On Episode 87 of The Martin Lastrapes Show Podcast Hour, I enjoyed a great chat with my pal and award-winning author Jake Aurelian. Jake (in collaboration with his co-author/alter-ego Ripper the Clown) talked about his latest novel The Life & Mimes (& Various Times) of Ripper the Clown: The Autobiography of an Unconventional Time Traveler.
A few topics covered:
- Being attacked by a drunk guy
- Appearing on a morning
- Promoting live comedy shows
- The passing of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper
- True crime and Too Politically Sensitive
In this "unconventional" sequel to the 7-time award-winning The Life & Mimes (& Zombie Apocalypse) of Ripper the Clown, the clown is back with a book that simultaneously spoofs and redefines the time-traveling genre.
Ripper the Clown is an unpredictable cartoon character come to life … a visionary, a renegade, a rogue … and a frustrated stand-up comedian … that is, until two back-to-back events—getting clown profiled by the police and almost getting struck by lightning—provide Ripper with the secret components of time travel. As a pop culture devote, Ripper the Clown’s time “jumping” excursions become the stuff of legend: boxing and defeating Mike Tyson during his heyday; hijacking the Max Headroom hijacker; joining The Three Stooges; winning multiple lotteries; buying vintage items and selling them on eBay; wrestling for the WWF; hanging out with Rasputin, Godzilla, Brian Pillman and Bigfoot; filming the JFK assassination; and even witnessing the UFO crash at Roswell. However, after years—or rather weeks—of fun adventures in the annals of popular culture, Ripper starts to utilize time jumping for the good of the world.
He helps the Titanic avoid disaster; rescues “The Black Dahlia” Elizabeth Short; battles his namesake, Jack the Ripper; searches for Amelia Earhart; and saves the life of John Belushi. And amid his adventures in various past eras, Ripper uncovers a government conspiracy that quickly spirals into nuclear disaster; Ripper embarks on a quest to save the world that leads straight to a donnybrook-confrontation with the President of the United States, D.B. Cooper (yes, a criminal is in the White House). The Life & Mimes (& Various Times) of Ripper the Clown parodies and redefines the popular time travel/Dr. Who, sci-fi, and comic book genres, mixing biting humor and pop culture references with social commentary and political satire. In his alter-ego clown persona, Jake Aurelian has created an edgy, raw and violent, yet complex, emotional, multi-dimensional character—one that is strangely endearing and strangely relatable (as clichéd as it sounds) to readers and audiences of all ages.