A journalist wrote to me recently asking me about the history of pie throwing in comedy. I sent her packing! Not because I don’t know something about it, but because it’s the sort of thing I REALLY don’t care about. It is of zero significance as a topic of conversation, for me anyway, and I really don’t care if the first pie was thrown in 1910, 1812, or 20,000 B.C. (I tend to think it’s the latter, btw. Pies weren’t invented, so Paleolithic Man just threw the ingredients). I am very interested in clowns and comedians however, both historical ones and contemporary ones who draw inspiration from age old tradition. Thus a CONTEMPORARY thrown pie is of much greater interest to me than some supposed “Adam pie” that never existed. It may shock you to know that there is some contemporary pie throwing news at the moment!
First, today at 3pm at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the 2018 edition of the NY Clown Theatre Festival will be launching with their traditional Free Participatory Indoor Pie Fight. This is the real deal. If you wish to throw pies at people, and are open to having them thrown at you, this is your jam. And I need hardly say, wear appropriate clothing, Directions and more info about the festival here.
Secondly, the Sisters Plotz film which we blogged about here is now available to stream on Amazon Prime. That, too, contains an epic pie fight. I was on the set on the day it was shot, being naturally interested in the mechanics of such a thing.
I took a bunch of video of the scene being staged, but I’ll need to cut that together at a later date. Meantime, here are raw uncut interviews with the two lead artists, Lisa Ferber and Lisa Hammer (Lisa Stockton-Wilson) about the whys and wherefores of the pie fight in The Sisters Plotz. The garbage bags are naturally there for protection, not fashion choices:
Stream The Sisters Plotz here.
(Travalanche) 
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