Comments on: The Great Zucchini

The Great Zucchini

pardonyou? — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:00:49 -0800

The Great Zucchini Eric Knaus, aka "The Great Zucchini," is a 35-year-old community college dropout who works only two days a week. But he takes home over $100,000 a year because he knows how to make preschool children laugh. His "act" is largely improvised, his "props" are old, dirty, and in desperate need of repair. So how (and maybe more importantly, why) does he do it? As Gene Weingarten, the author of this extremely funny, moving piece, says: "if you want to know why ... it's going to take some time." He's not kidding – the story runs almost 10,000 words. Do yourself a favor and read every one. (via Lileks)

By: iconomy

iconomy — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:14:14 -0800

And... here is his website.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:25:57 -0800

Check his hard drive. And I'm always leery of sites that advertise "Terrific prices" and then don't list those prices. Nice vest.

By: schroedinger

schroedinger — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:35:05 -0800

Fantastic article. I'd love to meet the guy--from Weingarten's description he sounds like one of my best friends (though I don't believe my friend has gone through the trauma Knaus has seen). Hanging out with someone who has that kind of childlike openness can be almost magical. It can also be frustrating, for the reasons the author touched on. fenriq, that's a pretty serious implication you're making there. Y'know, sometimes people are just really good with kids in a way 99.9% of the population will never be. It doesn't automatically mean they're child molesters, any more than being good at basketball or math means you're taking steroids or copying someone else's paper.

By: pardonyou?

pardonyou? — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:41:05 -0800

schroedinger, I agree. I've known people like this (and if I'm honest sometimes I display some of the same qualities). I thought Weingarten's imagery of this guy clutching his calendar book -- his only concession to organization or responsibility or adulthood -- while throwing dice at the craps table was particularly moving.

By: Optimus Chyme

Optimus Chyme — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:45:01 -0800

Wow. What a great article. Thanks.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:45:02 -0800

schroedinger, no implication, just kidding around.

By: antifuse

antifuse — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:52:10 -0800

Absolutely fantastic article. I thank Lileks (and Dave Barry, who HE got it from) for bringing it some well-deserved notice. I wish the WaPo online article had been formatted better, it seems like they can't multi-page any article longer than 5 pages. It was a bit of a shock to think I was almost done, then get to the last page and realize that it was only about halfway through the article. And fenriq: TFA says that he charges $300/show. So there ya go.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:56:09 -0800

Amazing story and amazing writing.

By: BobFrapples

BobFrapples — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:58:11 -0800

Great, great article! Thanks, pardonyou!

By: raedyn

raedyn — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:05:41 -0800

Cool story. How much more will it cost me to get him to come to my kids third birthday party in two weeks?

By: patricio

patricio — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:09:11 -0800

Fascinating article. You have to wonder how long he can keep doing that job before he loses everything. It just takes a couple of missed appointments and he's the "unreliable great zucchini". It'd would be interesting to know how the article will affect his business too - obviously it's all good advertising but I can imagine some parents having second thoughts about employing him after reading about his quasi-dissolute lifestyle.

By: pardonyou?

pardonyou? — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:11:14 -0800

I wish the WaPo online article had been formatted better, it seems like they can't multi-page any article longer than 5 pages. It was a bit of a shock to think I was almost done, then get to the last page and realize that it was only about halfway through the article. antifuse, I had the same experience (which is why I linked to the print-friendly version). I started thinking, "man, this fifth page seems awfully long." But, of course, that's where the payoff is.

By: allen.spaulding

allen.spaulding — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:15:24 -0800

Wow. I share the curiosity about how this will impact his career, but I'm just blown out of the water by the writing.

By: Mick

Mick — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:20:57 -0800

Truly astounding writing

By: gaspode

gaspode — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:22:22 -0800

That was an amazing article. Thanks, pardonyou

By: moonbird

moonbird — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:29:56 -0800

Again, accolades to pardonyou, and Gene Weingarten. A stellar article.

By: phearlez

phearlez — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:31:03 -0800

If you enjoyed the article you should probably look at the next day's live chat with Gene about it.

By: Pink Fuzzy Bunny

Pink Fuzzy Bunny — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:37:19 -0800

Cool story. How much more will it cost me to get him to come to my kids third birthday party in two weeks? Why on earth would you be holding three birthday partys for your kid within a fortnight? I kid I kid...

