Source – David Cain of IJA International Jugglers Association
Sean Goodfellow was his given name. Jolly Goodfellow became his legal name. He was a well known clown mainly in street theatre festivals and related alternative gatherings including Juggling Conventions such as IJA, EJA, etc. He also performed in other media.
Importantly, My Sincere Condolences to Sean’s Family and close friends, and to those friends and colleagues who primarily knew and referred to him as “Rumpel” and some as “Jolly” and/or “Jolly Goodfellow”. R.I.P. Sean for he was a jolly good fellow.
There is a fb site “Celebrating Rumpel, Jolly Goodfellow”. Set up on September 16, 2026 within 24hrs of Sean’s passing. Set up by Mike Finch, formerly of Circus Oz. The site description is: “This is a page to celebrate the life, work and art of Jolly Goodfellow, Internationally legendary Australian jester, juggler, Unicyclist, street performer, clown, absurdist and GooooOoOOOse”.
Sean and I met about 4 times in different circumstances. Rumpel and I met about 3 times at one festival including when we departed the festival with a mutual friend who had offered each of us, Sean/Rumpel and I, a ride back to Brisbane. From the Woodford Festival. More about those few brief meetings in this blog/essay.
Sean was a wonderful clown. Professionally speaking he was a jester style of clown. Like many in the acting profession in all of its guises and professional divisions (including directors), famously, one very often can not tell where one aspect of the self, their creative self ends and where or when or whether or under what circumstances that their personal self begins or ends.
Via the fb page many people who knew Rumpel – Jolly Goodfellow and/or Sean much better and much longer and over a much longer period than I did have written many memories and/or eulogies onto the fb page.
Although I will write about my meetings briefly, I’m choosing to reflect more from a personal and professional interest that began for me in childhood. I was and am motivated by the question of: “Who is the Clown?”.
Is the Clown the person? Is the Clown the guise? Is the Clown an aspect of the person? Is the Clown the person’s profession? At what point does the person become the Clown? At what point does the Clown depart or fade away from the person? Each of those questions leads to other tangential questions.
Artistically I am particularly interested in the Inner Life of Clown(s). My first solo theatre clown show began the artistic exploration that idea of who or what is inside of a clown. That show “A Clown’s Show”, was at the Eureka Theater of San Francisco. Dare I say… in 1978.
The next solo theatre show was of a clown trapped at first, below the stage. That show began with me knocking to get out. It was if you will to provoke the audience in the first seconds of the show. To signal to them that this is theatre about theatre about reality or one’s sense of normal expectations. My on going questions manifest into theatre. Who is the Clown? What is Theatre? Is reality real?
There was a rug on the floor. The rug started to move. There was a trap door under the rug. The rug got ‘sucked’ down into the trap door. Then after it disappeared, my foot appeared. I was able, through thick and thin, to gradually emerge from the hole like a Jack-in-the-Box. That show was “Getting Into Struggle” at Teater 9 in Stockholm. The show was about 90% improvised. The struggle was the clown trapped first under the stage. He then enacted being trapped on stage with props as his only friends.
The third solo show was “A Clown’s House”. which was my first touring show. Via that show I got my first contracts to Australia, and, to New Zealand. My work earned me Citizenship in NZ. 15 years later I also recieved Australian Citizenship.
Although I did work sporadically and sparingly as an entertainer and as an actor/director/teacher my favored artistic ground was experimental Clown Theatre. Most of my shows were about the Inner Life of Clown or a clown. The remnant is that a few of those experimental shows are on youtube.
Such as: Absurd Moods; Passing Time; The Battler (2 versions one recalling the show anecdotally; and the other the first trial performance at Belvoir Street Theatre of Sydney); and, Chaplin’s Eye (finale 15 minutes).
Sean and Rumpel was his own form of the inner/outer life of a clown. Albeit his was a very fine and very extreme manifestion in real time. The profession of clown has many such fine examples such as: Jonathan Winters; Spike Milligan; Peter Sellers, etc.
