Skip to main contentSkip to navigation Close dialogue1/2 Next image Previous image Toggle captionSkip to navigation ‘He ferociously studied every possibility of the hilarious or the pretentious’ … Philippe Gaulier. Photograph: Wikimedia View image in fullscreen ‘He ferociously studied every possibility of the hilarious or the pretentious’ … Philippe Gaulier. Photograph: Wikimedia ‘Utterly hilarious’: Simon McBurney on how the great clown Philippe Gaulier changed his lifeThe Complicité founder remembers his teacher’s wicked laughter, provocative demands and infinite generosity Philippe Gaulier dies aged 82 Many speak of a teacher in their childhood who changed them, someone who reveals knowledge about the world they carry with them for the rest of their lives. I didn’t have one of those. It wasn’t until I was 24 and living in Paris, where I stumbled into Philippe’s class almost by accident, that this happened. Provocative, demanding, deliberately inappropriate and utterly hilarious, Philippe taught me not to carry anything. No baggage, no ideas; knowing nothing is all you need. Because we are all ridiculous.His mother was Spanish, and we would eat her meals with relish when she came to cook for him, or rather with him, in his appartement lined with his writings, many of which had “rêves” inscribed on the spine. He would refer to his father as “ce salaud bourgeois” (that bourgeois arsehole) and…
Published: February 12, 2026 10:55 am
Source: The Guardian — Read original