Sun shines on . . . Doodles the Clown

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/04/2016 (3704 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You’re passionate about what you do.

I love what I do. Every day.

How did this start? Does a little boy grow up dreaming of being a clown?

No! It was an accident. I was going to school — I was like 16, I was working at a restaurant, bus-boying and then I moved up to maitre d’ at this one restaurant, with a suit and tie, making $2.14 or $2.15 an hour. And a friend of mine came in, and he was clowning to pay for his university. And he said, ‘I need help!’ And I said, ‘I’m not dressing up in a clown suit!’ But I did, and he paid me like $25 for an hour. And I’m thinking, ‘This is pretty good!’ But the difference between him and me is he made enough money to finish school and move on to his career. I ended up falling in love with making people forget about their regular days and just have fun and laugh and be silly. I never pick on anyone to make them feel bad. I pick on them to make them laugh. And then, at the end of the day, I take off my nose and I’m back to Shane. I’m not Doodles anymore.

Can we talk about the Doodles/Doo Doo thing? I mean, you’re Doo Doo everywhere else and you’re Doodles when you’re in Brandon. Were we just a little too square here for the other meaning of doo doo, or what?

Not at all! When I first came here 20-some years ago, we were joking about it, and the guy said, ‘Would it be OK if we called you Doodles?’ And I said, ‘Sure.’ I’ve always been Doodles my friends called me Doodles. And I was always Doo Doo Doodles, so it didn’t really matter. And it kind of made it special for me because every time I walked in — I know this is a whole different subject, but it doesn’t matter where I go in the world, this is the only city where I feel like a rock star. I really do! I walk out, and grandparents — because I’ve always been respectful to everyone grandparents come up and say, ‘Hi Doodles!’ And parents come up — ‘ Hi Doodles!’ People of all ages come out and over the years, I’ve had banners that say ‘Doo Doo Doodles.’ I handed out cards for about five years that said ‘Doo Doo Doodles,’ so people got to know that Doo Doo is Doodles — that Doodles is my middle name. But I’ve never felt so much love, anywhere I go, except here!

Why do you think that is?

I’ve been at other fairs for almost 30 years. I just think because of the families — I have a following here, and I’ve always treated them right. The first 10 years I came here, I used to save and save all year so I could bring cases and cases of giveaways. Now I try to make sure every boy and girl gets a balloon, and I hand out prizes at every show. I don’t know why Brandon is so special. It’s just everywhere I go, kind of everyone talks about, ‘I heard when you’re in Brandon, you feel like a rock star.’ And that’s from performers who’ve never been here. But that IS how I feel when I’m here.

And you been here for both the winter and summer fairs every year for at least the last 20, right?

Yes. And what’s nice about clowning is you change up all the entertainment so the fair is always fresh. You can’t say, ‘Oh, the fair is stale.’ It’s not. Especially in Brandon. They bring in talent from all over the world — they really do. They bring in talent they’ve searched all year for. And a lot of people know that here. But with a clown, you can have me on stage, you can have me wander, you can have me do balloons. The fair is so nice to us, so now we can make visits — we’re able to go to seniors’ homes. And you go in there and there’s a hundred seniors with their families and they’re just as much fun as everyone else.

Is this the only place you do that sort of thing?

It started here. And now I’m starting to do it as much as I can.

It must be exhausting, though!

You know what? You take off the nose, you put up your feet, and I’m Shane. You put the nose back on and I’m Doodles. Unbelievable!

That’s your trademark phrase! Where did that slogan come from?

More than 30 years ago, I was at a festival, and I had this little boy and little girl on stage, and I still do the routine with a balloon flying away — I hand them a balloon and it flies away. And these kids were just hysterical, laughing. And I go, ‘You guys are just unbelieveable!’ And I said, ‘Unbelievable!’ about 20 times. And when I left, everyone was saying, ‘Unbelievable! Unbelievable!’ And it stuck!

When you were saying you put on the nose and you’re Doodles, and when you take off the nose, you’re Shane, I was thinking it must be the best of both worlds, because when you’re in your get-up, you’re a clown, you’re a personality. But otherwise, you’re just a normal guy. You can kind of slip under the radar the rest of the time.

My voice sometimes gives it away, because I try to use the clown voice, but yeah, it’s true. I’ll tell you what’s really funny is I might have the same family for 10 years come up to me, and they’re amazing and they bring signs to the show and they’re wonderful. And then I’ll walk by them when I’m in a restaurant or something, and I almost go up and say hi. But I don’t want to break the illusion, so I don’t. But that happens all the time. Or I say hi to someone and I realize, ‘Oh — they don’t know who I am!’

Does your makeup cause you any grief? I mean, I used to do a lot of theatre work, and that stuff — the makeup — can be miserable night after night. Does it cause you any problems with your skin or anything?

