Firstly I would like to declare to the world, to those who would judge me and label me that, yes I am an idiot and I'm damn proud of it. The art of idiocy has been practised by many throughout the ages. The jesters of medieval times are prime examples of true artists, but first I must explain their art before I may continue. The art of the idiot is a simple yet complex one, it is primarily a desire to please others and make them happy, and to ingratiate yourself with them and also sometimes manipulate them, this is usually achieved by making a fool of oneself. When one makes a fool of themselves correctly, the resulting effect can be very pleasing and encouraging, but failure to perform correctly can result in embarrassment, usually of an extreme nature. When you perform correctly you will feel slightly embarrassed but everyone will still like you and feel you are quite amusing, they will laugh more at what you did then at you. If you perform incorrectly then you will feel very embarrassed and will find that everyone is laughing at you, this of course is bad. The following is advice to enhance your performances.
- Know your audience
Get to know your audience as well as possible, this is why the master idiot is an adept sociologist, he must learn to evaluate in a glance the personalities and senses of humour of an entire room of people. You must appeal to each individual audience in order to achieve the desired effect. Someone with just one routine won't be very successful.
- Know your boundaries
This is partly knowing what you can and can't do in relation to your own limitations and the limitations your audience place. Firstly don't attempt anything dangerous you know you can't do, if you hurt yourself you're just a git, definitely not an artist. Secondly know how far to go with your audience. Push them to the limits and your a master, push them too far and your just a wanker.
- Recovery
If you accidentally bugger up and do something stupid, don't worry, all is not lost. If you can draw attention away from your lapse you can recover. One technique is extravagant apologies, for example, beg for forgiveness, a few extravagant hand gestures are useful and basically being incredibly pleasant can save your social ass. One last note a good knowledge of medieval etiquette and behaviour can be useful for improvising routines and recoveries.
- Never make fun of anyone else
You are you own palette. No one else! Making fun of others just make you enemies, good natured banter is acceptable though. But do not ever insult others! This is an abuse of your talent and the art and a heinous crime.
Lastly a note on the jesters I mentioned earlier, they were masters of their craft. Failure often resulted in beheading so naturally it was work as delicate as brain surgery. Follow the example of the jesters of old and you shall be truly great.