The idea for this film first came to Daisy whilst on a typical seaside holiday last summer where a different children’s entertainer would set up in the hotel ballroom at six o’clock each evening and perform a different act.
From animal petting to sea shanties to balloon buffoonery it seemed an almost thankless task. Kids screaming, crying, badgering and demanding constantly whilst the performers attempted to maintain their professional cool and pull yet another hankie from their sleeve or fall face down again knowing it’s guaranteed to always make a four year old laugh.
She started to wonder who were these people? Mostly men it must be said. How did they end up here? Was this their life long ambition? How do they know what children want? And what makes them laugh? And then those creeping doubts and stereotypical fears started to rear their ugly heads: Don’t you have to be a bit weird to do this sort of thing? Are they all failed adult entertainers? Are they actually a bit sad? And do they all still live with their mothers?
Back home Daisy started to investigate further and soon found herself having her preconceptions questioned in a world of pirates and pumpkins and comedy handshakes and rabbits in hats. This is what she found…
Tommy Tickle is Britain’s answer to Krusty the Clown. He hates his job, but does it to pay the bills. He drinks and smokes and swears, and although he tries to stay sober for parties, he often scares the children with his gravely 40 a day voice and his obtuse jokes about Robert Mugabe. Tommy thinks modern kids are spoilt and hard to please. He wears a cricket box to protect himself from five year olds who like to punch him in the balls. He has a volatile relationship with his own teenage daughter, Stephanie but one day while she is hanging out in town with a bunch of Goths, she spots him doing his act and something surprising happens.
Potty the Pirate loves children. He loves their smiles and their cheers and the way their eyes light up. And he shares their love of pirates. Genuinely. Sometimes he feels the kids aren’t paying proper attention to his show and he has to stop the performance to complain. In fact, Potty’s friends, are concerned that he may not be able to divorce himself from the role; he’s prone to making pirate noises at the most inappropriate moments. Potty agrees he is a child trapped in a man’s body… will he ever grow up?
And then there’s Mr Pumpkin, the life and soul of the party one minute, tending to his sick mother the next always having to put his mum to the back of his mind when he puts on his happy face for the children.
Daisy attempts to find out what drives these people because children are demanding these days and it’s hard for a man with funny shoes to match up to Playstation 3, the latest Transformers gadget or the wonders of a Wii.
This is a film about what modern children are like, and how it affects the men who aim to please them. What is the relationship between a clown and a child all about? And why does someone end up becoming a clown in the first place?
From animal petting to sea shanties to balloon buffoonery it seemed an almost thankless task. Kids screaming, crying, badgering and demanding constantly whilst the performers attempted to maintain their professional cool and pull yet another hankie from their sleeve or fall face down again knowing it’s guaranteed to always make a four year old laugh.
She started to wonder who were these people? Mostly men it must be said. How did they end up here? Was this their life long ambition? How do they know what children want? And what makes them laugh? And then those creeping doubts and stereotypical fears started to rear their ugly heads: Don’t you have to be a bit weird to do this sort of thing? Are they all failed adult entertainers? Are they actually a bit sad? And do they all still live with their mothers?
Back home Daisy started to investigate further and soon found herself having her preconceptions questioned in a world of pirates and pumpkins and comedy handshakes and rabbits in hats. This is what she found…
Tommy Tickle is Britain’s answer to Krusty the Clown. He hates his job, but does it to pay the bills. He drinks and smokes and swears, and although he tries to stay sober for parties, he often scares the children with his gravely 40 a day voice and his obtuse jokes about Robert Mugabe. Tommy thinks modern kids are spoilt and hard to please. He wears a cricket box to protect himself from five year olds who like to punch him in the balls. He has a volatile relationship with his own teenage daughter, Stephanie but one day while she is hanging out in town with a bunch of Goths, she spots him doing his act and something surprising happens.
Potty the Pirate loves children. He loves their smiles and their cheers and the way their eyes light up. And he shares their love of pirates. Genuinely. Sometimes he feels the kids aren’t paying proper attention to his show and he has to stop the performance to complain. In fact, Potty’s friends, are concerned that he may not be able to divorce himself from the role; he’s prone to making pirate noises at the most inappropriate moments. Potty agrees he is a child trapped in a man’s body… will he ever grow up?
And then there’s Mr Pumpkin, the life and soul of the party one minute, tending to his sick mother the next always having to put his mum to the back of his mind when he puts on his happy face for the children.
Daisy attempts to find out what drives these people because children are demanding these days and it’s hard for a man with funny shoes to match up to Playstation 3, the latest Transformers gadget or the wonders of a Wii.
This is a film about what modern children are like, and how it affects the men who aim to please them. What is the relationship between a clown and a child all about? And why does someone end up becoming a clown in the first place?
