Pony Charvet’s grandfather was an animal coach in a circus. His hippie dad and mom named him “Pony” as a result of they wished him to run free, and through his first performing gig — in fourth grade — he portrayed an elf.
With a background like that, it’s probably not shocking that he wound up in offbeat, irreverent Key West.
At the moment, Charvet is likely one of the island’s extremely regarded actor-comedians. His native credit embrace portraying serial killer Buffalo Invoice within the twisted “Silence of the Lambs: The Musical,” a dancing hooker within the domestically written “Oklahoma Smith and the Pantheon of Annihilation,” and his dream position of Fagin in a Keys Children manufacturing of “Oliver.”
His expertise and timing shine even briefly appearances — together with an unforgettable one-man skit about phone foibles throughout a long-ago Crimson Barn Theatre present, which left his viewers helpless with laughter.
Rising up in Washington state, Charvet was mentored by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kramer, whose successes included “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” — each starring Spencer Tracy.
“He and his spouse had began up a program for performing youngsters,” Charvet defined. “He was a tremendous man who did 36 movement footage, and he took me beneath his wing.”
In addition to lauding Charvet for having “that high quality folks need to watch,” Kramer warned his protégé that he wanted to develop a thicker pores and skin to reach present enterprise.
After a stint in Los Angeles that proved Kramer proper, Charvet stepped away from performing and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. He stayed for some eight years and labored as a hairdresser.
Nonetheless, his life modified path when an opportunity assembly at a conference led him to go to the Florida Keys.
“The primary evening I stayed with a buddy who lived on Massive Pine, and I used to be out on the finish of the pier meditating beneath a full moon,” mentioned Charvet. “The following day I went to Tea Dance in Key West, and that simply sealed the deal — I knew this was the subsequent place that I used to be speculated to be.”
He relocated to Key West in October 1995, initially doing hair on the Casa Marina Resort’s White Home Salon and ready tables on the Blue Heaven eatery. Virtually instantly he grew to become one of many island’s staunchest supporters, captivated by the heat and sincerity he encountered.
“What’s magical about this island are the folks and the sense of group,” Charvet mentioned. “Individuals come right here they usually let their guard down, they usually converse what I name the language of the guts.
“There’s a magic that ensues with that — an authenticity and a real degree of openness,” he added. “This island brings folks collectively.”
In addition to embracing the group and its way of life, Charvet returned to performing after his post-L.A. hiatus and have become a well known gentle on native phases. Inspired by Comedy Key West’s Joe Madaus and Tom Dustin, he additionally tried his hand at standup comedy.
At the moment Charvet performs often for scores of holiday makers in his newest position as a driver for Outdated City Trolley, spicing his sightseeing excursions with private tales in regards to the island and its folks — together with the late writer and songwriter Shel Silverstein and long-gone Fifties pinup queen Bettie Web page.
“For my trolley tour, I attempt to be a one-man present and contact on the characters of Key West which might be a part of the magic of the island,” he mentioned. “I attempt to run the gamut of all of the feelings — you’re going to giggle, and I hope that I contact your coronary heart.”
An incident involving his personal coronary heart supplied much more cause for him to get pleasure from his life and island dwelling. A few years in the past, Charvet revealed, he had a coronary heart assault that resulted in being airlifted to Miami and present process bypass surgical procedure.
Now his non-working hours are filled with lengthy early-morning walks, meditation and reveling within the simplicity and great thing about favourite Key West locations just like the gardens at West Martello Tower. He’s additionally enthusiastic about touring, each on solo adventures and with a bunch of mates.
“Every single day I get is a present, and also you at all times need to be sure that none is wasted — and there’s a lot magnificence on this planet in the event you search for it,” Charvet mentioned.
A parable he discovered a few years in the past in New Mexico sums up his willpower to strategy life with exuberance and hunt down magnificence and positivity.
“There’s an outdated saying on the market that there’s two wolves that reside inside us — a wolf that’s darkish and a wolf that’s gentle — and the one you feed is the one which’s stronger,” he defined. “So I attempt to feed the wolf of sunshine.”