I want to offer a few thoughts that place Sean in the context of his national homeland of Australia and its rich clown lineage. He may or may not have seen himself or his work as such? At this stage, I know hardly anything about Sean’s family, childhood or formative years and circumstances.
I like all sorts of clowns. That is, I like, or am at least curious about the great unlimited variations in types of clowns. I have a special interest in what I’ve labeled as a genre “Non-Clown Clowns“. I’ve made numerous Posts about Non-Clown Clowns onto my main fb site, and a few blog/essays about Non-Clown Clowns amongst about 104 blog/essays since 2010.
I do not believe there is such a thing as the ‘best’ clown or the ‘greatest’ clown, except by any individual person’s own subjective choice or reasoning.
Objectively, only Charlie Chaplin is anywhere near possibly being the closest to a ‘best’ and a ‘greatest’.
Still many people prefer Buster Keaton, or their own local clown, or a clown that appeals to their own very specific set of circumstances or lifestyle, etc.
I do think that people have their own favorite clown as ‘best’ and/or ‘greatest’.
If 5 people of varying social backgrounds discussed ‘best’ or ‘greatest’ clown, there is a good chance there would be 5 different choices.
Australia has its own rich history of clowns professional or otherwise. Sean was amongst very fine company.
The British and especially the English and more precisely London had an enormously rich tradition of Eccentrics. Whereas Paris has its clouchards i.e. the particular resident person living on the street or in a corner or passageway in most inner city Paris neighborhoods. The locals look after such a person in many ways on a daily basis. Daily one can see the offerings placed by the clouchard. Items such as food, drinks, clothing, or blankets.
Not to take away anything from Sean’s fine creativity, talents, skills, as a professional entertainer. Or of his particulars of being a good person in his own ways and means. In some aspects of Sean’s life, besides those just mentioned, he was like a combination of the English Eccentric mixed with the Parisian clouchard. As is clear from the fb “Celebrating Rumpel” posts, many people along the way helped look after Sean, and Sean brought his inimitable knack as an intelligent, creative, talented fellow with a great mix of mirth and mayhem.
Australia had at least since the early 1800’s its own type of eccentrics. Those were often larrikins, battlers, street people, bushrangers, and outright eccentics in the British sense. One of Australia’s greatest iconic eccentrics was the infamous Ned Kelly. In fact the actual prison uniform in that period IS in appearance a jester or clown’s costume by design. The legacy of another Australian eccentric was for his writing of the word “Eternity” in chalk throughout central Sydney. Rumored to have occurred in possibly 100’s of 1000’s of Sydney locations. The Eternity Theatre in Darlinghurst is named so to honor Arthur Stace who also referred to as “Mr. Eternity”. I would also call Arthur a A Non-Clown Clown.
Here is a short video telling the story of Arthur “Mr. Eternity” Stace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzYrQrGEwRg&t=260s
Certainly even a few of the Australian Prime Ministers would qualify as larrikins albeit while nicely dressed, well-educated, articulate, and cunning. Some were even very effective leaders of the society. Certainly, Bob Hawke was notably as much a larrikin as he was a Rhodes Scholar which he was. Cunning, which he was. Effective which he was. Funny, which he was.
In terms of clowns, professionally speaking Australia early on spawned many, including Leon Errol; Phoebe Pollard; and Snub Pollard already by the late 1800’s. Those three scooted off to the USA and Hollywood. Though Leon Errol also performed on Broadway and in The Zeigfeld Follies.
At the same time emerged the first fully nationally loved clown born Harry Van der Sluice in Adelaide. He took on the professional name of Roy Rene. Harry/’Roy’ portrayed the great clown “Mo” or “Mo McCackie”. Highly successful and loved on the Tivoli vaudeville circuit in Australia. “Mo” long had a stage and Radio partner Nat Phillips (“Stiffy”). They were know as “Stiffy & Mo”. Personally “Mo” was also an eccentric i.e. quite a character on or off stage. There were of course a range of other such clowns including another revered national icon George Wallace.
