Crikey! Greetings from Rumpel (aka Jolly Goodfellow, real name...no joke)! This is the sequel article to my previous one....in 2002 (after doing a 24 hour show at the EJC in the Netherlands in 2001). I recently just did a 25 hour show at the EJC in Slovenia in August. It's quite funny how it eventuated really, as i was against all odds! The biggest obstacle that had to be passed early on, was trying to get Finnair to change my outbound ticket from Amsterdam back to Melbourne in Australia which i didn't think i'd have any chance in managing to do as everything was heavily booked for weeks. After persisting for a couple of weeks, Finnair finally got back to me just in the nick of time & told me i was extremely lucky that they re-routed my ticket which they weren't supposed to do, so i could do the convention. I had to get a seperate flight from Amsterdam to Llubljana (Slovenia) rtn. I was happy by crikey! Still i was a bit worried as i already had a sore back for 2 weeks & was wondering if i was in a fit state to do the event in Slovenia anyway. I was a bit thrashed out from just doing a festival in Austria, after working really hard & having many late nights & not having any time to recover from jetlag by the time i got to Europe as i missed my flight from Australia to Austria & had to get the next available one. Ontop of that i had been sorting out & sending my stuff which i had left in Amsterdam for many years back to Australia, which was a major task in itself. I had just signed a contract with Cirque Du Soleil for nearly 3 yrs, so i thought it would be a good idea to get all my things in one place. Certainly a hectic period, as i had been going to circus school full time back in Australia & also criss-crossing the planet doing a couple of workshops with Cirque Du Soleil (as they are based in Montreal) which lead up to being offered a contract for a new show which will be in Las Vegas, starting in May. I'm currently in rehearsals for a new Cirque Du Soleil/Beatles theme show. I will be playing a fool character. Anyway back to Slovenia now! I didn't get off to such a great start, as i missed my flight from Amsterdam to Llubljana by just a measily 30 seconds really, as i missed the little airport bus which takes you from the gate to the plane. I lost my ticket, but was very lucky to get the last seat on the bus from Amsterdam to Maribor in Slovenia, leaving very early the following morning. I perhaps hold the world record for having the most amount of stamps in a passport & not actually going anywhere, as i got 3 that day, after going backwards & forwards through passport control as i was looking for my suitcase & then finally found it, on the conveyer belt, but it was broken (the handle broke off), so i tried getting some compensation for it, which made me go round in circles with no luck at all. The bus ride was terrible as the air conditioner didn't work up the back of the bus & it was a hot day. I finally slept at the train station when the bus arrived to it's destination in Slovenia at 2am in the morning. Was a bit of a rough sleep, getting only 4 hours! I didn't really get much time to unwind when i got to the convention as i had to repair quite alot of props, mend my costume & also get some odds & ends for the show. The epic 25 hour show started on Tuesday night at 11pm, 15th of April (2nd night of the convention). I was the last act of the Renegade show in the cabaret tent, like i was when i did my 24 hour show at the EJC in Holland in 2001. I set everything up on stage before i went on, otherwise it would have driven me insane trying to sort it all out, while the audience wait for me to start. I thought to myself 'Crikey! I'll have to do something,' after such a good introduction from Clarke McFarlane, the MC (Planet Banana). I jokingly said i was going to do another 24 hour show, soon after i hit the stage! The audience were with me from the start & i knew that it wasn't going to be a short show. The vibe was wonderful & the tent was a nice sized circus tent. The stage was also round, which suited my style. I certainly did bring some stuff with me to Slovenia. There was a ridiculous amount of my stuff on stage. I had a big trunk & a large suitcase & 3 other big bags of stuff & 3 more tiny suitcases & 3 guitars, a unicycle, amplifier, radio microphone, effects units, gadgets, spring-shoes, record player, a couple of boxes of books & toys galore, to name a few. It took me 2 days just to find my unicycle & large suitcase as they were brought down from a bus in Utrecht in Holland. I remember doing a couple of laps around the stage hopping on one spring-shoe to start the show off. Not long after i started i also said 'I'm going to do something!' I then said 'Do you want to see anymore? Ok! I'll start again!' 