Rich Potter's formative years were spent dreaming and drawing. Undiagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder until his 40s, his travels have spanned 22 different countries. His appearances in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and on The Late Show with David Letterman weren't interesting enough, so one year, he completed a painting every day. Now he writes, performs comedy and produces a monthly clown cabaret in Washington DC. And other stuff, too.
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Come enjoy a moderately amusing unscripted stroll down a Mid-Atlantic American beach with Rich, as he talks, stream of consciousness, giving voice to his rampant ADD.
I did get *almost* through the entire podcast without using any “Explicit Content” words (Apple gets very indignant if you use “grown-up” words and don’t label “Explicit Content”). Well, around minute 13, I had to edit out a “shit.” But since you’ve just experienced it here, you won’t miss it in the podcast.
Happy “Wednesday!” So it’s a day late. I’m on vacation!
At the foundation of almost all comedy is structure. And one of the most common, and most useful structures, starts with a simple concept: the number three. Take a look at how and why three is woven into the fabric of some beloved jokes.
The What’s So Funny! podcast will soon follow. This inaugural post is just a placeholder. But like a 1950s kid running home from school, watching the test pattern on TV, you may enjoy this until more content is up.
I’ve heard a lot about “cultural appropriation” recently. It seems to be a sticky situation and many people have a number of different ideas about what is right and what is wrong.
Then there’s this girl, Kezia Daum of Salt Lake City, who wore a Chinese-style dress to her prom and faced monstrous backlash from the Twittosphere. I find myself scratching my head.
People for thousands of years have worn clothing that is functional, with the materials they had on hand. If they had time/materials, they would add adornments such as beads or embroidery. The people in roles of leadership — or ones who had greater means — would have more ornate adornments.
I admit I’m pretty American, and I’ve traveled around the world a few times. This doesn’t mean I’ve seen everything or know everything. I have however seen people dressing in T-shirts and blue jeans or cowboy hats or business suits wherever I’ve gone. I was pleasantly amused to see a Japanese actor dancing in cowboy boots at Tokyo Disney’s Country Bear Jamboree.
I’ve also occasionally dressed up in traditional clothing (kimonos, sarongs) when it was offered or it suited my purposes. Did I think I was stealing someone’s culture? Not when it was offered/sold to me.
Great honor and dignity has been afforded this Asian garb by this 1980s Japanese video game.
I know some types of clothing are associated with holy, or sacred roles. As a clown, a thespian, and a smartass, I know historically in a healthy society, anything holy is ripe for exaltation, depiction, and iconoclasm. But there’s also the fact that art, fashion, and technology progress much more quickly if they can breathe. Sharing/cross-pollinating ideas is the best way to find new, better, and stronger ideas.
Putting up walls saying, “this is my culture and you can’t have it” I don’t think is the answer. Which brings me to a Kezia Daum, the blonde teen who found a cute Chinese dress for her prom and is now being subject to a world of hate for it. Really?! It looked like the sort of dress so sacred it was placed in the holy land of Japanese company CapCom’s Street Fighter game. So sacred.
But then there is stuff like keeping black artists out of the music industry while white recording artists plagiarized their songs and made the money from them. I’m sure there’s a bit of (deserved) resentment here and there. I see no simple answer to this, especially when everyone’s on a knee-jerking hair trigger and yelling.
While doing taxes, (of course at the last minute) I always end up meandering over things I’ve done over the last year. This one was kind of cool. At the height of that idiotic media-invented “clown hysteria” last October, the good folks at Good Morning Washingtonreached out to the experts of Washington DC’s Clown Cabaret to get a more educated perspective. Check it out. I’m the blond. The one wearing pants. 🙂
Paintings 43-45 of 365: So, I got to a point with this project where I had an idea for a piece but there are things I didn’t know how to do in watercolors to make it happen, hence the Universe painting (#43) today, and in the last two posts, (here and here). Today’s post contains a few paintings with elements of either a technique, or playing with concepts of style and spirit of the upcoming God piece. I believe these experiments have their own charm though.
I always enjoy seeing the finished piece vs. the rough sketches, to see the artist’s mind taking every detail available to the lump of matter in their skull, crunching it down to the comparative few strokes of the final work. These are simultaneously rough sketches and finished works. I’ll explain that conundrum to anyone who can explain the Trinity to me without using tautology.
But art really is a tip-of-the-iceberg thing. Whenever you see artwork, literature, performing arts, etc., the final product represents many, many discarded ideas, blood, sweat, tears, etc. Even if it isn’t rough sketches, there’s still much iceberg beneath the water. A quote attributed to Pablo Picasso suggests, “It took me 30 years to learn how to do that in 30 seconds.”
Similarly, it takes 12 pounds of grain, 35 pounds of topsoil, and 2400 gallons of water (19,200 pounds) to produce one pound of beef. Yikes! Glad I eat plants– smaller footprint and they fart less.
In #44 here is God, in His eternal glory, farting around with some planets. All-powerful beings have got to have fun sometimes, when they’re not flooding or smiting people. The “upcoming painting” is a take on God that I found amusing, and will likely end up hanging in my office, though I may make another one to sell.
#45 is also thematically aimed at the upcoming painting. This reflects the sensibility of my book of illustrations, “Snapshots of God,” which I might sell online at some point. I currently only sell them at shows because I hate stuffing one envelope at a time. Give me 100 envelopes to stuff, and I’m your guy.
If you really want one, drop me a line and I’ll hook you up.
Universe 3: More Universe stuff. I like this one more than the others. Planning for another more involved painting.
Since I am painting the Universe, I figured I’d show the dude behind it all, not exactly playing dice.
Come enjoy a moderately amusing unscripted stroll down a Mid-Atlantic American beach with Rich, as he talks, stream of consciousness, giving voice to his rampant ADD.
Looking into the space race, in the timeline between Sputnik and the first moon landing, and our silly, silly nuclear sabre rattling.
Reminiscing over Rob Torres, a masterful physical comedian, my friend and hero, taken from us too soon.
In this second episode of What’s So Funny!, Rich explores shifts in perspective of patriotism, freedom, and Star Wars.
First real episode of my “What’s So Funny!” podcast, a musing on first impressions and starting new relationships.
Then there’s this girl, 