From the late 1800’s there were a variety of Australian circus families each of which had evolved its own clown lineage. Those were what is now referred to as Traditional Circuses or in modern terms within the business, Trad Circuses. Each of which to this day has an array of individual wonderful clowns usually of or married with the established families. There are or have been recently four of those from Brazil. Although two were in Australian circuses all too briefly. Those two were Rafael Nino from a circus family and a holder a Guiness Book World Record for his Globe of Death novelty motorcycle team at La Perle show of Dubai; and, the unique Rogerio Piva who is extremely skilled and loves to travel the world often playing for the most out of the way and poorest communities. 52 countries so far. Long resident in Australia are also the two wonderful other Brazilian/Aussie circus/clowns Jefferson who is part of the Ashton Family and of Ashton Entertainment; and, Wallison Muh who has long been with Silvers Circus.
The era of television shone a new light on Australian clowns who seemed to appear directly out of the bowels of the society. Like Sean did. Possibly or Likely? Did? Or didn’t? Always with clowns I love to know ‘their story’ or at least their Creation/Origin story of how their clown and/or character emerged or creative inclinations were stimulated.
In Clown and Acting as art forms, one can have a foundation from any type of discipline or background or education and not necessarily any sort of formal performance education or training. Other than doing your own research and figuring out that you need to practice some sort of performance technique such as juggling or mime or magic. And pursue furthering that.
However, I found early on that what also mattered in clown, for example, was where and how a person grew up. What their family, and community, and schooling, and sports or other activities including art or music etc. could be part of one’s foundation. Even if one had experiences that were more challenging than ones seemingly to have gone swimmingly.
Sometime around 2014 or 15 I was contacted via email to see if I was interested in being interviewed for a book of interviews of clowns. I already had an online profile via my blog/essays that began in 2010. I had been interviewed for online a few times. When I recieved the email with the tentative ‘invite’ to be interviewed for the book of interviews, I had a few simple questions about the format. I completed my Doctorate in Education a few years before. For that I had used the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu because his ideas connected with my own interest or understanding that a person’s early life: family, neighborhood, education, community, etc. had a very direct effect on whatever the person later in life became known for artistically. Yes, uniqueness often has hidden yet clear or even direct lineage. Therefore I said that was important for such a book of clown’s interviews and that I’d only be interested if I could give some of my own foundation background.
It seems that the book soon went ahead without me being one of the interviewees. It also seems that my questions and insistence to deal with one’s foundation were used for the basis of the book’s interviews. Possibly? Or at least validated the authors’ similar realizations?
Point being, what helped Sean to find his way into clown albeit as a jester clown? What were influences? I would find such information interesting.
There is a tendency in the clown world to primarily discuss clowns who perform in live indoor or out-of-door situations. Whereas the flock of incredible clowns who we know via film, television, and video. They are a huge gaggle of extraordinarily talented clowns in extreme variations.
Of course, many of those, even going back to the original silent film comedies, were mostly performers with very solid backgrounds in live performing such as Vaudeville. Most of them also performed in all sorts of situations indoor and outdoors. The earliest television stars were mostly clowns who were veterans of live performance. Dick Van Dyke would be an exception to that ‘rule’. Often those numerous individuals were for 2 or more decades in continuous work in live theatre including Vaudeville, Burlesque, sometimes Circus too; before entering screen work.
Paradoxically, the clowns of film and television directly inspired generations of live performance clowns of all sorts.
In Australia, early influential comic performers who had a definite clown insight and intuition included: Graham Kennedy; Aunty Jack Show; the Paul Hogan Show from 1973 to 1984; and others. As well as imported TV shows, and films, especially from Britain and the USA, which were available on air or in cinemas and eventually via videos, DVD’s, and now online.
Three great influencers in Australian clown have been Barry Humphries and Reg Livermore (currently touring at 87 in the male lead in My Fair Lady. and Garry McDonold’s “Norman Gunston” created for The Aunty Jack Show. Garry was later part of the trio in the TV show Mother and Son for ten years. There were various comedy shows from the 1980’s including Acropolis Now.
