Something’s funny about this fellow
WATER guns, a bicycle horn suit, assorted cymbals, cigar box guitars, outsized balloons -- Canadian entertainer Michel Lauziere will come equipped to his performance Saturday at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium.
It’s all in fun, of course, but Lauziere and his steady stream of sight gags are much more about the wow than the guffaw.
“I’m not on stage to be funny.... I’m very serious about what I do,” the bespectacled performer says in a phone interview. “I don’t walk out with a red nose like a clown -- I’m not the funny one. But what happens on stage becomes funny. It’s all about surprise.”
Lauziere is difficult to categorize -- he juggles, does magic, plays music (on some of the most bizarre instruments ever concocted) and is absurdly acrobatic. His inventions are marvels of simplicity, recycled everyday objects that transform form and function into an entertaining enterprise.
One of Lauziere’s standard bits for the last 10 years has been to squeeze his body into a huge inflated balloon and, with only his head protruding, bounce about the stage like a human beach ball. “It just works so well and it’s always worth doing,” he says with a proud laugh.
So, those good ideas -- playing classical music on bicycle pumps, juggling children’s swimming pools -- where do they come from?
“I do have a workshop back home that’s filled with lots of toys and props, but things can trigger an idea at any time,” Lauziere explains. “Sometimes it’s browsing around a hardware store, or riding on a plane. That’s where I recently came up with a new way of doing the traditional one-man-band act. I like taking the cliche and seeing how I can make it original, make it new again.”
Lauziere was born in Drummondville, Canada (he still lives in the area, which is in Quebec), and grew up with a yen for performing. He started out as a magician and juggler, teaming up with his teacher to become the duo Les Foubracs. But he left his partner, as well as a budding career as an editorial cartoonist, to pursue a solo act in 1988. “I wanted to travel, I felt that my act would work well on an international scene,” he says, adding that he wanted to concentrate more on inventions and music.
That combination of tunes and MacGyver-esque creations has brought Lauziere critical success at home and abroad. He’s performed in 45 countries on five continents and counts David Letterman as one of his biggest fans -- he’s Rollerbladed on Letterman’s show, tapping 284 bottles lined up on a city street to play an excerpt from Mozart’s 40th Symphony. Stay tuned: A new stunt is in the works.
Overall, Lauziere hopes his shows can inspire audiences to “think up new ways to do something and not rely on the tried-and-true methods,” he says. “There are new angles to everything and every situation. Just look and see.”
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Michel Lauziere
Where: Caltech, Beckman Auditorium, 332 S. Michigan Ave., Pasadena
When: 2 p.m. Saturday
Cost: $15 adults, $10 children
Phone: (626) 295-6059; www.michellauziere.com
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