Where do you go for training to wear a giant mascot head?
Is there a school for it somewhere? Because somebody making a commercial is looking for adults with experience in mascot costumes.
Experience in mascot costumes? The post doesn't specify, but presumably that means experience with a) walking forward with limited vision, b) Not fainting in the heat and c) Not pummeling annoying children who come up to you.
Via Steve Garfield.
via "Garfield"
Funny
School?
Is there a school for it? Every school has a mascot, and every school needs someone to play it. Sam the Minuteman, the BC Eagle... A lot of high school's even have mascots.
I'll take this one
I think the point here is the question-- and it's an interesting one-- of whether there's a school to learn _how_ to be a mascot, not whether schools _have_ mascots.
I love it when a stupid person calls someone else stupid, and only ends up looking even stupider. Seriously, you weren't even close.
I think the commenter is
I think the commenter is right though. This is where people learn how to do it. They do it because they're roommate is on some team and they get volunteered, then they discover they love it. Or they get it assigned as work study. No one goes to a school to learn this.
My experience
So, yeah, you sorta need some experience in a costume. There's all sorts of showmanship and movement issues that you need to understand. With a bit of practice it's not hard. I would recommend some kind of "clowning" background work and/or some kind of cheerleading background work before putting on the suit for the first time.
I was my university's mascot in my senior year. I was given the opportunity because of my amateur juggling background. It was a lot of fun but very tiring. I worked primarily with the cheerleaders (and tryouts were done with the cheerleaders). It's something you could definitely do "on-the-job" for your first time in a low-key situation (like me at my D-III university), but to do it right requires some experience and showmanship. I can understand why they'd require some proof that you weren't putting on a suit for the first time.
Lemme get this straight:
You can get paid for furry cosplay?
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Sadly, yes
Well, my mascot days were volunteer (rah rah school, and all that). And also sadly, it was supposed to be a bee, but looked far more like a chicken...a furry chicken, no less...so I'm less unfamiliar with "furry cosplay" than I wish I were (since I was supposed to be a bee).
No school, strictly OJT,
No school, strictly OJT, but having some movement training or acting is a plus. Not for the claustrophobic. When performing in mascot suit every movement has to be highly amplified because you are trying to communicate through several inches of foam and fur. Also being in a suit is stifling and stinky. Drink plenty of water. Folks who hire performers often don't understand that it is not unusual to lose 10 lbs or more of water weight at a time. So breaking every 15 minutes is necessary.