TontoandFriends.com

By Linus, The Angry Mime Hey. So, Marcel Marceau died last weekend. Mimes tend to get a sixth sense when one of us is about to die. Call it intuition or whatnot. I was knocking the stuffing out of some drunk in a bar for calling me a clown. Clowns are to mime what dentists are to doctors. Less aptitude and less schooling – clowns aren’t even in the same universe as mimes. So, yeah, I was really going to down with this guy, smashing his face against the bar, filling his mouth fulla splinters and shit. Leaving some teeth stuck in the wood. I looked down at the puddle of blood he had made, and I shivered. I knew someone big was about to leave this world. So, as typical, the media’s all over themselves to make the public remember how frigging great pantomime is, how kind and gentle and brave and smart Marceau was. Look, Marceau had great physicality, and he could shill like a used car salesmen. Big respect for that. But he was a dick. Plain and simple. Here’s why: 1) He never did street mime. He did mime work for theatre, tv, movies. In that environment, people will eat your shit with a spoon, and never tell you if they disagree with the choices you’ve made. On the street, you’ve got to contend with homeless guys throwing used condoms and hypodermic needles at you if they think your representation of the President is a little too critical. He worked in a bubble, and never had to get his hands dirty with the common people like I do. 2) He ruined public opinion of mime work with his goddamn Bip character. Contrary to what Marceau did, there’s more to mime work than walking around like a lobotomy patient and finding “joy” and “childlike innocence” in the most banal things. Mime work can also be about making the darkness of the human condition even more devastating and raw. True story: When I won the Deburau Prize, I got the chance to perform my winning piece in front of Marceau and his little vanity mime company. Not two minutes into my performance, titled “The Abortion”, that little bitch walked out of the theatre. Afterwards, he told me I lacked the subtle grace and appreciation of life that a true mime artist should possess. I was young then, and I really looked up to guys like Marceau. He shook me pretty bad that day. Not even keying his car took away the hurt and desolation. I guess what I’m trying to say is this: yeah, Marceau’s worm food. But he had a great life. If you really want to show you care about art and artists, take a bus downtown and support some of the mimes working in the streets, doing all they can to reach out to people who don’t even stop to notice the culture that’s all around them. LINUS - Linus is a world renowned mime artist whose productions “She Walks with Ghosts”, and “Sleep” have won him several international awards, such as the Deburau Prize He also served fifteen years in Oregon State Penitentiary for grand larceny. He trained in Paris at the International School of Corporeal Mime and will beat up anyone who has a problem with it.