangerous stunt is released as gasps etc. The performer must constantly monitor the performance, feeling the audience's tension levels.

This is the entire motivation behind the drop cover. The juggler comes on stage and says, usually through the premise of the act, "I am a master juggler. I am going to execute my tricks with ease and control." When something goes wrong, and it always does, that premise is broken and there is tension built in the audience. (Remember, the audience is inherently empathetic, feeding on the performer's emotions.) The tension created by a drop of the premise can be released in many ways. I have often found that it is at the point where I drop that the audience claps. ** Why do they clap then? I just did a dozen great tricks without fail, and they decide to clap when I drop? ** I believe it is the audience's way of releasing the tension created by the mistake. The "drop line" is built in to help release that tension and rebuild the premise of the act. Making a joke about the error, reaffirms the part of the premise that says "I am in control." As long as the audience knows that the performer is in control, they will be willing to accept mistakes (to a point!)

Too often I have seen jugglers use "comedy" as a crutch to lean on instead of developing the craft. Conversely, I have seen many well trained technical jugglers who have interjected "comedy" into their technical routines (no names please). Either are equally unsuccessful.

What ever your craft, be it technical juggling, stand up comedy, physical comedy, mime, or classic drama, the bottom line is that one must embrace it entirely and completely. Step forward to claim your vocation.

- Steve