Philippe Gaulier’s 'embrace the ridiculous' lesson for theatre and comedy

When theatre-makers weighed their training options, École Philippe Gaulier stood apart as the place to learn to perform with the whole heart: shared innocence, play and what the school called a kind of transcendent idiocy. Students returned armed with a suite of techniques about clowning and much more, and some carried those lessons into years of collaborative theatre-making.

Gaulier later became better known in comedy than as a teacher, much to his displeasure. He openly despised standup—“I hate standup comedy,” he said—and yet his approach taught skills that helped comics and clowns thrive: playfulness, alertness to a crowd, vivid aliveness in the moment and the courage to celebrate one’s own ridiculousness.

His alumni list is long and varied, from Sacha Baron Cohen, who called him “the funniest man I have ever met,” to Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter and Roberto Benigni, and more recent figures such as Phil Burgers, Julia Masli, Damian Warren-Smith and Viggo Venn.

philippe gaulier, clowning, clown school, standup comedy, playfulness, aliveness, ridiculousness, cohen, emma thompson, roberto benigni