Puddles Pity Party: The “Sad Clown With The Golden Voice”

January 13, 2022

It sounds like a start to a joke, a 7-foot clown walks into a bar, but it’s not. He motions for a soda water and sits there staring at his drink. The year was 1998 and Puddles had wandered into the Star Community Bar in Atlanta, GA where bartender Big Mike Geier first laid eyes on the sad, silent clown.

“There was a heaviness about him,” says Geier. “I could tell he wasn’t in the mood to chat, so I pretty much left him alone except to pass him the mustard when he pulled an onion and a heel of bread out of his pocket. A couple weeks later, he came by the bar and gave me a flyer to a show he was doing at a flea market. The sound system at that flea market was crap, but his voice was something else. I’ve been in my share of bands and wasn’t expecting much from a clown singing karaoke from a boombox. But I’ll be damned if his singing didn’t get me all choked up.”

The two soon became close friends, with Big Mike acting somewhat as a confidant, and the pair travel all over with Puddles Pity Party, Mike speaking on behalf of Puddles since the clown chooses to stay silent.

Originally from River City before kicking around Atlanta, the sulking serenader gained momentum after hitting the road as guest performer on the 2010 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Live tour and 2013 Eels tour and making special appearances at Seattle’s Teatro ZinZanni and NYC’s Sleep No More.

It was Halloween 2013 when Puddles then collaborated with Postmodern Jukebox to record an epic version of Lorde’s hit song “Royals,” which instantly went viral on YouTube, having received over 29 million views so far. You may also recognize Puddles as quarter-finalist from Season 12 of America’s Got Talent and most recently on AGT’s The Champions 2020. The “sad clown with the golden voice” has captivated audiences and media from around the world, building a fan base of more than 425,000 on Facebook and nearly 800,000 subscribers to the Puddles Pity Party YouTube channel.

Puddles has since performed all over the planet, garnering rave reviews at festivals like Edinburgh Fringe, Adelaide Fringe, Perth Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Fest, Belgium’s Gent Fest, Outside Lands and the Kennedy Center’s District of Comedy Festival. He was a feature performer in La Soiree’s 2014 Southbank show in London, which won the Olivier Award. He was handpicked by Neil Patrick Harris to perform Just for Laugh’s “Circus Awesomeus,” gala filmed for HBO Canada, and Jack Black selected Puddles for multiple performances at Festival Supreme. And he recently enjoyed a Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace.

“Puddles gives an emotive performance that resonates with all kinds of folks,” says Geier. “The crowd really responds to him. There’s something about a giant sad singing clown that comforts us, let’s us know it’s ok to feel, to show our feelings. It’s a sad and beautiful world, and we’re all in it together, even when we’re totally alone.”

Puddles Pity Party: Unsequestered

In 2020, with touring cancelled, Puddles holed up in his studio and produced 12 episodes of his “Still Sequestered” show which featured a variety of special guests like Jack Black, Penn Jillette, Howie Mandel, E (from Eels), Weird Al, Sid Krofft, Michael Stipe, Patton Oswalt, Cait O’Riordan, Neil Hamburger, David Dastmalchian, Mastodon, Tim Heidecker and artist Mark Ryden. Puddles also developed a line of coffee. All that was tremendous fun, and kept Puddles from feeling too lonely. But nothing makes Puddles less dejected than performing in front of a live audience of the best fans any sad clown could ask for. He is beyond excited to get back on the road and bring his all new “Unsequestered Show” to his favorite venues!

A veritable “Pagliacci by way of Pee-Wee Herman and David Lynch” (The AJC), Puddles Pity Party has over 790K YouTube subscribers and almost 300 million views for indelible interpretations of classics by the likes of ABBA, Bowie, Britney, Cheap Trick, SIA, Tom Waits and Queen along with his unforgettable rendition of the smoosh-up “Pinball Wizard/Folsom Prison Blues.”

“It seems like a parody. But when Puddles opens his mouth to sing, it’s beautiful. Operatic.” - The Boston Globe

“Fantastically brilliant…originality at its best.” - Simon Cowell

“His special effect is a textured voice laced with melancholy…what makes him transcend the trope is his vulnerability.” - The New York Times

In these strange times Puddles may be just the ticket to give us all an escape for an hour or two. For ticket information visit, https://www.ticketmaster.com/puddles-pity-party-tickets/artist/2039164