The Tragic Life of London’s Favorite Clown

HISTORY This Week

The HISTORY® Channel

History, Education, Society & Culture

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2023

⏱️ 33 minutes

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Summary

March 17, 1828. The celebrated clown, Joseph Grimaldi, rises from his sickbed. Once London’s most energetic performer, he’s gradually been crippled by decades of pratfalls and acrobatics. He can barely manage the short walk to Sadler’s Wells theater, where he’s about to star in a final show. Grimaldi dresses backstage as if he’s in a daze, burdened by a lifetime of personal sorrows. And yet, when the curtain rises, he’ll summon the old strength. He’ll entertain this last of his countless audiences and send them home happy – unlike the clown himself. Who was Joseph Grimaldi? And how did he blend humor, irreverence, and humanity to fundamentally change comedy?

Special thanks to our guests, Andrew McConnell Stott, author of The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Laughter, Madness and the Story of Britain’s Greatest Comedian, and Naomi Shafer, Executive Director of Clowns Without Borders USA.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The History Channel, Original Podcast.
0:04.0	History this week, March 17, 1828.
0:09.0	I'm Sally Helm.
0:12.0	Joseph Grimaldi is practically bedridden.
0:15.0	Once one of the most energetic performers in all of London,
0:19.0	he's been in terrible health for months.
0:22.0	But tonight, he's planning to give his last performance
0:26.0	as London's most famous clown.
0:31.0	Before hand, a friend of a friend shows up at his bedside.
0:34.0	The guy says to Grimaldi,
0:36.0	I know you want to go on stage tonight, but look at yourself.
0:39.0	You can barely stand.
0:41.0	I don't think it's a good idea.
0:43.0	The clown tells him,
0:44.0	I'll play tonight if it costs me my life.
0:49.0	And so, that night, trail by his doctor,
0:52.0	Joseph Grimaldi hobbles across the street
0:55.0	to a theater called Sadler's Wells.
0:58.0	And then, as he has done many, many times,
1:02.0	he throws off the burdens of his own life
1:05.0	and steps into his role.
1:07.0	He performs as a drunken sailor.
	...

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