Where in the world am I today?: Vacationing in Peru
Prologue: I had heard about Murph early on when I was getting started in the early 80s, but I think the first time I actually sa2 Murph perform was at a performance festival in Burlington, Vermont back in 1986. I had wanted to get to a juggling convention in San Jose, California, but when that fell through I made every attempt to make up for it by getting myself to other events that were a bit closer to home (I lived in Ottawa at the time). Flash forward to February 1989 and the Calgary Winter Festival and Murph and I got to work side by side Murph with an amazing cast of performer… Most recently I got to work with Murph at the 2009 Edmonton International Street Performer’s Festival and had the most wonderful surprise happen while we were on our ladders on stage together… For some reason we started what looked like a high-speed chase, but on ladders the speed that we were moving at was ridiculously slow and incredibly funny… It was one of those comedy gems that we hadn’t planned, but that’s I’d love to explore some more.
STATS
Name: Tom Murphy – Murph.
Birthday: February 27, 1952.
Place of Birth: Pottsville PA, USA.
Started Performing/Working in the Industry: 1976.
Discipline: Slapstick comedy, Physical comedy.
Websites: http://www.murphclown.com
Video Link: http://www.murphclown.com/video.html
Venues Worked: See List below
Performance venues:
- Streets
- Theme parks
- Schools of every kinds
- Renaissance Festivals
- Performing Arts and Comedy Festivals around the world
- Cirque de Demain – Silver ’87
- Just for Laughs ’91
- New Victory Theater – Broadway ’98
- TV appearances in Germany, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Israel , Japan, Chile
- Varieté Theaters throughout Europe for the last 15 years
Teaching venues:
- Boston University
- Aarhus Theater Academy, Denmark,
- Festival der Träume in Innsbruck and Comicideon in Kapfenberg, Austria,
- Haus in Stuttgart, Germany
- Ecole Nationale du Cirque in Paris
- Three years at Ringling Brothers’ Clown College.
Hot 10 Questions:
- What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream and why? • Crema di rizo – It is actually gelato which is actually ice cream in Italian. It is so very creamy and it will always remind me of the town of Como and a fantastic week of rock climbing nearby.
- Name one movie that would make it to your Top 10 all-time great films. • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
- What was your favorite toy from childhood? • Would have to be a six shooter and holster!
- Who were your biggest inspirations when you got started? • Bounce from Locomotion Vaudeville, Fred Garbo, Fantasy Jugglers and Slap Happy ( all east coast variety acts in the 70’s) then later Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and The Three Stooges.
- From the world of animation what one character do you most identify with or see yourself in? • A cross between the Road Runner, Popeye and Bambi.
- Name something that scares you. • The greed in America and especially in politics and growing old without a partner.
- Apart from the entertainment industry, name one other job you’ve had. • Counting and cleaning diapers for a diaper delivery service.
- What’s something you haven’t done yet that you’d like to try? • Heli skiing in Alaska.
- What’s your least favourite thing about being a performer? • Anything to do with air travel!
- If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? • “You’ve tried your humanly best! Good on ya mate!“
The Nugget:
Pick one nugget of wisdom you’ve picked up from your career in Show Business to share with the World.
“To performer want-to-bes and some who already are; honesty is invaluable in your performance. Don’t ask the audience to believe anything you wouldn’t believe. . . and the audience is smarter than you think.“
–Tom Murphy