You know, I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years. And I just get up every day and put it on. People ask what I look like. And I say, ‘A cross between Brad Pitt and Dom DeLuise!’ (laughs) But I teach my kids, if you’re going to do anything, do it right. Be respectful. I always try and do things right. The biggest complaint I ever get is a parent will come up to me and say, ‘You didn’t give my kid a balloon.’ And I’m like, ‘Hold on. I’ll give you one! No problem!’ I feel bad, because I try and give everybody something. I really go out of my way. But there are just some people in the world that, no matter what you do, they’re not going to be happy. And I’ve just learned to try my best and you have nothing to ever haunt you.

You mentioned your kids. You have three?

I have three. And my lovely wife.

What’s her name?

My wife is Angelina Jolie. (laughs) She looks just like her! It’s Serena. My oldest is Aaron, and he’s going to turn 19. He’s a regular on a bunch of different TV shows on YTV. And he just punked me on that new show it’s called ‘Made Up’ — on Disney, and it’ll be on YTV in the future. And then my son Dylan is 16 and a hard-working student. He likes business. And my daughter is 12 and she is my little princess and Katie likes to look after special kids. She’s not afraid to walk up to a wheelchair, or someone who is disabled, and help. That’s what she wants to do. She knows.

I should be asking them, not you, but you would be certainly conscious of this: How is it growing up with a clown for a dad? Were they OK with it? Were they always proud?

It’s funny you ask, because not many people ask that!

I got nervous when my son hit about 13 or 14, and I went to a fellow clown who’s been doing it for 40 years, and I said to him, ‘How are your kids?’ And he said, ‘It doesn’t faze them.’ And it’s true. My kids think it’s cool that their dad’s the clown in (the Adam Sandler movie) ‘Billy Madison.’ Their friends are like, ‘He’s cool!’ And I’ll come home and there’ll be like eight of my son’s friends sitting on the couch, and I walk in in a clown suit, and it’ll be like, ‘Hey, Shane.’ They don’t care. It’s part of the family.

And I guess they’ve grown up with it …

Their whole lives. And there’s benefits for them. I mean, they’ve travelled to other countries, they’ve gotten to be with me and meet lots of celebrities because I do shows at festivals — I’ve been backstage with hundreds of performers. My kids just recently got to hang out with Lady Gaga, which was kind of cool. Green Day — a bunch of these things. I didn’t even know who these people really were. I didn’t know too much about anybody. But it was good for them. They get to go with me. Like, I do the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Christmas party, so they get to hang out. And the Toronto Raptors. To me, it’s like I couldn’t tell you who is who. I concentrate on the families.

It’s interesting that the day this story appears in the paper is April Fool’s Day. And you’re certainly no fool! But your birthday is April 2 — tomorrow!

And it always falls — like, I’m never home! I haven’t been home in twenty years for my birthday because I won’t get home until the day after. So I often celebrate it in Brandon.

I always kind of consider you an honorary Brandonite, because you’re here all the time!

I feel it! I’ve made a lot of friends over the years. So you meet friends wherever you go.

Were you born and raised in Thornhill, north of Toronto?

Yes. I have family almost as far north as Thunder Bay. I’m the baby of five boys.

Wow! Now I’m curious: How did you parlay fairs and small corporate things into gigs that take you around the world?

Do you know what? I always believe if you put 110 per cent in, that good things will happen. And if they don’t, keep doing it, and they will. For instance, I was just working at West Edmonton Mall and the owners asked if I would like to work at their other malls. And I’ll be at one festival, and they’ll say, ‘We have another festival going on somewhere else.’ I was at a festival where someone came up and said, ‘Oh — I do a festival in Thailand.’ Same as in Australia over the years. And then these random things — I’ll be at the right place or the wrong place, and something good will happen.

That’s sort of your philosophy, isn’t it? Essentially do unto others as you’d have them do unto you?

If everybody did one nice thing — at least one nice thing a day — say thank you instead of yelling at somebody, for instance. Now that my kids are getting older — I’m a father, too, and I’ve had to yell a few times. It’s part of growing up. But when you’re in public, there’s so many people out there — you know, we have this big issue going on in Canada with mental health. You just have to be extra nice to people and try to help as much as you can. If someone’s in distress, they ARE in distress. And you’ve got to be careful, but everybody has to take a little step forward. I mean, the world doesn’t get better on its own.

So clowning is your life.

It’s my life. I love it. I LOVE it! I can’t believe the amount of people I’ve met over the years. I did parties for Sylvester Stallone, I did parties for Bruce Willis, I did all the Planet Hollywoods with ‘Billy Madison’, and a few years ago, Melissa Gilbert, who I was a big fan of from ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ I did her son’s birthday. And I get a lot of calls in Toronto to go to the hotels for private parties, and I go up to the floor and it’s an oil sheik or something and I’m doing his kid’s party. It’s been amazing! The bottom line is I love what I do and I look forward to doing what I do every day.

Future plans? No intention of hanging up the nose yet?

No — I’m loving every minute. People are booking me well ahead I’m three years booked now for a lot of events. It averages out to about 180 days a year. But I am home a lot and we do trips. Like every other family, my kids are big into doing the family getaways. They don’t care if it’s an hour away from home or someplace else in the world.

But I enjoy what I do. Someone asked if I won the lottery, would I still do it? And I said, ‘I would still do my charity events and I WOULD STILL DO BRANDON!’