However, soon enough two outstanding clowns proved they had a gift for writing, directing, producing and crafting their own television clown series. Those two are Pauly Fenech starting with: Pizza; then Fat Pizza; Swift & Shift Couriers; Housos; and Darradong Local Council.
Sean as Rumple appeared for a few moments on two early episodes of Fat Pizza. Here’s a beautiful minute of Rumpel and Fat Pizza https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFfiHR7gklc
Chris Lilley was a standup comedian and writer who appeared briefly in TV sketch comedy. However, his real powers as a Writer/Actor/Director emerged starting with We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year. Followed by Summer Heights High and its many offshoots. Notably Pauly and Chris’s work is always politically incorrect and therefore sometimes not openly accepted by the rulers of the Arts worlds large and smaller. Finally Chris really crossed the boundaries and was ‘properly’ canceled for public on air. That didn’t stop him. He has now created an on going series as a character called “Black Shorts”. That series is on fb as: Chris Lilley Black Shorts (mostly Grey Pants).
Such Australian TV shows as the few I’ve selected to mention, with ‘clowns’ (actor/artiste/comedian) hint at fine diversity with an unruly, anarchic spirit that is more the result of a uniquely Australian flavor using stream of consciousness rather than a more commercial sense of codified/’good’ writing. The short set of fine films of the same nature include: The Dish; Priscilla Queen of the Dessert; Muriel’s Wedding; and Crocodile Dundee. etc. again, to mention just a few.
Sean/Rumpel/Jolly had an uncanny gift of the gab style of verbal improvisation with, what to me is or contains uniquely Australian comic tones and tunes. As totally unique as Sean as Rumpel was, I saw and heard him, none the less as very Australian! In content and I propose in style. And in sound and rhythm. Not to mention extreme cheekiness and cunningness to provoke, prod, and play.
Sean/Rumpel/Jolly had a fine level of skill in juggling, unicycling, and combining those with his famous shoes with springs. All the while he could keep his verbal stream of consciouness going.
As Shakespeare wrote his own version of ‘there is method to his madness’ as Polonius refers to Hamlet’s words. Sean and Rumpel were methodical (see another fab video of Sean/Rumpel in video below). Each had several or perhaps a dozen or more repeatable quips or sayings which he could and did use endlessly. They aided him greatly in timing and extending his time and sense of time for the audiences. That comment is based not on the few times I saw him, rather on footage that I’ve seen and numerous comments from the fb site.
I first came across Rumpel at the Woodford Festival likely my first one, 2002? Possibly 2003? I was hired for two projects by two clowns – Annie Lee, and, Tony Kishawi. I had directed them for their 1991 trio clown show tour for Arts Queensland. Annie Lee hired me to act in her collaboration creation “The Cleaver’s Family Wreckers“. A clown show about a rough as guts, wrong side of the tracks family of car wreckers. The show was about 15 episodes each of 30 minutes played out through the festival’s week. Their central cast was eight co-creators who played the main roles in each episode. They had guest actors in each episode. I was in two of those.
Intended or not – by the creators the Cleaver family (w)reckers:), there was a polar opposite rosy cheeks version Family in early USA TV… the Cleaver family of Leave It To Beaver. Which was more real – Cleaver family wreckers, or, Cleaver family of the conservative, kitsch, and excellent Leave It To Beaver?
Pauly Fenech said about Housos when asked if it is really accurate portrayal of suburban Australian life – Pauly said Housos “Is the Disney version of what’s really out there”.
However, the USA writers, producers, and directors were great at placing anarchy within even the most conservative ‘art’. Not pictured below is the fifth element, the clown of the show, a fantastic ratbag neighbor who was a total Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde who always brought the best comedy when the neighborly bad boy “Eddie Haskell” appeared.
