The Regard of Flight

The Regard of Flight and the Clown Bagatelles as performed by Bill Irwin are some of the funniest (both in terms of physical comedy and verbal and visual gags) performances I've ever seen. My father taped this special when it first aired in the 80s and my family has loved it ever since. We quote it back and forth fairly constantly. It's a crying shame that copies are not readily available for purchase. I have a bad VHS copy that I acquired from a specialty distributer a few years ago, but Mr. Irwin's performance deserves a proper DVD treatment with a restored version of the original performance and interviews with the performers/producers as well as more examples of modern clowning.

Bill Irwin's talent deserves more exposure to mainstream audiences than it has enjoyed in his limited wide release appearances. I share "The Regard of Flight" with friends quite often and though I am always greeted with a small amount of skepticism when I mention that it is a mixture of clowning and vaudeville I have yet to have anyone come away from seeing it without loving it. In case the powers that be ever happen upon this IMDb listing, please consider releasing this and other Bill Irwin work.

I saw this performance on TV and taped it. My daughter played it over and over again. I loaned out at work and everyone just loved it. It is just brilliant physical comedy. Bill made an appearance here in California, (he was working and living in New York) and performed the Regard of Flight on stage. I was able to take my daughter and her girlfriend to see this brilliant performance.

Bill was awarded a Federal endowment, and my daughter wrote him a letter of congratulations, and Bill was so kind to write her a note back and enclose a photograph.

People ask me, and I can't decide if he is a comedian, and actor, or a clown. Actually he is all three. I really wish this was on DVD, my tape is lost.

When the MacArthur Foundation gave Bill Irwin one of its Genius Awards, they distributed free tapes of "Regard of Flight" to public libraries. It's a wonderfully funny, skilled performance by Irwin and two other performers, in classic clown tradition, with lots of satirical jabs at intellectual theorizing about "the theateh".

I stumbled across this video on TV over thirty years ago and noticed that it featured Bill Irwin with whom I went to high school. It was the first performance I had seen by Bill since he made an hilarious performance in Voltaire's Le Misanthrope as a high school junior. The Regard of Flight is non-stop funny and the acrobatics are astonishing. I'm going to go home and see if I can find this on Hulu.

This adaptation for TV was a wonderful vehicle for Bill Irwin to show his ability to perform physical humor. With the backdrop of a struggle between an actor and his writer/director, Bill uses his clowning antics to showcase a variety of skills including hat tricks, pantomime, dance and various physical devices.

Although it takes a big swipe at the entertainment industry and his craft, it is engrossing for people of all walks and ages.

This work was televised as a PBS special. Bill performed a piece of it on the Tonight Show, but out of context it did not go over well.