'I hope i get through this show, as it's going to be a long one!' The audience laughed as i carried on waffling nonsensical patter! It wasn't before too long, until i put on some really naff music to kick the show off! I pulled out a pink fluffy boa from my tacky pink Barbie bag & then put on some funky green spectacles as the track, 'Start Me Up!' started to play! It really gave me the energy to get it happening as the audience were getting into it! I strutted around a bit & did some silly antics which was fun. It took a while to gradually unload my bags, pulling out all sorts of odds & ends. I particulary enjoy jumping around the stage on spring shoes to the 'Skippy The Bush Kangaroo' song, with rabbit teeth in my mouth. After this song i pulled out a punching kangaroo puppet & boxed the little green bell attached to the end of my long false nose, which got a fair share of laughs. I kept boxing the little bell from 1 to 74 & then constantly on 74 for a while. Soon after i just waved my kangaroo flag around. Blimey! It's kind of hard to do a concise article of the show as it was packed to the max with all sorts of higgledy piggledy antics throughout the 25 hours. There was stuff everywhere, toys, junk, props, food, beer bottles & everything else scattered around the stage, making it an awkward obstacle course to jump about in spring shoes, especially with giant y-fronts around my ankles. I jumped into them whilst wearing the spring shoes. I remember going arse over head during one of my attempts at trying to jump into them. Certainly got a good response from the crowd. It did make it slippery from time to time, jumping around with spilt beer on the shiney wooden blue stage. I just mopped it up with my big y-front jocks. I certainly spent alot of time trying to find props as they were all over the place & it can get difficult when everything is mixed up. It can make the timing of doing certain gags a real drag, especially when trying to do things on cue at the appropriate moment. Can be funny sometimes being so off beat with things! Of course there's flat spots here & there, but one can expect that when trying to get through a 25 hour show. There were some ridiculous moments trying to get the technical amplification stuff sorted, via the mixing desk, where a sound tech guy was helping assist with my show for many, many hours. We just couldn't figure out where the horrible feedback noise was coming from. It went for about 15 minutes & would stop & then start again at unusual times. Got the audience cacking themselves! I'd pull plugs out, put them back in, re-arrange them, turn the sound up & down, off & on, turn the treble & bass off & pull levers up & down on the mixing desk & turn the electricity & battery powered amp & microphone on & off & everything else, but still this elusive sound would keep pestering us all, like some uncanny Twilight Zone joke. Thank goodness it didn't last for way too long! For some reason the sound went away when i moved my green tartan bag. The audience cracked up laughing! I then figured out hours later that it was a toy microphone in the bag which was the reason for the feedback noise. This got another big laugh, especially when there were people in the audience who witnessed the feedback problem hours earlier. That's the great thing about doing these marathon show, as people come & go & pick up on different things, which makes it all the more interesting. It's amusing to see people leave after having watched the show for a long time & then reappear hours later, after getting some sleep & then hang around for many more hours. Someone may say 'The Show Must Go On' & i just go with it & keep going! It can get a bit pasty being in a fully garbed heavy duty thick green & red velvet jester's outfit after about 10 hours. To add to the comfort, having a false nose stuck on & affixed green eyebrows & a goatee in conjunction with jumping around for hours on end, in springy shoes & falling over, juggling uneven objects, constantly picking up & losing things & dancing around like a nutcase nincompoop can make you a bit short-breathed at times. I even brought 14 rubber arms with me, which i bought when i was performing at the San Marino Medieval Fair. A few years back i was searched by customs coming into Slovenia & they went through my rucksack & pulled out arm after arm. They said 'What's all this for?' I said 'I'm going to make a coat of arms!' I nearly thought i was going to get done for bringing arms into the country. Was quite unusual that i brought them back to Slovenia for my show at the EJC when i think about it, as this time i really did make a coat of arms out of them. I pulled my arms out of a bag & asked the audience to give me a hand! Volunteers came forth & pinned on arm after arm to my jester's jerkin until all 14 were affixed. I said to the audience 'Does anyone need a hand?' Arghhh the sound of laughter! Don't you love it! I also said 'Does anyone fancy an arm wrestle! Maybe i should arm wrestle a spider monkey!' Swinging myself around was a funny sight, to see all the arms flap about. Some great juggling jokes soon followed! I jumped around for hours with 16 arms in total. Made it a bit tricky to do some stunts, but what the heck, anything goes! I almost got tickled to death at one point in the show by the convention organisers. They pinned me to the ground & almost tickled me to buggery! It was funny, but rather unpleasant. The audience surely enjoyed it! Not long after i said 'Put me in a laughing stock & pound me with mouldy custard apples ya pansies!' I then quickly got my plastic shield & pink fairy wand & lay down & said 'Come on! Have me! Come on! What are you waiting for! Have me! I'll have the whole frigggin' lot of ya!' They just laughed, so i started throwing squeaky toys, food & other odds & ends at them & they threw them back, as i hid behind my shield. I said 'This is either going to turn into a garage sale or a riot!' I turned my flashing heart badge on & then put on the 'All You Need Is