Whereas, here’s the Aussie “Cleaver” family. Anarchy Incarnate. I couldn’t find a photo, but here’s a 4-minutes collage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhFsQ-i-y4g
For that same festival, Woodford Folk Festival – where I met Rumpel; Tony Kishawi also hired me to teach and assist in directing/creating various projects during the week of the festival. One day, Tony asked me to do another small bit. He asked me to do this one as a favor. I asked what the favor was. He wanted me to be the M.C. for a small stage show he was throwing together. He asked if I had seen a performer named Rumpel. I had seen Rumpel while I was walking through a street at the festival. I watched for a short bit perhaps 15 minutes. I was on route to do something so I didn’t stay long. He may have actually been packing up Rumpel-style which meant there was no end in sight. He was very good. Funny. Peculiar. Anarchic. But he was clearly quite physically skilled. And his style meant the audience didn’t know where he was going but as long as they stayed he’d keep going.
Tony point blank said he just wanted to see how or if I could handle Rumpel. My 15 minutes of watching him was when I was 50 and had been through just under 30 years of my own thorough chaos of a performing arts career that I refer to as My Careen. 15 minutes was enough for me to offer Tony a counter-offer – “I’ll do it on one condition. There’s one microphone. And I hold it.”.
So Rumpel and I improvised being co-M.C.’s. Given Rumpel/Sean is as he is and I am as I am… we two could easily improvise. One could say ‘together’. It was a small show of perhaps 6 acts. On a small stage. He tried his damnest to get that microphone and to speak into it. However, I couldn’t or wouldn’t let him speak much because within seconds he was definitely trying to get a hold of the mic. So I just went with that as the game. That also meant that I got to see a few very direct emotional aspects of my partner. In a very real sense that is how I ‘met’ Sean. What we did together, like it or not, was very funny. But, it looked like it was quite a challenge even for someone as funny, talented, skilled as Sean/Rumpel.
The beginning of the fantastic clown show Slava’s Snowshow is set up by having a solo clown wanting to end his life but getting upstaged by another clown wanting also to take his own final bow. As the show continues the main clown continually gets upstaged. Solo clowns rarely can suitably share the stage improvising with another solo clown. That is, not in a truly satisfying way. They are usually simply trying to upstage the other and using any cunning ploy to do so. C’est la vie.
Tony was ‘satisfied’ with our work which I managed to both control and share. Tony and his Partner ran a fab group performance workshop program at Woodford. That is what I helped with plus spontaneous situations like M.C.ing.
That year amongst the wonderful clowns in addition to Sean/Rumpel were the Cleavers as a show/ensemble still to this day an exceptional if eccentric group of clowns. There was also a two women duet led by Maryke del Castillo who created Tutti Frutti. They did their fab, family friendly show, The Ski Boom Show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WS-oGNhwOo
Then there was the legendary Wacko & Blotto! A duet of two fantastic anarchic clowns who I could watch endlessly. “Wacko & Blotto” (Andy McDonell, and, Andy Forbes). Their shtick/act was – they were two drunken clowns on vacation. Staying in a TINY olde fashioned oval caravan. They sat at the back window. The window was removed. They continually sat in the ‘window’ space insulting each other. Especially with: Shut up. You shut up. I told you to shut up first… etc. They were in FULL clown gear. Beautifully designed to appear as bad clowns. They were great anarchic artists. In fact one was also a gifted musician and the other equally gifted visual artist who made designed their Wacko & Blotto setup seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2Lq8MsN-hU
Via another sudden ‘opportunity’ of Toni’s I got to work with Wacko & Blotto. They were both part of the core of The Cleaver’s Family Wreckers and I worked with them (Andy, and, Andy) in that. I quickly created a solution show to Toni’s offer. That show I set up so that Wacko & Blotto turn up in the middle of the short show as they heard the show might be able to hire them as clowns. Essentially it was set up so that they disturbed each and all of the performers i.e. they wrecked the show i.e. that was the show.
