I love the smell of greese paint in the morning . . .

[Guido]

Hey there everybody . . . I really hate talking about myself but here goes:
I've been clowning since age fifteen when I was introduced to clowning through a clown ministry at our church. I was one of the five founding members of the ministry, "Polka Dot" . . . none of us had any idea of what we were doing, how to apply make-up or what our mission was. We just knew our church needed a laugh . . . in a big way (gawd, it was stuffy in there)

After graduation, I went off and joined the Army and had the opportunity to travel the world in a camouflage truck. Uncle Sam even gave me camouflage greese paint which I was reprimanded for applying in an "unnatural pattern" (The commander didn't like the clown look) I often wore the camouflage even when I wasn't supposed to and modified a uniform to create "Cammo." Cammo appeared during deployments to Central America where we provided medical aid to citizens of our host countries: Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama.

In 1993 (a whole season before Kramer's real name was revealed) I adopted "Cosmo" and became a "real" clown (or so I thought) I bought some Spear's shoes, had a costume made, got a yak wig and put the whole thing together in a very convincing package and did many, many performances and appearances. I made a living from clowning during the summer months and built a catalog of some two hundred different balloon figures, hats and abstracts.

Up until my last day performing as Cosmo, I never really got out from under the shadow of the "Cosmo kramer" name. That coupled with the fact that I never felt "right" as Cosmo led me to leave clowning for a few years and just perform my balloon show. I focused on the balloons and my eyes were opened! I was being myself and not putting on an act . . . huge leap for me!

2000 - 2003 I worked as a weight guesser at a local amusement park . . . If you've ever needed to "air out" some pent up sarchasm, it's a fantastic job and place for that, people line up and pay you money to make fun of them! "You have more chins than a Chinese phone book and you want me to guess your weight? That'll be three bucks pal." Another huge leap for me (I was beginning to feel like an astronaut at this point, all these big leaps) I realized that yes, indeed, some people other than myself LOVE to be the center of attention.

2006 began a new era. I decided to take a few things from my own closet, a nickname i grew up with, a little greese paint and my Pro-Knows nose, nose, nose and try something that I had seen a few times . . . "Light Auguste" or the "Casual clown" look. It worked, I felt more "exposed" (no my zipper wasn't open) more at ease, less presured to "act" like a clown and more freedom to be "myself" it feels great! Guido is as much a part of me as I am a part of him and the two parts of my life have come together as one.

So as this twenty-seventh year of clowning begins (holy mackerel!) I think I've finally become a clown, maybe not, but it sure feels right.

[Fitzwilly]

WElcome to the Forum Guido. You just missed the pasta buffet but you can probably still grab a coffee and a donut if you hurry.

[Scruffy]

Welcome Guido. I almost made a Guido Sarducci Joke, But decided I'd better let you go first!
Glad to have you here. 250 balloon characters. Wow! I thought I was doing pretty good at about 70......(wow).
Cheers,
Scruffy

[Bumbles]

Welcome Guido sounds like you will have a lot to share with us. Do you have pictures of some of your balloons? Would love to see them.

[Guido]

I think I included every version of dog, pony, bear and hat you could count as "Different" . . . Weiner dog, dog and giraffe being all the same, just different proportions. So there were a lot of extremely similar entries, just with a slight twist on each (okay, pun was intended)

Today, I am trying to develop more cartoony looking (Patricia Bunnell style) items and am getting away from abstract and basic shapes. Still doing hats and the like but want to "Cute" it up a bit.

Pictures . . . I have a few but that's gonna take some digging. I promise I'll get some scanned in tho. It may take a year or so, I'm not good at doing things I don't like and I loathe scanning.

[The_Princess_of_Bozonia]

Welcome Guido!

[Pickles]

Wow, what a journey! Thanks for sharing, and welcome.

[Lilly_A_Clown]

Nice to meet you!!! Its great to have someone that knows so much

[Ty-Me]

welcome aboard Guido

[Sir Toony Van Dukes]

Welcome to the Clown Forum! Great introduction. Any pictures of Cammo, Cosmo or Guido that you care to share?

I hope you become an active member of the forum.