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Jongleur Jugglers The
Jongleur Jugglers (John Creveling, Mike Stillwell and Yvonne Wetherell
not only won three Phil’s over they years they also won a fourth
Groundhog award. The Grand Prix du Phil in 1988. The story of this win
was provided by Mike Stillwell. Grand
Prix du Phil - 1988 The
Atlanta Groundhogs Day Festival was always very special to us and
winning the Grande Prix Du Phil is still one of my favorite
memories. That year we had performed our new routine well
but had not received one of the coveted Phils. At
dinner that night we joked that we were robbed and pretended to be
bitter. In truth it had been stiff competition and we never took
the whole thing that seriously. Still it was fun to take on the
persona of a diva rock band that had been spurned at an awards
Ceremony. The
next day we were asked to perform at the midnight show. These
shows were known for offbeat performances. Jugglers would try new
routines and even edgy bits of business. For the first time ever
there would be a special award "The Grande Prix Du
Phil". We had to come up with something special and we
remembered the joking around we had done the day before. At
the midnight show only two of the Jongleur Jugglers walked
onto the stage (John and Myself). We wondered aloud what had
happened to our third member, Yvonne. As John and I valiantly
attempted to go on we were interrupted by an obviously drunk Yvonne
walking up the isle through the audience singing "Everybody loves a
winner, but nobody loves a loser...". As the routine
continued we parodied our daytime performance and our clean cut
reputation by passing around a bottle and later a "doobie"
while continuing to juggle and consoling each other that indeed we had
been robbed of our Phil. Yvonne and I then launched
into a drunken safe sex routine in which we used juggling clubs as
visual aids even going so far as to put a condom on the handle.
"When you juggle with someone you're really juggling with every
person that that person juggled with..." I
still remember all the laughs and the standing ovation at the
end. Every one got the joke and to top it off we won the
Grand Prix Du Phil! What a night. John
and I still perform together as The Jongleur Jugglers. I make my
living as a magician and John is a school teacher. Magic
Mike
Jongleur
Jugglers (John Creveling, Mike Stillwell and Yvonne Wetherell)
with the GrandePrixDuPhil 1988
Mike Stillwell and John Creveling
Letters
Remembering
Yvonne Wetherell ( Phil winner
1984, 1985 and 1988) Yvonne
Wetherell was a friend of ours. The following story is how we will always
remember her wacky sense of humor. We
were having dinner in We
all decided that Mike and John should begin their regular club passing
routine and a "drunken" Yvonne should interrupt and offer them a
swig from her bottle. From there they would light a fake joint and pass it
to the chant of "self, self, pass." Now
that the Jongleur Jugglers were feeling liberated, they could tackle the
final taboo subject. Yvonne thought they were the perfect spokespeople for
a public service announcement on "safe club passing," a frank
discussion of certain precautions that should be taken when passing with
an unfamiliar partner. The
routine began when Mike asked Yvonne to pass clubs. She wondered if he had
any protection. He responded by producing a condom from his wallet and
sliding it over the knob of his club. Yvonne, noting that Mike was having
problems, offered some assistance. They finished the routine by saying,
"You're not just juggling with one person, you're juggling with
everyone they've ever juggled with." We
were missing a key prop for the act. So we met Jack and Yvonne at an
all-night drugstore to go condom shopping. After reviewing the vast
assortment, we ruled out the ribbed condoms (too much grip), the
lubricated condoms (not enough grip) and selected the "Condoms for
the Complete Klutz." We
retuned to our seedy hotel room for testing. Do we open one to test? No,
we each open one to test! By the time we were finished, there were
condom-covered clubs from one end of the room to the other. We wondered
what the maid would think, and decided to give her a show. We draped
elongated condoms over the mirror, the headboard and the floor lamp. To
top it all off, we blew one up, twisted it into a cute little poodle and
left it standing on the TV set. At
this point, even if the routine bombed on stage we had spent five hours
laughing ourselves silly. But this act was destined for greatness. As the
show ended, a standing ovation like none the Jongleurs had ever seen
erupted from the crowd. A dumbfounded Rodger French awarded the coveted
"Grand Prix du Phil," to the now-legendary Jongleur Jugglers. This
story is how we remember Yvonne, through her unpredictable humor and her
ability to translate it on stage for everyone to enjoy. Susan
Kirby and Joe Murray, Stony Creek,
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