How would you feel if your lawyer was also a clown? Well, that’s situation Elon Musk finds himself in during his battle against Open AI CEO Sam Altman. Jaymie Parkkinen is a lawyer with Toberoff & Associates and has been on the front lines of Musk and Altman’s ongoing legal dispute over the origins of the AI firm behind ChatGPT. But in his spare time, Parkkinen not only also performs as a clown, but operates his own ‘Clown Cardio business’ in Los Angeles. (Picture: Jaymie Parkkinen/Facebook)
Speaking to Business Insider, Parkkinen said: ‘All of my comedy friends — none of them can believe I’m a lawyer. And none of my lawyer friends can believe I do clown.’ However, there is an art to this, and Parkkinen says he doesn’t do any of the ‘Ronald McDonald birthday party kind of stuff’ that is often associated with the jesters. There is no honking red noses, rainbow curly-haired wigs and he does not ride onto the stage on a unicycle. (Picture: Jaymie Parkkinen/Facebook)
Parkkinen’s clowning around is more like the high-concept physical comedy of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Lucille Ball. He uses the word in the same way we might say ‘improv’ or ‘comedy.’ He explained: ‘When you strip away all the social masks that we all wear, if you strip away gender and politics and money and status and power, and you’re just your raw human self without all of the trappings of society — who are you? And clown tries to answer that question.’ (Picture: Jaymie Parkkinen/Facebook)
He explains that his performances are improvised, and the art form has a lot in common with improv comedy. In practice, his performances involve setting up rules for the audience and then breaking them. The interplay between clown and audience reveals something about everyone. He said: ‘Clowns use a lot of competitions and feats like juggling because the audience knows what is right and wrong about those things.’ (Picture: Jaymie Parkkinen/Facebook)
For example, Parkkinen described a performance where he decided he wouldn’t use any words with the letter ‘M’ and had to figure out how to keep the show going while looking at audience reactions when he slipped up. He said: ‘It kind of becomes like this juggling act, metaphorically speaking. How can I keep this show going? How can I be a believable character, but also never use the letter M? And the audience is watching closely for those kinds of cues.’ (Picture: Getty)
Parkkinen is also known as the lawyer who wrote that Musk ‘does not use a computer’ in a court filing, despite the billionaire’s profile as CEO of multiple technology companies. While the lawyer declined to discuss details of the case he says that the performance aspect of being a clown has helped him in the legal world since litigation is also a performance. He said: ‘At the end of the day, it’s just about connecting with people, and so is being a lawyer. You’re connecting with a judge, a jury, opposing counsel.’ (Picture: Dominika Zarzycka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
He says that other corporate lawyers could benefit from partaking in clown activities too, adding: ‘Lawyers are often very conservative and kind of miss out on this huge gift that’s right at their fingertips. Just take an improv class.’ Parkkinen worked for Toberoff & Associates due to his interest in intellectual property law stemming from his involvement in the Los Angeles entertainment scene. The firm frequently represents celebrities and artists in legal disputes over their work. (Picture: Muhammed Selim Korkutata/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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