Clowning Around A Load Of Bull
Illawarra Mercury
Saturday November 11, 2000
In rodeo there are two types of clowns, quite apart from the ones who willingly strap themselves to the backs of outraged bucking bulls.
Among the herd of tight jeans and determined faces at tonight's South Coast Bull and Bronc Riding Championships, the protection and comedy clowns will be easy to spot.
Just look for the blokes in baggy pants and make-up.
They might look like a joke and make you laugh until you choke on your dagwood dog, but theirs is the most important job in rodeo.
Outside of a winner's cheque, the lairy, painted grin of a clown is about the sweetest sight a bull rider can see.
Protection clowns, also called bullfighters, work on the front line.
Often they are the only thing standing between a fallen cowboy and 800kg of disgruntled bucking bull.
It's the protection clown's job to divert the bull's attention away from the competitor or help free the rider if his hand fails to release from a bull's rigging.
Comedy clown Big Al, who will strut his stuff on the temporary rodeo arena behind Dapto's Dandaloo Hotel tonight, reckons he has by far the better end of the deal.
``All I gotta do is make people laugh," he says. ``The bull-fighting clown takes a lot more risks than I have to."
Not that Big Al's job is all beer and skittles.
In between his comedy routines (generally involving explosives, sledge hammer humour and audience humiliation) he gets up close and personal with the bulls themselves, with just a padded barrel for protection.
``A bull's bucking career will probably last 10 years, so over time you get to know which ones you can play around with and which ones you're better off watching from up in the stands," Big Al said.
A few years back at rodeo in Queensland Big Al tangled with bull called Pretty Boy.
``He tossed me about nine feet in the air and when I landed sent me straight back up there for another look.
``In 18 years of clowning that's probably the worst thing that's happened to me, so I've been lucky."
© 2000 Illawarra Mercury