John is the co-creator (with Michael Kennard) of Mump & Smoot. He attended three universities but was never inspired to finish. In his twenties he had jobs as a roughneck, orderly, painter, construction worker, frying pan salesman and bartender. Richard Pochinko, Ian Wallace, and Fiona Griffiths introduced him to clown, mask and movement. He also studied bouffon with Philippe Gaulier, physical comedy with John Towsen and improv at Second City. With Mump & Smoot he has co-written and performed in Something, Caged, Ferno, Tense, Something Else and Flux. His directing includes Karen Hines’ Citizen Pochsy, Michael Kennard’s Puzzle Me Red, Miriam Cusson and Mélissa Rockburn’s Stuff, Diana Kolpak’s Lionheart, and De-ba-jeh-mu-jig Theatre’s A Trickster Tale (Tomson Highway), and The Gultch. John also works extensively as a clown coach, director, and teacher across Canada, but primarily on his farm on Manitoulin Island – The Clown Farm (www.theclownfarm.com). Other teaching gigs include Yale School of Drama, Laurentian University, California State University, University of Tel Aviv, University of Calgary, The SPACE (the studio he shared with Mike in Toronto), Equity Showcase, the Workman Theatre Project, the Centre For Indigenous Theater, and as part of the De-ba-jeh-mu-jig outreach program. John has been recognized for his work with a Dora award, a Canadian Comedy award, a Boston Theatre award and a Drama Logue award (California).