“The best chef in the world doesn’t need to be believed. He needs an assistant who survives him.”
Clown and percussion on Romanian television
A clown-and-percussion act created for Romanian television: Jose Filgueira and Matilde J. Ciria brought their physical comedy to the set of Românii au talent (PRO TV, season 12, 2022), Romania’s most-watched talent show. Four yeses from the jury and a collective fit of laughter in prime time.
CONCEPT
What happens when a percussionist obsessed with being the best chef in the world appears on television accompanied by an assistant who understands nothing — or who understands everything far too well? Jose Filgueira and Matilde J. Ciria built a clown-and-percussion act for Românii au talent, the Romanian Got Talent, broadcast on PRO TV during season 12 (2022).
The act is born from the meeting of two languages: Filgueira’s virtuoso percussion and Matilde’s physical comedy. Jose designed the overall structure and concept — a delirious chef who cooks with rhythm — while Matilde created her assistant character, the choreographies and the scenic actions that hold up and dismantle the act from within. The result is a double-layered clown: what the audience sees is a cook and his helper; what works underneath is a precise mechanism of timing, physical gags and live percussion.
The jury gave them four yeses. For personal reasons they could not return for the next phase of the show.
SYNOPSIS
A chef steps before the jury to prove he is the best in the world. His only argument: Karlos Arguiñano.
His only proof: an assistant who seems not to know where he is. Neither the kitchen works nor the assistant obeys — but the rhythms fit, the bodies converse, and catastrophe turns into choreography.
What should have been a disaster ends up being the act that makes an entire country laugh in prime time.
ARTIST’S NOTE
Performing on Romanian television in prime time was new territory for me. The challenge was not doing clown — that I already know — but compressing a whole universe of physical comedy into a few-minute television format, before a jury and millions of viewers.
With Filgueira we found the balance between his percussion and my body: he brought the rhythm, I brought the chaos. I discovered that clown works the same on a television set as in a theatre: if the body is true, the format doesn’t matter.
GALLERY
ARTISTIC CREDITS
Classification: Clown / Percussion · Physical comedy
Year: 2022
Duration: Approx. 8 minutes
Show: Românii au talent — Season 12 (PRO TV, Romania)
Concept and percussion: Jose Filgueira
Character creation, choreographies and actions: Matilde J. Ciria
Result: 4 yeses from the jury (did not continue for personal reasons)