Getting to a folk festival is one thing. Getting home is often another matter. I met someone who was driving back to Brisbane. Whew! That was easy. Then just before we were to soon head off he told me, oh I offered someone else a ride too but he’ll be late. I asked who? Rumple. I asked did you tell him what time. Yes but he’s always late. I said he’ll be here on time. Our friendly driver knew him much better than I did. But, I said I’ll find him. I headed off. I found him and looked past Rumpel to Sean and laid the plan out in one sentence and left. Our host was naturally, and sensibly in doubt. Lo and behold… to his surprise Rumpel/Sean arrived on time and ready to go. We left. Soonish we decided to take a short detour and stop for something. I ‘laid the plan out’ for this exit and we left according to the time plan. That was 2002 (?)
The next two times that Sean and I met, were close in time to each other. Once was in Melbourne for the Cirque du Soleil auditions for clowns and physical actors. The previous week in Sydney I had done my general audition for Cirque and was one of the 3 out of 75 who was ‘accepted’ into what I called at that time Cirque’s “gene pool”. One of those 3 though was already earmarked as a replacement so the audition was more of a formality/confirmation process for that person.
I was working on my PhD in Education, related to my own method, as part of my research I the asked the audition director, Michele Laprise, if I could come to the Melbourne audition as an Observer. It was an intense day trying to be invisible. But… I’m pretty sure Sean as Rumpel was there auditioning. We said hello, but, I didn’t want to talk with anyone as I didn’t want any little chatty thing to reflect negatively on anyone’s audition. A few years later I performed briefly in Cirque’s show Corteo where I was also a teacher and performance coach. And since then I have taught for Cirque du Soleil; and another time was part of another audition panel.
Around that time, Sean and I happened to be at a circus space for freelancers to train. I think in Sydney. Likely Carriageworks in a refitted old rail warehouse. I was on the floor to practice some acrobatics. He came by and said hello so we chatted a few minutes. That was most interesting because he was just himself and dressed as a ‘civilian’ i.e. not as a performer. He spoke with me in his own voice. Like so many in our world of performers of all types, we are seemingly always looking for the next gig. He was, as he appeared this time, a normal, sensible, sharp, business oriented person and asking some very direct questions regarding work etc.
In 2007 I showed up at Cirque du Soleil Headquarters in Montreal to rehearse in a short Replacement Contract with Cirque du Soleil. Rehearsal for my two roles was several weeks. I knew one person there. Someone that I had taught and mentored. She was in a CDS typical long creation process scheduled for their usual 9 months. Soon enough I found that there was a third Australian besides her and me. Soon enough Sean and I ran into each other at lunch. We said hello and he asked if he could sit with me. We sat, ate, chatted and soon enough a stage manager, of CDS “Love” i.e. the Beatles show scheduled for Las Vegas, wanted Sean/Rumpel to return to rehearsal. He and I met like that one more time there.
He was vulnerable in that daunting situation. So was I. So where most of us performers there. So were many of the people who were in charge of various parts of the creative machinery.
I am glad that I met Sean/Rumple/Jolly and had one chance to see him perform live plus one chance for us to have a few minutes on stage together, and to say hello a few times.
In my theatre/clown method the ultimate and final exercise is: “Tell the Story of a Clown“. Clowns do live eternally via the stories told about them or their performances or their antics in or out of guise. There are no rules or asthetics and not a definition of what a clown is or isn’t. It is however pointed out that a ‘clown’ can be a clown or a funny or peculiar or difficult or interesting relative, friend, neighbor or oneself. It can be a professional of any sort. It can be of their show whether live or filmed. etc.
Thank you to each of the contributors to the Celebrating Rumpel fb site and to Mike for setting it up.
Thanks to Sean/Rumpel/Jolly for being himself in all his ways. May he rest in peace. Ira
I think I mentioned this performance/video but didn’t post it. Although this is a rarity i.e. indoors, and in such a small venue… I think it illuminates the level of control that Sean actually utilized when playing as Rumpel, Jolly Goodfellow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPLnr7rckD8