Glenn

Glenn, whose full legal name consists of the single word "Glenn," is an American performer and artist. As a clown he was known variously as "Bongo", "Bongo the Clown", or "The Great Bongo".

Glenn was born Glenn Harding Englert on February 12, 1957 in Arlington, Texas to Edith Englert and Richard Englert. Richard Englert is also known as Rusty Harding, the "boomerang engineer."

Due to Glenn's contention that he was exempt from the federal withholding of income tax from his wages, (a belief with which he claimed the IRS was in complete accord), he found himself unable to work at a normal job, and took to both creating works of art and performing as a clown, under the stage name of Bongo the Clown.

Glenn has created artworks in numerous categories: sculpture, from palm trees to earthworks to twisted wire; fiber and fabric assemblies; woven 'blankets' of urban detritus; glass assemblies, and stained glass; splattered paint; computer graphics; spiderwebs and shadow boxes. Glenn manufactured (for another artist, whose art it is) a massive sculptural construction made primarily of thick bulletproof glass which is part the Smithsonian Institution's collection.

His largest work, "Ku" created from the 22-foot stump of a live date palm, is a likeness of the fierce toothy visage of Ku'ka'ili'moku the Hawai'ian god of War, carved with a chainsaw over the course of a three month period in 1981. "Ku" is rooted in the ground, at the private residence of the client who commissioned the work.

Glenn's stained glass craftsmanship can be seen in the stained glass lamps on the tavern set of the American sitcom television show Cheers, which were designed by and co-created with Seymore Saidner .

Between June, 1980 and the mid-1990s, "Bongo" gained notoriety as both a "producing clown" and as a founding member of the award-winning North Valley Clown Alley. During this period he created a major innovation to the design of the ancient toy/juggling prop, the Devil stick, which he called fiddlestix. By freely circulating the secrets of his design to other jugglers, he placed his invention into the public domain, thereby "protecting it for free". His design was further refined in a collaboration with two other stick jugglers, Todd Farnbach and Todd Ullman . The three inventors claim that this collaboration occurred inside the hollow trunk of a live California Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) in Richardson Grove .

As Bongo his clown performances were an "absurd melange of comedy and juggling blended with hard-edged political observations", and featured comic juggling and prop comedy.

Bongo often performed with Clownzo , (Terry Teene ), his friend and mentor. Glenn eventually "retired" from the clown business when it became, in his words, "too profitable to be fun any more", though he continues to do occasional free performances for causes he considers to be worthy.

Appearances

Glenn appeared in the Roger Corman movie Overdrive as the pit crewman in the fight scene at the racetrack and appears briefly in the strip club scene.

As Bongo, he appeared in the Hallowe'en video Frankenstein and the All-Star Monster Band .

Sans whiteface, Glenn's devilstick juggling was featured in an appearance on the second incarnation of The Gong Show, Extreme Gong, a show that uses audience telephone votes to rate performances. Though he wasn't "gonged", and was encouraged to continue his performance into the commercial break, the top prize was won by. a stand-up comic who performed as a 'caricature German soldier' ("... my mother is form Frankfurt und my father iss from Hamburg -- und so, I am a cross between a hamburger und a frankfurter !").

As of 2004, Glenn lives a quiet life in the San Fernando Valley suburb of Granada Hills in Southern California, tending to a bonsai Japanese Black Pine tree that is over forty years old.

Quotes

• "Now is when things happen"
• "Now you've hit the point of the nail."

as Bongo:

• "I was running late, so I got dressed in the park."
• (when asked his name): "Hi, I'm Bongo - Bongo The Clown, The Great Bongo -- my friends call me 'Bongo'... you can call me Mister The Clown"
• "...it's not rocket science, it's actually difficult!"