Yes, I did a show last year in 2001 at the European Juggling Convention in Holland. At the start, I just jokingly said I was going to do a 24 hr show & it strangely turned into reality. I was the last act of the Renegade show (on a Friday... I think it was) & my show was so long... that it delayed the Renegade show the following night by 3 hrs, so it was nice that they let me do the full day on stage. After a few hours into the show there was a huge thunder bolt bang which freaked everyone out. It was completely full on... the loudest bang I've heard in my whole life! Probably the big bang set the energy right... for the epic of a jestering marathon show? After about 14 hours I said I was going to do longer than my previous 16 hr record in 96... & when I got to it... I thought I may as well go for another 8 hours to do the full 24. After about 18 hrs... it really was starting to thin out... as everyone wanted to see the main gala show (in the sports stadium) & there were 2 of them on the same night... I think! I managed to keep 5-6 people there for a whole hr... & said... "Please go & see the gala show... don't miss it because of me!" They said..."no"!... & so I must say... it was a long hour... but... into 19 hrs... it just picked up... & more & more people came. I needed to go to the toilet after about 19 & a half hrs... & thought... if I leave the No Fit State Circus tent (where I was doing the show)... then the show stops... so someone brought me a rubbish bin... to do number 1 (piddle)... & I wrapped a German girl's sleeping bag around me... & everyone thought I was taking the piss... which quite literally I was. It was an illusion... but someone timed it... & it went for 4 & a half minutes. The longest I'd ever done! I must say I did drink a lot of alcohol... which is unusual for me... as I'm not much of a drinker usually. I drank everything offered to me... many different beers, vodka, wine, brandy, champagne, rum, gin & tonic, Irish Bailey's to even Black Magic (liquorice liqueur).The funny thing was that I was using so much adrenaline... that I couldn't even get pissed... when usually I'd be a little tipsy after 1 & a half bottles of smaller beer. I didn't smoke any joints... at... all... but... was offered many, many, many... many as it was in Holland. The last 2 hrs were really fun... & the whole tent was packed & I just got more & more adrenaline from the audience. I was at that stage wearing a pink frilly satin dress... with jester jerkin (jacket) over the top... with boobs as well (balloons inside the jester coat). I didn't have any stockings on... but had a jester's hat on... with a long nose & green bell on the end of it. Also wearing pixie green curly shoes... & sometimes a black & red Dracula cape I would take on & off. The stage looked like some strange mind map... littered with toys, junk, confetti, toilet paper & fruit & vegetables & whatever else?
I really liked the part of the show... when 2 dogs entered the scene... a big one & a small one. The big one kept getting my squeaky rubber stick & the little one was always left out... so it eventually made it's own game... chasing a little bit of burst balloon... or some other tiny silly piece of anything... & the big dog would try & get it off the small dog... but the small dog would drop it & pick up something else... & keep doing this to confuse the bigger dog! The interaction between the two was pure natural comedy. It was magic... so funny! In the last 2 hrs I danced around to really gnaff music... like a wildcard transvestite jester nincompoop... doing anything that came to mind. Also did many laps around the circus ring... dodging... assorted junk... on a mini-red clown bicycle. The last half hr... really was nuts... & could feel thee energy getting more & more exciting as the crowd were eager to see the full (fool) 24 hrs. I did a condensed version of my show in 30 minutes & finished with the fire-skipping rope on my unicycle. The crowd counted down 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... & it felt like an explosion of cosmic nonsensical carnivalesque merry-go-round euphoria after the count of one! I will never forget that feeling... it was truly an enlightening experience. I was silly to put itching powder in my underpants in the last half hour... as... after I packed up & watched a few more acts (2 hrs later)... when I finally had a shower... I really had a red rash around my groin. I was itching to buggery. I did stay awake & hanged out for another 4hrs... & had 9hrs sleep that night (well morning)... & didn't even get a hang-over! Ha ha he he ha...!!!
When did you start performing Rumpelstiltskin?
I started performing about 10-12 years ago. I guess I always had an unusual style... & did quite a few different characters... in my first few years. My first jestering marathon show was in 95....when I did an 11 & a half hour show in Byron Bay... at the Byron Bay Music & Arts Festival. The following year I did 11 hrs the first night, 2 the next night... & 16 hrs on the last night! I've been a jester character since the very start of my performing career. I was also a bit of a natural class-room clown in school & would always get things mixed up! Ever since I was born... I was noted for being a bit peculiar. Kids in school would also make constant jokes about me (especially my voice) from elementary school to high school. I guess I've been performing in a way... since I was born... but ore professionally... perhaps in the last 4-5 years. I also used to perform in psychedelic clothes that I painted & had rainbow dread-locks & everyone used to call me Rainbow... before I started doing Rumpelstiltskin. I went through a mix of punk & goth & psychedelic when I was 14-18. I used to also perform in a kilt... wearing a big yellow velvet cape... & tacky tartan minstrel top with fake hair in platted pony-tails. Also used to perform in purple bell bottom flares... & other times in a white wedding dress with long 3 metre white cape... while wearing boxing boots & wearing green lip-stick & having scruffy matted pony-tails....also having green goatee & black starry eyes.
