Victor Borge was right. Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. Making people laugh is one of the most rewarding, liberating experiences in the world. It makes the spirit fly and the heart sing!

Clowning creates a precious opportunity to connect heart to heart with people through comic performance. The clown embodies both the innocent, open playfulness of the child and the wisdom and experience of the adult. And when a clown invites an audience to play, they discover a magic, alive, creative part of themselves - the clown within each individual - and bring it out in the open. The audience becomes the stars of the show. They experience joy.

Laughter helps us surmount the challenges we all face in life. Clowns use humor to show us that pain and failure are part of the natural processes of growing, of achieving our dreams. They also give us an opportunity to confront and make fun of our own foibles and folly. This leads to acceptance, the first step in change.

Drawing from the centuries old European tradition of clowning, Major Conrad Flapps is a classic jester! He is a direct descendent of the Shakespearean Fool who uses humour to comment on life and the world around. As the most famous American clown Emmett Kelly stated, humor can give us a "...spiritual second wind for going back into the battle of life." He who laughs, lasts!