#janethephoole

[phoole]

What an absurdly hilarious day! Thank you to every #Phooligan fan of #JanethePhoole who came out to my Ville, the @janesvillerenfaire - from the uproarious chaos at the Tent of Meat & Heat to my impromptu hour-long stand-up set at the military encampment, it was an epic and ridiculous laugh-fest. Thank you! https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxqu5fdhtOT/?igshid=1jpsfam6mgexb

[phoole]

#Janeuary is a month of memories from a quarter-century of being a 16th-century jester, #JaneThePhoole - and what's a few centuries between good friends? I will never forget the first time I met two of my most-hardcore best-loved #Phooligans, Alan and Chris - they rolled up to a joust I was MCing with a huge entourage of their own, as Arthur, King of the Britons and Sir Bedevere the Wise, with WI Monty Python's Knights of the Round Table - they do routines and chorus scenes with footwork impeccable! I had to let them present the awards for the joust - and we've been mad pals ever since! They are thoroughly good, kind, loving humans, with beautiful and kind families, who do good things for all kinds of people. This world can make you feel like there aren't wholesome, joyful people in it - so I hope you get to meet Al and Chris someday, because they will confirm for you that nobility and joy can be both sought and exuded. When they're in character, they only speak in lines from whatever Monty Python film or sketch those particular characters are in - and they find brilliant ways to work in every part of the Python canon for any situation. They even made me my own little monkey Patsy! How fortunate a Phoole I am to know fellows like these! https://www.instagram.com/p/BtNDaHwnOxt/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1oh14mo62satr

[phoole]

#Janeuary is a month of memories from 25+ years of being #JaneThePhoole! Here's a moment I know I will never forget - @c2e2 2012, when Jester Jane met Captain Jack Harkness, a/k/a the ebullient, delightful, boundlessly-energetic and kind @johnscotbarrowman ! As I approached he grinned blindingly and shook his head, letting me know I was the most extraordinary character he'd met that day; I know the look! One of his handlers leaned over to him and introduced me: "This is Jane the Phoole, one of our local celebrities," and - look, I know I work for the pretend Queen of England and all, but having someone say that to John Barrowman about me made me ridiculously giddy! Still smiling and shaking his head, he waved me to come right up to the table, and lifted up my smile mask (by @jeffsemmerling of course!), and then just looked at me, just puzzled and entertained. I did my spiel: "It's my badge of office, or as I like to say, badge of orifice, on account of it's a mouth." He threw his head back and guffawed. It was a gift of pure loud joy. He then set about straightening the mask on my chest. He turned to his team and explained, "It has to be symmetrical. You know it does. Who has my camera? Get ready." (If you've only ever experienced John on a small screen, nothing prepares you for the bewildering charisma he has in person - he is white-hot magnetism and boisterous mischief, and it is really difficult to think clearly in his presence, even after he's spent hours and hours signing autographs and posing for photos with thousands of adoring fans. His power was a lesson to me in energy management, generation, and distribution as a charming person in public life.) He turned back to me. "Okay. You have to feign over-the-top surprise." I knew what would happen next - the second photo in this series drew plenty of applause live! Other fans immediately offered to buy the mask off me. Nope! That's a relic now. The third image in the series is the photo he signed for me. It reads, "For Jane the Phoole - I love you and your boobs! Captain Jack / John Barrowman." https://www.instagram.com/p/BtESfP3Hmoa/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1iklh2eb42m4e

[phoole]

It's #Janeuary - a whole month of memories from 25+ years of being #JaneThePhoole! Part of being internationally-micro-famous is having friends from all over the world, one of whom is the sophisticated, kind, hilarious and loving #Phooligan Nicole Dh (a/k/a Poppy La Pew)! She is French, and I have burdened her with the epithet 'Fuzzy Li'l Foreigner' for so many years and she's borne it with an indulgent smile! She and her beloved @chris.hobby.potter (a/k/a Panse de Brebis Farcie) are two of the hardest-core hardcore Phooligans (note their Smile Pins by @jeffsemmerling!) and I love any time I get to spend with them. J'aime Panse et Poppy! https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs_KNsEnvBw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=lh2ohasvilbt

