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What is your favorite shtick?

Started by jfdonohoe, July 15, 2008, 01:54:16 PM

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jfdonohoe

looking to tap into the collective creativity of the Ren cloud here...

I was wondering if folks could share a shtick performed at ren faire that they enjoyed.  By "shtick" i mean the impromptu story, act or hook that performers (employed or even patrons) use to interact with other people at faire. 

Some of the better ones I have seen:
- Lady selling rats 
- Rag lady asking people if they have seen her pig
- Man with a heavy 5 o'clock shadow dressed as a woman in full petticoats and a powdered face instructing people in the manners of a lady.
- The Fellowship Foundry used to have a guy handing out of the window above the shop heckling people in the Monty Python "Holy Grail" french style.

Obviously the real humor and enjoyment comes from the ability of the performer to sell what they are doing and to improvise well with the people they are interacting with.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Count Adolfo

are you looking for castmember schtick or are you also interested in the things playtrons do?
I'm sure you'll find many playtrons also perform in the lanes.

jfdonohoe

#2
Quote from: Count Adolfo on July 15, 2008, 02:19:48 PM
are you looking for castmember schtick or are you also interested in the things playtrons do?
I'm sure you'll find many playtrons also perform in the lanes.

Both really.  Anything that made you stop, laugh, and say "man, that was really clever"

As a playtron who was in a group with a visibly pregnant woman, we hung a sign around her neck advertising "slightly used virgin for sale"

That kinda stuff.

Lady Christina de Pond

i loved the guy my second year at Garf who was near one of the glass shops and he talked to everyone my friend took his picture and he stayed in charater the whole time we had a great time talking to him he even asked if i was queen Maub because i was dressed in blue.
Helmswoman of the Fiesty Lady
Lady Ashley of De Coals
Militissa in the Frati della Beata Gloriosa Vergine Mari

PurpleDragon

#4
I loved the schtick the faeries had this season at Scarborough. There was a small group of them that were in "flight school for the aerodynamically challenged" (I'm sure someone will correct me if that is the wrong name).. anyway, they were all wearing antique style flight goggles. 'Twas really quite cute.


Oh, and who can forget "NOOBLER The Tinker Gnome"  his singing his name schtick and then putting the patron on the spot to get them to sing their names is a HOOT. 
Karl "Dragon" Wolff
The Pirates Cove

Bin Ich SCHLECHT? Ja BIN Ich.

jfdonohoe

Quote from: PurpleDragon on July 15, 2008, 02:38:33 PM
\ they were all wearing antique style flight goggles. 'Twas really quite cute.

I can totally picture it.  That sounds brilliant.

Var Greyshadow

I always liked Scratch the Beggar's head banging routine (and I always tipped him pretty well).

Also, Merilee Effingham, the Scarborough Courtesan, has her schtick down to an art.
"All that is gold does not glitter; Not all those who wander are lost..." ~J.R.R. Tolkien "The Fellowship of the Ring"

PurpleDragon

Quote from: jfdonohoe on July 15, 2008, 02:41:17 PM
Quote from: PurpleDragon on July 15, 2008, 02:38:33 PM
\ they were all wearing antique style flight goggles. 'Twas really quite cute.

I can totally picture it.  That sounds brilliant.

There are photos in the "fae realm" section of this board.. You should take a peek.
Karl "Dragon" Wolff
The Pirates Cove

Bin Ich SCHLECHT? Ja BIN Ich.

Capt Gabriela Fullpepper

Just a couple weekends ago at CoRF the Bag Pipe band started playing the Star Wars Theme. One of the court jesters yelled out "OH THOSE PERFIDIUS SCOTS"

Toki and I still get a huge laugh about that

Then there was the Lepracaun who started in about Robert the Bruce not really being Scottish but French.

Lastly was the guy not far from the front gate who was holding turkey legs as his arms (hands hidden in his shirt) and ripping on nobles and how he lost his hands to a cannon explosion.

The Jester was bar far the funniest
"The Metal Maiden"
To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody e

Tipsy Gypsy

#9
I missed this, but last year at TRF, Milord saw the pirates steal Bo Peep's sheep and string it up in a tree. She dashed after it and climbed the tree to rescue her hapless charge with dagger clenched in her teeth. He says everybody was in tears from laughing so hard.

For me, it's seeing Scratch dig a gnawed turkey leg from a trash bin and fashion it into a leg stump in front of the sea Devil. Grisly/funny!

Inspired wisecracks from performers and shopkeepers- gawd but I love rapid-fire rennie wit.

And the fae buiding Twinkiehenge- priceless!
"It's just water, officer, I swear. And yeast. And a little honey. How the alcohol got in, I have no idea!"

Amyj

One of the most memorable things we have seen at faire was a particular pickle vendor at KCRF last year.  He would randomly yell at the top of his lungs "Buy my Pickle!!!!"  I don't know why that struck us as funny, but I spent about $10 on pickles over the course of the weekend because of it.  And, we now wear a fake pickle on our belts in honor of him.  (Well, Bob wears it in honor of the gorgeous pickle girl from about 4 years back)
I'm not fat, it's just that a skinny body couldn't hold ALL THIS PERSONALITY! ;)
Historically Accur-ISH

Queen Bonnie

 I saw that Bo Peep sheep rescue last year! Darned pirates! Bo was wonderful and twas funny!
We glimpsed Gollum at TRF. Fantastic!
Another Wizard and I were trying out various cat dialects. I speak fluent Siamese- and a bit of alley cat and he was doing Persian- meows of course.
Wingardium Leviosa!
Tis not the length of the staff- but the magick there in!

shirefriar

Having just seen them again at the SCRF, I have to say my all time favorites for such creative gags and lines are the Ye Nottingham Players. Their responce to every "Huzzah" being a "gezundheidt!!", and such tag lines, just crack me up. Very whimsical nuts but believable. The audience adopts these lines the rest of the day. Amazing street bits and songs. If I had to choose two characters I'd say Willoby the Chicken Thief singing/hawking his dead fowl, and River O'riley the washing lady chewing on a bar of soap as she walks about- spewing forth a gazillion bubbles. But all of them are equally as funny.

Valiss

Kick the Cabbage and chasing/looking for the Whatsit are always fun ones.

PurpleDragon

I remember the Bo Peep sheep heist by the pirates last year.. took place right outside my booth.  That was funny.

Then there was the day when Prince James and I along with one of the Italians decided to play "Extreme Bocci", HUGE mud puddles in the court and we are shotputting the balls trying to make a big splash.. then I found a twig (no, not the fairy, but an actual twig) about 116 inches long and handed it to Prince James for our "Caber Toss" He made his toss last like four minutes and it was nothing more than a twig... the audience was just rolling with laughter... (((GODS I LOVE IMPROVING WITH THE CAST AT TIMES))).
Karl "Dragon" Wolff
The Pirates Cove

Bin Ich SCHLECHT? Ja BIN Ich.