Highlights:
· Tweedy has been awarded numerous honors, including Best Auguste Clown, Best Comedy Act, Best Comedy Equestrian and Best Comedy Act of 2008 by the Circus Friends Association of Great Britain.
· Tweedy worked as a Christmas pantomime at the Haddo House Hall in Scotland, a small theatre where Prince Edward used to perform and is frequently visited by the Queen of England.
· In 2007, Tweedy staged a one-man show, Tweedy’s Lost Property, about a clown who gives in to societal pressures and gets a real job in a lost-and-found office
Alan “Tweedy” Digweed
Mr. Gravity
Alan “Tweedy” Digweed plays "Mr. Gravity", the accident-prone black-hat clown in the 139th Edition of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey ®.
In the story of ZING ZANG ZOOMSM, Mr. Gravity and his band of "Heavies" try to bring down the show and its high-flying performers. Along the way, he scurries and scatters across the arena, showing up in unexpected places before strangely disappearing. Not to worry: the ending is happy.
Tweedy sees a little of himself in his outcast character, a little mischievous, a little rebellious and with a little bit of attitude. “Normally, I play a character at the bottom of the rung.”
Tweedy is naturally funny, starting with the slapstick way in which he carries himself. He’s limber and expressive, with a smile that – well, you just can’t help it – makes you want to laugh.
His comedic nature evidenced itself at an early age.
At 15, Tweedy got a job as a top-line waiter, but was terrible at it. “I’d spill things, drop things, mess up orders. I even got the salt and sugar mixed up at a 500-person function. But they didn’t sack me, as they found me funny.”
As a child, Tweedy thought he wanted to be a cartoon animator. But at 16, he decided he wanted “to be the cartoon,” not just make them. His parents reacted as any non-circus parent might. “No, no, don’t be silly.” But for the boy, art school was no longer an option. He wanted to be a clown.
At 17, during a family vacation in Florida, Tweedy’s family joined a Scottish festival near Kissimmee. As the young lad danced, his belt slipped down his kilt, tripping him up. “It created a pile-up of kilted Boy Scouts and a stadium full of laughing people – a sign of things to come.”
Tweedy taught himself basic skills, such as biking and juggling. At 20, he mailed a questionnaire to famous clowns and got two responses: one from Canada, and one from Martin “Zippo” Burton of Great Britain.
He wound up joining Zippos Circus as a promotional clown in 1994. A week later, with Zippo stuck in traffic, Tweedy performed a routine that made him a circus star. Over the next seven years, he became famous for routines with a brush or a ladder, scenes that kept getting more and more ridiculous.
At 25, when Tweedy got married, he drove a tiny clown car to the church, and then pulled a U-turn. He later rode back on a horse with a “Just Married” sign on the back. And when he said, “I do,” the whole place erupted with laughter. “I guess I said it really loud. The one moment I was serious!”
In 2007, Tweedy staged a one-man show, Tweedy’s Lost Property, about a clown who gives in to societal pressures and gets a real job in a lost-and-found office. A special memory is performing for royalty at the Princess Grace Theatre in Monte Carlo.
Tweedy has been awarded numerous honors, including best comedy act of 2008 by the Circus Friends Association of Great Britain.
Now as a star in a two-year tour of The Greatest Show On Earth. Asked for a profound comment, he offered: “If a tree falls in the forest when there’s no one there, do all the other trees laugh and point?”
You get the picture.
Tweedy makes people laugh.
Tweedy will be joined on the Ringling Bros. train by his wife, Sharon, and his six-year-old daughter, Willow.