Love' song by the Beatles. Suddenly it felt as if radiant love was everywhere as everyone joined in & sang "All You Need Is Love!' I waved flowers in the air & really felt uplifted by the unifying spirit of it all. I felt so at home & was feeling great that people from many different countries were having a good time! I said 'Love is the answer!' I played all sorts of music on my mini-disc player, but the silly beeping noise inbetween tracks was a bit annoying. I juggled 3 guitars & then tried to tune them, but couldn't even tune one, so got someone in the audience to do it for me. Playing 'Trixy The Tarantula' whilst wearing googly eyeball glasses seemed to go down well. I proceeded with a track on my mini-disc player by Legendary Stardust Cowboy, which is a real out of order kind of song & then started to go nuts! A nappy wearing armadillo came from nowhere, followed by a rubber brain, so i juggled these with my guitar & ended up playing cricket whilst juggling & then hit the brain for a 7 (supposed to be 6, acccording to cricket terminology...which is a far out hit)! Gorblimey! At times it can be funny being a bit out of control, jumping around like a nincompoop in spring-shoes, slipping & sliding all over the stage, tripping over junk, lighting fire-crackers, throwing streamers & confetti everywhere & swinging & flapping arms around madly, whilst dancing & going completely wild to songs like 'I'm Free' by the Who. Just totally cutting loose & pixy out to the max! I let off a whizzbanger which spun around like mad & nearly burnt the wires in the microphone cable. It did leave a bit of a black powdery mark on the floor which i wiped with a tissue to the sound of many chuckles from the audience. Not long after i asked for a beer & then many came my direction all at once. I accepted a mug of beer, but it was hard to drink as my long nose was in the way, so i had to bend it to take up the offer properly. People placed a few beer bottles on the stage, so i could save them for later. Was kind of them, but it didn't help as some of them got knocked over & really made a mess. Not only that, i took a few falls here & there & accidently broke a few props, but you can expect that when doing a 25 hr show. I also got a little tipsy drinking from them & felt a bit sick taking swigs from the flat ones. There was crap littered all over the stage. Even squashed food here & there. Was funny when i put on my Frankenstein mask & pulled out a squeaky gherkin from my holster & said 'I'm going to put on a strap-on squeaky gherkin-bumped stonker & charge the Incredible Hulk!' It was hilarious when someone arrived with a plate of food & i soon noticed a little pickle on it. I grabbed a huge plastic fork & picked it off immediately & held it next to my squeaky gherkin prop (which has a funny face) & held it against it's lips & it looked as if it was toking on a joint. Some really interesting strange laughs came out of this! By this stage i thought i may aswell put on my silly frilly satin pink dress & fairy wings & wave some pink cheerleading pom poms in the air to a tacky Barbie disco song. Someone yelled out 'Sexy!' I replied 'Do you think i'm sexy?' Wasn't long before i played 'Do You Think I'm Sexy' by Rod Stewart & then "Touch Me' by Samatha Fox & some silly catwalk song. It's fun being naff to the max! Why the heck not? I had a little battery operated 'roof woof' dog which walked it's way ontop of a pink barbie doll which was layed flat, so it looked as if it was going it. I pulled out an 'Out Of Order' sign, which made perfectly good sense & then put a squeaky rubber bone infront of the dog, demanding 'Henry' to get it, whilst saying 'Here boy!' I tried to spray some fartgas, but it was already deflated as it got squashed in one of my bags. Kind of smelt like a dead rat was in the bag. Certainly wouldn't make good deodourant. At one stage my false nose started to slowly fall off, which made me panic as i couldn't find my nose glue anywhere. It can be a real hassle trying to find things in a hurry at times, especially when everything is completely mixed up & when trying to do certain gags on cue, to get a more effective response from the audience. Was a relief when i did find the nose glue, but it had leaked & made quite a few props sticky. It was a bit of an effort to put my nose back on, as i got some glue stuck up my nostril. Not much fun, that! The audience really laughed hard when i stood up & snuffed a boogie out & then couldn't shake the bugger off! Was a bit out of order, but at least some people were quite entertained by it. I said 'Should i keep going!' People yelled out 'The Show Must Go On!' I kept saying from time to time 'I'll just do another 10 minutes!' It really got one kid in the audience going...as he kept saying '10 more minutes' for hours on end. I think he watched about 15 hours or something? It wasn't exactly easy to get out of the show either, as the thought of cleaning it all up would take hours just in itself. At times i was too tired to keep going & also too tired to stop, so would just stand still & look at all my crap everywhere & then stare at the audience & so on. Was most amusing at about 7am in the morning when there weren't so many people in the tent & 3 people had fallen asleep on the stage in their sleeping bags. I'm surprised they could sleep at all, since i was still making quite a racket. To be continued.........