By: o2b

o2b — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:38:18 -0800

Great, great article. and a great story.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:43:38 -0800

Outstanding

By: FormlessOne

FormlessOne — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:53:33 -0800

That was, indeed, worth the time to read it.

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:57:53 -0800

Man, I hate clowns. Man, I loved this article. Thank you.

By: obeetaybee

obeetaybee — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:00:31 -0800

Loved the article and I hope he manages to get his life together and still entertain the kids!

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:07:46 -0800

Gene Weingarten is a quietly fantastic writer. Usually, he gets the back page of Sunday's Washington Post Magazine, but he occasionally does (or gets to do) longer articles. He also gets the credit for giving Dave Barry his first break. Plus, he lives in my neighborhood (and sometimes writes about it), so I pass him on the street every now and then. Every time, I think, "man, I should say something," but I never do. Maybe I will next time.

By: First Post

First Post — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:12:02 -0800

Great read, thanks! The followup phearlez posted is interesting too. It answers a lot of good questions raised by the article, including the speculation about the effect on his career, as well as the formatting thing: washingtonpost.com: It's actually pretty mundane. Our system only paginates up to five pages, so the bulk of a long article always ends up on that fifth page.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:23:02 -0800

Alright, I've had a chance to read the article and I've gotta echo other folks approval. It is well written and provides a fairly well rounded concept of who he is. This is very telling, "Look, I'm not Mister Rogers, okay?" Nope, but he does have skills that beleagured parents need and kids love! Excellent post.

By: furiousthought

furiousthought — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:24:01 -0800

That was a great link. I don't know what else to say about it.

By: empath

empath — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:28:58 -0800

Another great and moving Weingarten article here: Snowbound

By: pardonyou?

pardonyou? — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:40:04 -0800

Thanks for the chat link, phearlez! I actually had tried looking for that, but only came across Weingarten's weekly humor chat archives.

By: crunchywelch

crunchywelch — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:52:54 -0800

Fantastic article, thanks.

By: exlotuseater

exlotuseater — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:58:18 -0800

Both articles [great zucchini and snowbound] were amazing, thanks.

By: JakeEXTREME

JakeEXTREME — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 11:20:39 -0800

Great read.

By: RockyChrysler

RockyChrysler — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 11:51:50 -0800

excellent, interesting article... what a pleasure it is to read good writing.

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 12:04:08 -0800

And another, previously discussed on MetaFilter.

By: wallaby

wallaby — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 12:36:43 -0800

Wow. I started out thinking, "What a cool guy!" and just got sadder and sadder. But I'm glad I read it. Thanks, pardonyou?.

By: Pallas Athena

Pallas Athena — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 12:55:00 -0800

In the live chat linked by phearlez, there were a few users reporting spyware problems at The Great Zucchini's homepage, linked by iconomy above. Caveat clickator. (or something)

By: jenovus

jenovus — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 13:48:26 -0800

That was a terrific article. I had never heard of the Great Zucchini. Now I want to shake his hand.

By: raedyn

raedyn — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 13:52:07 -0800

The spyware was comet cursor, apparently. It's avoidable.

By: Ohdemah

Ohdemah — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 13:54:42 -0800

I think grey is far better than black or white. Great article.

By: graventy

graventy — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 14:17:56 -0800

Excellent articles. Thanks!

By: sien

sien — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 19:56:49 -0800

Ditto with the praise for the article. What a fantastic read.

By: gsteff

gsteff — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 21:30:13 -0800

Fantastic article. Perhaps a followup will be written, describing the epic rivalry between the Great Zuchinni and Broccoli the Clown.

By: MetaMonkey

MetaMonkey — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 02:02:27 -0800

Great stuff. Never realised I wanted to be a children's entertainer before. Or an inveterate gambler!

By: huzzahhuzzah

huzzahhuzzah — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 16:51:56 -0800

Great stuff. Reminds me that Andrew Jarecki was making a documentary about a NYC party clown (for a somewhat older kids), when the clown told Jarecki that his family would make a more interesting subject for a film. And so he made Capturing the Friedmans

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 06:07:16 -0800

Excellent, thank you so much, pardonyou?.