Transcript of A Clown Is Not An Alibi

Konan O'Brien needs a fan. Want to talk to Konan? Visit teamcoco. Com/callkonan. Okay, let's get started.

Hello, Matthew.

Welcome to Konan O'Brien needs a fan.

Hello, Matthew. Thanks for having me. It's nice to be had.

Hi, Matthew. Konan here, and very nice to meet you.

Good day, Konan. Good to meet you, too.

Okay, I'm guessing from your accent that you're from Cincinnati.

Yeah, downtown Moscow.

So exactly, where are you right now in Australia?

We're in Brisbane at the moment. Okay.

So lovely country. I love your people. I've always had a wonderful time there, and I'm excited that you're here. Tell us a little bit about yourself, Matthew. What do I need to know about one Matthew D. Goldy?

Yeah. Well, what do you need to know about me? I am a circus clown. I guess we'll start there. That would be the best place to start. Wow.

Very cool. You're a circus clown in Brisbane. Is that where your circus is?

The circus We're in Brisbane at the moment, but we travel all over the country. But at the moment, we're in Brisbane.

Okay. It looks like you're in a little compartment right now, maybe even in a large steamer trunk. Are you in one of those circus wagons right now?

Yeah, basically. That's right. I used to have a big 30-foot caravan behind me, and this was my truck that was basically our laundry and a little spare bedroom But my family have left. They ran away from the circus six months ago. So now I just live in my little truck. It's about a 2. 5 by 2. 5 meter space. I've got everything I need in here. And yeah, this is my little home on wheels. Okay.

I just want to make sure you said your family left you. Did they leave you, leave you, or did they just... You'll see them again soon. I mean, there's nothing acrimonious here. Yes. Because it sounded dramatic for a second. No, I see them. And you said, I've got everything I need. I'm like, Well, your family's gone, dude.

Yes, that's true. I've got everything I need except my family. Now that my daughter wanted to run away from the circus and go to school. She wanted to. She's decided to. Oh, my God.

I want to be a neurologist. I know. You crazy kid, you'll wear a red nose and like it. Yeah, there's a million kids around the world like, What are you talking about?

But she did it the other way around.

I have so many questions for you, Matthew. First of all, how does one become a circus clown in the first place? How did this happen?

My sister was a dancer, and she got a job with the circus when I was a kid. Then one day, I came home from school, and there was a job opening from my parents. I came home from school, and my mom said, selling the house, and we're running away to join the circus.

Oh, my God. That's what I wish it happened when I was a kid, and it didn't. Then I had to be a freak on my own.

You worked it out just fine. I did work it out. All by yourself. I've been watching.

What jobs did your parents do in the circus?

My mom worked in the canteen. There's always jobs around the circus that aren't performing. My dad would take tickets at the door and seat people, and they would cook for the tent hands and the jobs around the place. My sister became a trapeze artist, and I became a clown.

Tell us a little bit about... First of all, did you know that Clown was right for you? Did you think about, Oh, I could be a strong man. I could be the bearded lady. Or did you know What drew you to being a clown?

I just found myself watching the Clowns. I didn't even know I was doing that, but that's what I was watching and taking in and watching and taking in. When it got time to perform, that's what I started doing.

Tell us a a little bit about your clown character. You have to find who your clown is. What is your clown like? Yes. What's your clown's name?

The Clown's name is Goldy the Clown, which is a ridiculous name for a clown. But because my last name is Matthew de Goldy, my mom I said, I want to be Buttons or Patches or Mr. Stinky Pants. But it's worked. It's a good name for a goldfish. It's a good name for a golden retriever. It's a stupid name for a clown.

I don't think so. I think it's much better Mr. Stinky Pants. I think that would have... Signing that on a check would have followed you forever. It would have hurt your love life really terribly. Try getting a table in a restaurant. Yeah, the name Stinky Pants. Matthew Stinky Pants. That's your name. Tell us a little bit about your persona, your look. That's what we want to know about.

It's a happy august clown character, the style is called. I'm the classic clown. I haven't pushed away from, which a lot of clowns have been doing in the last 30 years because of the scary Clown Movies and all that stuff that's happened. But I've got the hoopy pants, the big shoes, the big red nose, the red wig. The classic. I'm sticking with that.

You're a clown classic.

I love it. I'm sticking with Clown Classic, and I'm not going to change it.

I also think that it's good to get the message out that not all clowns kill. Most do, but not all do. Well, we don't know. We were only five minutes into this interview. Yeah, and you do look like you're hiding right now from- I couldn't I don't give anything.

I had an alibi every time.

This is good. You've got... Do you do all the makeup and stuff?

