Lorenzo Pisoni didn't have to run away to join the circus; he simply was born into one. His parents, Larry Pisoni and Peggy Snider, were the co-founders of Pickle Family Circus, a San Francisco-based group of jugglers, clowns, musicians and acrobats. Lorenzo made his stage debut at six with PFC and stayed with it from 1975 to 1987, when he left to go to college. After graduation, he joined Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil, then moved to New York and became a stage actor. Three years ago, he put together a solo show dealing with his PFC experiences; it was workshopped at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Conference and later mounted at the Manhattan Theater Club.
Now Pisoni has brought the hilarious and touching Humor Abuse to the Mark Taper Forum in L.A. (the title derives from the notion that children brought up in a circus environment were "abused in the name of humor"). The show, co-written with Erica Schmidt, mixes autobiography with clowning. With the help of projected PFC photos, Lorenzo re-creates some of the routines he performed as a tot, as well as routines perfected by his father. Needless to say, just about everything that happens onstage is fresh, funny and a bit mad.
Amid the non-stop laughs are moments of melancholy and regret. Lorenzo's father might have been a comic genius, but he was also a stern patriarch and taskmaster. His two marriages ended in divorce; he often fought with his son and was estranged from him. But ultimately, love won out and the two of them patched up their differences. And when Humor Abuse premiered in New York, Larry was in the audience, cheering Lorenzo on.
Humor Abuse is that rare kind of clown show, one that's not only hugely entertaining and rib-tickling, but profoundly human and meaningful as well.
