I like to play to someone's strengths. one thing you may not know, is that my friend and muse, Devious Skunk is a professional clown! We've talked at length together about how ENF is fun for her because of how silly it can be. I always knew I wanted to incorporate her natural skills in a story and that led to the creation of the Embarrassed Men in Black.
I was a big fan of the Men and Black series and thought it would be fun to do a parody because aliens as a trope would make it very easy to use silly stripping elements. I also thought it would be fun would be making Skunk act outside of her typical silly self by playing someone similar to the dry, humorless character of Agent Kay. In doing so, it would make the silly ways in which she is stripped funnier. That's what led me to coming up with some classic slapstick comedy gags, like a bucket on the head, slipping on a banana peel and itching powder. These aren't new gags in ENF clips, I've seen them a lot in other slapstick stories. The question then became, how would I make the delivery of these jokes unique?
That was when I thought of the Kinky Clownians and the idea that they grow stronger through embarrassing pranks was something that was very fun to write. I initially thought I'd use glue as the joke that would strip Skunk but then when I thought about shadow puppets, I couldn't wait to try that effect and act with Skunk to make it look like she was being attacked by a shadow and stripped. This was inspiration I pulled from another great movie, Killer Klowns from outer Space
Speaking of acting, this was also a first for me to be exposed on camera. I wouldn't say being humiliated is a strong kink of mine, but I would be lying if I said I didn't think about it from time to time.
I knew it would be funny and good for the story for Skunk to pants me after she transformed into a Clownian. I also think humiliation of masculine identified folks hits different because historically, men, cis-men especially, have the privilege of being in power and that trait is automatically associated with that side of the gender spectrum. This is why I think stripping and humiliating masculine folks is funnier and appealing to many. It's also why I feel that sissification is more appealing when it's the masculine identified person being humiliated although I have limited experience with this so I can only speculate.
Technically the shoot was a series of start and stop cuts, with closeups of the comedy device, like the banana peel, before switching to the next shoot. Admittedly I needed a second take of the banana peel slip because how often will I get to see someone slip on a banana peel and laugh? I'd say one of the trickier shots was the shadow puppet scene. I had hoped to use my LED lights to get the effect. The problem was that the light was too bright for the shadow effect to work. So I ended up using a phone camera light and it was the exact effect I needed. It was fun to play with Skunk and adjust my "dog" to act in sink with her pantomiming being bit and I hope everyone gets a kick out of these.
I think the most amazing part was watching Skunk apply her clown makeup, I was excited to see her go in "clown" mode because I have seen her circus performances. It was admittedly, a little scary waiting for her to pop out in a dark hallway, I'm not someone who is scared of clowns but the mood did give me alittle eerie feeling. We only had one shot to do this take because it was the last (literally) Party City confetti popper I had and there would be no more now that it's out of business. Added to the fact that we suffered a casualty that night, one of my LED lights fell and broke (just the stand luckily) so it was a lesson in making adjustments on the fly to make sure the shot was perfect for the confetti shot.
This was the second clip we shot and so by the end of the night, there was some pressure to finish in time and we felt exhausted by the end. It's all worth it because as I watch it in its final form makes me overjoyed to release another silly ENF sketch that I hope you enjoy. See you in April for another clip! *honk honk*