Yeah, face paint. You do face paint? That's why I prefer to call it. Thank you. Yeah, ladies wear makeup, clowns wear face paint. That's how I just closed my mother.

Oh, my God. All right. What about lady clown? Yeah. And by the way, I wear makeup, not now, but I wear it all the time, and I love it.

Sorry, I didn't mean to demasculate you.

You just clown-shamed me. So this is good. I like this. You've been working as a clown for many years, and then you find your wife, you have some kids, and you get them into the act, too. Is that right?

Yeah, my son's a clown with me, and my wife was the ringmaster with the circus. My daughter performed for a little while, but then she didn't want to do that. That's not her. She's like the Marilyn in our Munsters. She wants to be just normal.

By the way, I love that reference. I I love that reference. You just alienated all of our younger listeners. But yes, you're the normal one.

Three generations of your family have worked at this circus.

Is that right?

No, we were the first generation. No, I mean, your family.

There's in the circus many Your parents, you and your children, right?

Well, that's true. That's right. You are. I hadn't even thought about it. That's right. So these three generations.

You haven't thought about it. He just said, Matt just said exactly what you are. He's like, You're like a clown in Brisbane, Australia, and went, No, no, no. And you put it that way.

I'm a clown, so I don't think much. Yeah.

Neffle babies. What is... Circus neffle babies. Yeah, you're just a clown because your dad was a clown. You're not talented. Yeah. What is the life cycle of a clown in a year? Are you working? Is there a season to clowning? I mean, I clown 24/7, 365. But I don't know what... You're the old-school, hardcore, real thing. What's it like? Is there a downtime for clowns?

Yes. After the show and before, we do 360 or so shows a year. Oh, wow. I've been doing it now for nearly 35 years. I was in the theme park for many years, so I developed my character there. Respect. Street performing, improvising, joking around with people. And that's where you started to shine to me because I was out of the circus. I didn't have any clowns that I was watching, and I started watching this TV show at night. There was another man there that had this five-day-a-week comedy gig, and I had a five-day Daily Week Comedy Gig. And I started getting... Because there's so many inspirations in comedy. There's so many different ways to do it. But this talk show host in America started to become my biggest inspiration for my clown. I didn't understand why Until you went on James Lipton and you did that interview with him. And in that interview, you said, Basically, I'm a clown. I went, I knew it. I knew it.

It's funny because that was something I realized a long time I go, I always wanted my show or whatever I was doing to be funny, even if the sound was off. Because of my background, people thought, Well, he'll be verbally dextrous, and it'll be about his intellect. I thought, What are you talking about? I love to make kids laugh. To me, that's the best test. If someone's funny, is can you make a kid laugh? If two or three-year-olds are around, I work really hard to get them laughing. If they don't laugh, I'm shattered, absolutely shattered. You've seen that, Sona, right? Oh, yeah. I'm like, I had Mikey, but I didn't get Charlie. What happened? Then I'm drinking and you're like, Konan, take it easy, and I'm taking pills.

Oh, my God.

I didn't know you were- It's just a really descent into madness.

I know the feeling.

Yeah.

He probably just had gas, too. It had nothing to do with you.

I took it personally.

We had 800 school kids in the show yesterday, like on vacation care. So the tent was full of just pretty much 800 kids and their minders. And the noise was outrageous. They were laughing and screaming and hoeing. It was beautiful.

Best drug in the world.

It fills my heart. Yeah, it really is.

It's so funny what you're talking about because We're all doing basically the same thing. And there are different... You can say, Oh, no, I'm doing something very different. No, I think we're both essentially doing the same thing. Exactly.

I've learned so much from from you, just from the... And as you say, the physical comedy. So whenever I'm getting a bit tired with my comedy, I think about what you do because you have this way of hitting the mark very strongly. Oh, thank you. I think, No, how would Konan do this? And then I start hitting my marks a bit stronger physically.

Well, that's very nice of you.

I've been writing down things. I've been studying you. I've been in the School of Konan for the last 30 years.

That's why right now you're trapped in a very small space, crowded out by what looks like laundry. This is what happens. You're hiding from the law right now, surrounded by unwashed clothing. No, but thank you so much.

I'm all washed. It's my clan clothes.

Oh, there you go. All right. It's beautiful. It's gorgeous.

Thank you. I made them myself in my clan underpins.

It looks like the wardrobe from Golden Girls, doesn't it? Yeah, Mrs. Roper. So what And this is what you're doing now for life. Do you ever have a day where you think, You know what? I'm feeling sore. I don't know if I got it anymore. We all have those moments. And do you ever think, Maybe I'll hang up the old red nose and I'll do X, Y, or Z? Or does that never come into your mind?

