The Comedy Fix Episode 50 - Clown and Commedia with David Bridel
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Aug 10, 2021 
David Bridel, clown school director and teacher who leads The Clown School and teaches worldwide. He explores Commedia dell'arte, its amoral roots and marketplace origins. He discusses edge and offense in comedy, medical clowning's audience-of-one work, the tension between planning and spontaneity, and how practice retrains the body for true presence.
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Commedia Created Theater Outside Church Control
- Commedia dell'arte created an amoral performance space by leaving church control and relying on patrons.
- That shift let professional troupes satirize sex, power, and greed for courts and marketplaces, creating modern theatrical freedom.
Commedia Players Got Banished For Satire
- In 1697 a Commedia troupe satirized the French king's prudish mistress and were expelled from court.
- David recounts how their ribald satire offended Madame de Maintenon, ending that company's presence in France.
Edge Work Has Always Risked Backlash
- Pushing cultural edges invites cancellation just as it did historically; provocative performers risk offending majorities.
- David links modern comics like Richard Pryor and Dave Chappelle to the long tradition of risk-taking in comedy.