Crissie sent me a photo in that old-school Auguste clown outfit I was given as my role in The Raree Show back in 1973 - a costume which alternated with Gloria, the friendly Gorilla, (and that character costume, with 4 inches of padding ALL OVER was a great persona/outfit for learning acrobatics and pratfalls). In the photo we are grabbing a sandwich and a beer after a show, and she is 'taking a call' on my mobile phone. It was an old-style phone (we are talking 30 years ago) and it was pinned into the 'magician' back pocket of my tail-coats.
It was a gag about being interrupted when you are concentrating...I've enjoyed the same gag in Father Ted, when the people he rings are skiing, or driving fast, or whatever, and totally, disastrously, distracted from what they were doing when the phone goes...
At 'wrong' moments in my street show my mobile would ring, and give me the chance to take a call from anyone on the planet; or even turn to the crowd and ask "If there is a John here?" - Yeh? - It's for you....and then stand, phone coming out of jacket on short wire, while some poor guy would try to improvise a phone conversation. Hey. some of them were great - and it gave me breathing space, too. It's hard work doing a solo street show, especially on your own.
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