Yeah, it has. And in COVID, of course, all the work went away. And so I thought, Oh, maybe I'll... And I did. I drove a truck for a little while, and I did a few different things, but no, this is so... If you get cold-hearted on making people laugh for a living and making children happy and old ladies and singing to people and buffooning, if you get cold-hearted on that, then I think you'd be dead, wouldn't you? It fills my soul every time I go out there.

Listen, Amen. I agree with you 100%. It's a great dodge. It's a great way to get through life is to to try and do this. And there are just moments, I'm sure you have them, I have them where we think, Oh, my God, I can't keep doing this. I need to go and do something quiet and respectable. That always lasts about half a second. Like you said on that interview. Yeah.

Yeah. On that interview, too, you said when something's your job, it's your job. And that's true. There's days when you're like, Oh, I've got to do this. But then you start doing it and it's so joyous. And because my clown character is so strong now after 35 five years, it takes over. You're suddenly doing and saying things. I can't remember sometimes what my clown says or does. I don't know what... I can't do the voice out of the-Now you're excusing crimes you've committed.

Yeah, wait a minute. I mean, it's my clown. I don't know what he did. Why is there this blood on my hands? A clown is not an alibi, just so we're clear. I don't know where I was.

Are you trying to do an Australian accent?

They're these giant red footprints leading back to your It sounded perfect.

Very good Australian accent. Very good. Very hard to do.

I'm a fine actor. I just go in and out of characters. But no, that's really nice. It's funny because for so long, that was every kid's dream. Not every kid, but I want to run away to the circus. I think it still exists. It's just not always literally the circus. You happen to literally do the circus. But I had the same feeling when I got into this stupidness was I'm just running away to do this, do something that speaks to me.

But it called you. It didn't call me. I got thrust into it. I joined the circus, and then I ended up... Life thought it about for me.

Yeah, your parents said, We're going to the circus and we're going to join. Then you had to decide, Am I bending an iron bar? Am I putting on a dress and growing a beard? I don't know. I don't know. Is the bearded lady still a thing? In this modern era, it may be. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't think they still do freaks and stuff.

Well, we don't use the term freak, don't we? No, I'm sorry. That's partially why. Those weird circus freaks. Yeah, Okay.

That you're a man laugh at.

I don't want to misgender the bearded. You know what I mean?

That used to be- The bearded lady. He can't be the bearded lady because he's a man.

Well, first of all, I cannot say what someone's gender is. They need to tell me. I don't know what... First of all, you're saying freaks, and now you're saying, You can't be a bearded lady. You're a man. What are you, an 1850s sono? What's your problem? The real sono is arrived. No, it happened all the freaks. Yeah. Hey, how'd you like storming the capital? Was that fun?

You could call me the Bearded Lady Sona.

Sona was there, but she was there for snacks.

I had to be there. The election was rigged.

You heard there were snacks inside. Yeah, and there were snacks. It was Romanian Christmas. Yeah, exactly.

How else do you celebrate?

Hey, when they certify, isn't there catering? I flew all this way.

Where's the Congressional cafeteria?

I want those certification waffles. Let's go, gang. I was there for the food. Well, Matthew, I like you. You've got a stout heart, and you're a delightful person. You really are. I do think you're doing God It's work out there. You're making people laugh.

Yes, thank you. There's a lot of things we could be doing in the world, hey, and making people happy is one of the good ones to do. Okay.

I would ask you, when it is time for you to kill and kill again, just don't blame the clown, okay? It's not an alibi. You know what I mean? You can't just say, I don't know. That was Goldie. Matt's right. You can't do that, all right? You're responsible for yourself as Matthew and as Goldie. Well, it was a delight talking to you, Matthew. Really a pleasure. Who knows?

I wanted to just say before we go, just thank you not only for the inspiration you've given me as the clown, but just your general way of being playful and the way you come up with comedy has affected my son and I. My daughter's very smart and comes up with all these questions, and she talks politics. But my son and I, he's 13, and we've yet to have a serious conversation Great. All we do is do bits and comedy and jokes. I think a lot of your ways of being have come into my son and my relationship.

I have to be honest with you, I don't know my son's first name. For the minute he enters the room every day, I'm doing bits, and God help him, but it's a wonderful way to connect. Well, I hope we meet someday. That'd be really nice. Until then, have a great show.

Thank you. I will. We're just starting our year. There's 300 shows ahead.

Oh, my God. All right. Well, I hope to be in the audience one day.

Take care. Wonderful to talk to you guys. Thank you.

We'll see you later. Bye-bye, Matthew.

Bye.

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