New Vaudeville Explained

New Vaudeville was a movement of loosely associated acts during the 1970s and 1980s who drew on the traditions of vaudeville and carnivals.

Acts associated with the movement included Bill Irwin, The Flying Karamazov Brothers, Trav S.D., and Avner the Eccentric.

The clown Bob Berky described the New Vaudeville as "theater with the fourth wall down" as performers tend to address the audience from the beginning of a performance and to draw members onto the stage as participants.^[1]

Penn & Teller were often included in discussions of the New Vaudeville, a connection they flatly rejected, Penn Jillette referring the New Vaudevillians as "a bunch of aging hippies looking at old pictures of W. C. Fields."^{[2] [3] [4]}

Notes and References

1. Newsweek, .
2. "Couple of Eccentric Guys" by Calvin Trillin, The New Yorker. May 15, 1989.
3. "That new mad magic - Penn & Teller deal from a strange deck" by Hilary DeVries, Christian Science Monitor. February 26, 1988.
4. Vaudeville old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performances in America by Frank Cullen, Florence Hackman, and Donald McNeilly. p. 822, 1125. 2007.