How many countries you've been performing in?
Well New Zealand in January next year will make 30.I've performed in countries like Romania, San Marino, Croatia, Liechtenstein... Greece... Serbia (Kosovo).... Luxembourg..... to the Portuguese Azores etc.
May you define Rumpelstiltskin character?
Rumpelstiltskin is a multi-dimensional fool... who in appearance really looks like an Olde Worlde authentic jester... but can transcend tradition combining the best of the old & new worlds. I guess Rumpelstiltskin is quite a personal character... but can also be an extrovert. My character is a bit of a paradox... like an extension of myself... or is it the other way around? I naturally feel akin to the archetype of the fool whether I look like Rumpelstiltskin or not. My life is a natural tragic comedy... a bit like Rumpelstiltskin is really. I don't associate myself with the Rumpelstiltskin fairy-tale character from the Brothers Grim who spins straw into gold (well there are some small similarities perhaps) I just called myself Rumpelstiltskin many years ago... when I first went to Tasmania & saw a Rumpelstiltskin record in a second-hand shop & liked the name... & it has been the same ever since. Once you adopt a name it can be hard to get rid of! My character is a bit of a mythological fairy-tale ethereal eternal kind so I feel at times I don't even have to try & be a fool as it all just unfolds coincidently. Rumpel can be a bit cheeky, odd, enigmatical, weird, silly, philosophical, magical, bizarre, funny, sensitive, outlandish, anarchaic, illogical, impish, bohemian, heathen, extra-terrestrial... whatever etc or even a reflection of the spectrum of the Universe! Gosh! I could go on forever!!!
Do you have any other wired goal to reach?
a) Wouldn't mind saving up for a castle... but at the rate I'm going as I've done the maths on it... it could take me till the end of time + 1 day etc to afford one.
b) Perhaps I should start up the Church Of Nonsense... & get everyone to do laughter mantras... until it becomes so contagious... that it will catch on world-wide until we all die laughing! P.S. Just joking!
c)To do a duo show with a pet rooster & train it to do tricks... so we can out-fool each other... until we don't know which one is which?
Tell us about your plans for the future?
Well I'm not really sure yet... as anything can happen. I think I will eventually do a theatre show for sure. I don't do so well financially on the street at all... so I'll probably do much better off the street. I would like to do some stand-up comedy as well. I will also publish some books + more of course.
You told me about your nose operation, was it traumatic for you?
Yes, it was definitely the pinnacle of my clowning misery... & really wished I never had it done. I had a natural jester's nose in the first place, but had a nose job because I had a crooked septum (nose) which made it a bit hard to breathe on one side... & also would constantly get a blocked left ear (Eustachian tube) which I'd have to keep popping all day long. I lost the sense of humour in my nose (the bump)... the beak. The nose is one of the funniest... if not the funniest thing on the human profile comical anatomy. You use your body for a medium for your art & I think the nose can definitely be used for comic advantage. I do think that some people are just born phrenetically funny. Mr Bean & Pee Wee... for example wouldn't be funny if you couldn't see them. If you're a clown... I advice you never to get a nose job... it's not like going to see a dentist. It was the biggest mistake I've ever made & will always regret it! That's the philosophy behind my nose mask (false nose)... & haven't performed without it for 8-9 years. It was much quicker & natural before... to just put the jester's hat on... at any old given time & be impromptu any given moment! Now it's like doing a painting before I start every show as I put natural make-up on to blend in with the false nose. Lot more time-consuming as well... as I have to take it all off when I'm finished performing for the day. I must somehow transcend the nose... but if I'm wearing my jester's costume... I just have to put on the nose. No nose... no show. Perhaps I could also perform with no costume in future... but still wear a nose! Maybe one day I should get the bump... put back in... so one day I can again... perform without a false nose. The thing that is humiliating about it is... is that I'm a naturalist... & went against creation's design! Oops... there's more to life than one's nose... the show must go on!!! P.S.: I could write a Bible on this nose topic!!!
What else do you do but performing?
Draw, write, travel, make silly mistakes, lose things, collect junk, get things mixed up, complain how little money I make on the street... as a jester... worry about my nose (think I should get the bump put back in)... learning about life... be a nincompoop... & whatever etc?