[phoole]

#Janeuary reveries of 25+ years of #JanethePhoole adventures - including that one time that I was a #GHOST! I was a House Ghost for the Wizard Academy put on by Dare to Dream Theatre at Christopher Farm and Gardens back in September of 2017 - and the entire experience was beyond magical. I'm thrilled to have any chance to engage with imaginative and invested audiences, and this audience was incredible - but, as you might imagine, this was also an amazing 'departure' for me in motley as I worked out how to be Jane as a ghostly spirit. This show was a real gift from the universe. In most other shows where I've been Jane, I have a fairly rigorous schedule that has me trying to get from one side of town to the other as quickly as I can - meaning I'm always late for everything, because I can't NOT talk to absolutely everyone I see. Jane days are usually a blur - but not in the afterlife! I had a chance, for the first time ever, to be so...very...very...slow. I could haunt one place for hours if I wanted to; I could drift around the lake; I could engage people personally, or just be glimpsed in the distance. The show threw me endless improvisation curve-balls too, which was invigorating and so gratifying. The students ranged in age from quite young up to early teens, and I'd anticipated brutal abuse from the teens. Early on the first day, the older students barraged me with questions. "Why can't you fly?" "Why can't I see through you?" "Why can't you go through solid objects?" "I don't know!" I extemporized frustratedly. "Look, I've only been dead 460 years. I'm just not good at it yet. Haven't got the aptitude. And it's not like anyone tells you *how* to be a ghost. You don't get a manual or anything. Just sort of have to work it out on your own." This stunned them...and satisfied them, for some reason. And as the weekend went on, so many students tried to help me be a better ghost. They tried spells to help me fly; they tried making potions to help me become translucent. And some tried to help bring me back to life. Because magic. And hope. And intelligent, sensitive young people who hadn't lost either yet. YOU can help make more magic like this happen - v https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs3ai-THVvi/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=u5qxrphxqd8v

[phoole]

#Janeuary is a month of memories of adventures in the guise of #JaneThePhoole, today featuring my beloved @it_is_tiff - who used to live as my own Tom Fool for over 40 years! The first image shows her in the Fasso Latido troubadour suit with me at @muncastercastle in 2010; the second is from the summer of 2018, after she relented and finally let me make her the lady version of the Fasso ensemble. We joined the same #renaissancefaire cast in 1990 and worked near each other for 10 years before we really met - we’ve been married now for lucky 13 years and always will be together. She has held me up through all of my journeys to be my best self - it is a joy and honor now to walk with her as Tiffany becomes who she truly is! #truelove #lovewins #16thcentury #16thcenturyclothes #nothistoricallyaccurate #transwomenarewomen #transpride #transpride🌈 #jesters #fools #courtjester #courtfool #janethefool https://www.instagram.com/p/BsvcbJOn5z-/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ercq26xsmnht

[phoole]

#Janeuary reflects on 25 years of adventures as #JanethePhoole - today's is from @c2e2 , the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo. I was there as Comic Entertainment. :D I have always loved IceBat from UglyDolls, so imagine my joy and surprise on actually meeting IceBat at the convention! IceBat jumped around the corner to greet me, whereat I immediately jumped in pure joy, and then IceBat jumped again, and we carried on in this way for quite some time. It's fun frolicking in whatever passes for the 16th century - but time-and-space travel are always tremendous fun as well! phoole.com/jane https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsn2OsznX4v/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=60mf49n2uvgd

[phoole]

#Janeuary continues with this photo from 2011 by @it_is_tiff featuring Myrtle, a young coati mundi! Whenever cute animals are around, #JanethePhoole’s day turns into a nature show. #cutemammals #cutecoati #janethefool #adventureswithnewworldanimals #16thcentury #jester #fool #courtjester #courtfool #femalefool #femalejester https://www.instagram.com/p/BsTImU8nj79/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=rq1twr1a7snr