Are you used to making jokes to your friends?
Yes... I'm a bit of a mischievous little imp... & nearly changed my name to Robin... as then my name would be Robin Goodfellow... who was Puck (the cheeky little imp)... in Shakespeare's... Midsummer's Night's Dream. My name now... is really Jolly Goodfellow... "For He's a Jolly Goodfellow"! I do... do silly things at times when I'm with friends. Sometimes I drive some friend's mad... like try & stick a pea in their ear-hole when they are sleeping... or tap them on the shoulder... so they keep turning around to see who it was. The worst joke I ever did... was on my dad... & he really went ape over it! It was a joke within a joke... & then didn't really turn out to be a joke for me. I was on top of a huge steep hill when I was in grade 5... in my dad's red Mazda 626 when he was walking across the road to visit a chiropractor. I played with the hand-brake & the car rolled down the hill a bit & then it stopped as I pulled the hand-brake back. I said... "Hey dad... checks this out for a neat trick"! He folded his arms & smiled! I pulled the hand-brake down... & it rolled down the hill & when I went to pull the hand-brake back... the knob twirled off... & the car just kept rolling down the hill & I was in the left-hand side of the car... & I froze with fear... as it just kept rolling... until it stacked into a parked Mercedes Benz tow-bar... & the front of my dad's car crunched up like a squeeze-box accordion. All the neighbours heard the chaos & came out to see what happened. My dad got down the hill & opened the door... & said... "You're fucked"! It was so terribly funny... that I accidentally cried & laughed at the same time. It was completely nuts & my dad never forgave me for it... as it wasn't insured. It is such a crazy rush... when you accidentally laugh & cry at the same time.
What do you think people feel while you are performing?
It depends where I'm performing. My show is quite personal at times & isn't really a middle-of-the-road (main-stream) show. Some people look at me weirdly... "Thinking what on Earth is he doing"? I do better at events where I can just cut-loose & pixy out to the max... where people are already... in an ethereal head-space... so they know where I'm coming from. Shopping malls... are really the pits for me... so I just don't do them! I think open-minded people enjoy what I do... where as other people... may perhaps think I'm on drugs... or something... which is a paradox... as I just like to liberate my creativity... without the aid of drugs. You can't be everyone's cup of tea...but at least I can say... "I'm remembered"! I've had contrasting comments about my act within the span of 3 minutes. I remember one man saying it was the best thing he had ever seen... & just a couple of minutes later... another man... saying... "it was completely shit... & I should hurry up & get a real job... you fucken wanker"!
Which were the best performances you have seen?
I don't really have a favourite performance I've seen. I have seen many favourites & like them for different reasons in different ways! I much prefer the clowny acts on the street... than the generic (predictable) power-hype shows. Clowns, fools, comedians... & jesters are my favourite of all acts
Are you living most of the time out of your country?
Yes for the last 7 years... I certainly have. New Zealand will be the 56th country... I've been to... (Doing next year in January)... & 30th performed in! Oh & I'm going to Cambodia tomorrow... so with New Zealand... it will be 57 countries. I'd perform in all 189 countries if I could get someone to sponsor me... from Antarctica... to Greenland... to Saudi Arabia... to Uzbekistan... to Papua New Guinea etc... or even the Moon if it was possible? Maybe I'll do well performing on the street one day... when we get to Mars. The Martians will surely dig it!
Is Australia a good place for street performing?
Not for me. It get's too frigggggin' hot in the summer in my full-on-jester's costume. Also I get hassled more by the yobbo's (hooligans)... than most street performers... because I'm an obvious target & stand out... as a weasel Mr Puniverse. It's bizarre... I don't make hardly any money on the street, I get hassled the most, carry around the most stuff & take the longest to get ready & pack-up & also do the longest shows... but at least I'm remembered. Australia can be quite hard on the street....& I think Europe is better... as there are more people & culture. Australian street performers do very well overseas... because it's tough in Oz.
Why do you have some animal signs in your baggage?
I really like Australian animals & they are all Australian animal signs. I think many people are fascinated by the animals in Oz... & I think they reflect a good side of Australia... that I like to help promote! Kangaroo, koala, possum, wallaby, kookaburra, Tasmanian devil, emus, echidna, frilled-neck lizard etc.
What kind of toys do you like?
I like many kinds of toys. Weird ones... & especially old retro-toys. I think a lot of modern toys are crap... but there are definitely some good ones. I don't understand why there are so many aggressive toys on the market. I think a lot of older toys were more funky & better made... not so cheap looking. Pogo-sticks, gimmicks, gnaff toys, silly toys, squeaky rubber insects & vegetables... battery operated barking roof-roof dogs to name a few.
