What is a Clown?

By Bruce “Charlie” Johnson What is a clown? Is it somebody in a bright pair of overalls with an ear to ear smile painted on his face? Is it somebody in a circus who distracts the audience while props are set? Is it somebody who makes balloon animals, and performs a few magic tricks? Is it somebody promoting a product on TV? These are all definitions that I have heard, and they are all inaccurate. As a working professional clown, I will try to explain what a clown is. I define a clown as a comic character performed for the benefit of others. Of course, a clown is funny. Everybody knows that, or do they? Frequently people employing a clown are really looking for somebody to make balloon animals. I know of one clown whose sole criterion for judging other clowns is the number of balloon animals they can make. Balloon animals are nice, I fondly recall one I received as a child from a man dressed as a barker, but they are not funny. There is a difference between a balloonologist and a clown. It is possible to do both but doing balloon animals does not make you a clown.

A Clown is a comic character performed for the benefit of others.

Yet many people do equate balloonology and clowning. Why? Because they do not understand what clowning is. The majority of people in our country have never been exposed to good clowning. Many people have never seen a clown, not even a poor one, with the exception of Ronald McDonald commercials.  They do not know what is possible with clowning.

The criteria of comedy is one that many crowns fail. To be truly funny is not easy. Comedy is not a science with formulas to follow, but is an art. It is an interaction between a performer and an audience. It is a matter of taste. The only way to test a gag is to try it before an audience to see how they react. To make things more difficult a gag that works extremely well for one performer will fall flat for another. The reason for this is character. The humor of any situation is dependent upon the character to whom it happens. A fall that deflates a pompous society matron can be funny, but If it happens to a frail elderly lady it is tragic. Each individual clown should be a distinct character. There is no such thing as being simply a clown. A clown can be flirtatious, shy, arrogant, stupid, clever, or any number of attributes, but he has to be something. The great clowns are those with depth of character involving many aspects. Their clown characters are carefully delineated personalities.

For example, I have often heard Otto Griebling’s clown character described as being less sympathetic and more aggressive than Emmett Kelly’s. For such a comparison to be possible it means that people have a clear idea of the qualities of the characters performed by both men.

When clown instructors speak about creating a character they often refer to finding the clown within you. In a real sense this is what happens. A clown character provides a façade the real person can hide behind, thus freeing inhibitions. This freedom is one of the lures of clowning often cited. The character can contain exaggerated traits in the performers personality, ones he wishes he had, and ones he has observed in others.

There must be an honesty to the traits chosen. It will not work for a quiet person to try to force themselves to be a boisterous clown, although it is possible the façade may free them to become boisterous. It will not work for one person to tell another what traits their character should have.

However, there is a distinct difference between the performers own personality, and that of his character. The character is a role he adopts while performing. In reality he may be quite different.

The specific traits chosen for the character will be determined by the performers personal sense of humor.

As the performer interacts with audiences, discovers what they respond to, and as his skills develop, his character will evolve and change.

This is one of the big differences between an actor and a clown. While they use many of the same techniques, an actor portrays many characters during his career, and a clown concentrates on perfecting one character.

This is true of the movie clowns like Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel & Hardy, and Bob Hope. There is a consistency of characterization from movie to movie.

Also, an actor is part of a team. Under the guidance of a director he uses make-up, costumes, and props designed and built by others to interpret a character created by a writer. A clown is his own writer, director, costumer, make-up artist, and prop man.

The clown must pull all these elements together, and they must each contribute to the expression of his character.

This is the main draw back to the one-piece costume with ruffles. It’s meaning has been so diffused into a general clown that it says nothing about a specific character. Also, many people equate it with a rented Halloween costume, and therefore with amateurism.

Another “every clown” aspect of the amateur is the enormous painted-on grin. While the big smile symbolizes a clown to many people, it masks the performer’s expressions. A good make-up design enhances the expressive qualities of the performers face. A good clown should be able to portray a variety of emotions including desire, joy, sadness, and pain.

Actually, it is possible to be a clown and use little or no make-up. Generally, the quality of clowning in the American Ice Shows is higher than in the American Circus, yet traditionally the Ice Clowns use little make-up.

Since the clown is responsible for all aspects of his performance he has tremendous creative freedom. This creativity is an important aspect of clowning, one shared by all the great clowns.

The clown must keep in mind that what he is creating is destined for performance. Everything must be focused towards eliciting the desired response from the audience. Clowning is a form of entertainment and does not exist in a vacuum.

Perhaps the easiest way to explain what this means is to use juggling as an example. There are some juggling tricks that take years to learn and are understood and appreciated only by other jugglers. For example, jugglers know what an amazing accomplishment it is to juggle seven clubs, but to lay people it is not much different from doing five clubs.

Jugglers are divided into two types, hobbyists and entertainers.

Hobbyists are those who juggle for the sake of juggling. Their goal is to increase their technical skill, and to impress other jugglers. They very seldom wear any kind of wardrobe or give any thought to how they present their tricks. It is enough that they can accomplish them.

Entertainers are those who use juggling as a method to delight others. They concentrate less on technical skill, since it is not understood by audiences, and work on developing tricks that will be appreciated by the audience. They are concerned with how to routine the tricks, what to do if they drop, how to move, and all aspects of showmanship. Actually, juggling is a boring skill that is difficult to make entertaining.

Charlie juggling during a Funs-A-Poppin” performance in 1982.

Photo by Bruce L. Johnson

A clown, too, must be concerned with showmanship. He must understand and use movement, blocking, focus, timing, and pacing. He must give careful consideration not only to the idea behind his gags, but also to how they are framed and presented. A good clown uses every possible tool to entertain the audience.

Although it is fun to clown, a clown performs for the enjoyment of others. This is a point many people fail to understand. It is the difference between a clown and a practical joker or party-goof-off who

perform for their own enjoyment. Frequently I receive requests from people who think they would make a-good clown because they like to goof around. Rarely do they make even passable clowns because they lack the necessary self-discipline and interest in others.

A clown must love people in order to be successful. In interviews and biographies of the great clowns and comedians this point is made over and over. In order to establish rapport with the audience, the performer must like them, and this is an attitude that cannot be faked. Collectively an audience is very sensitive to this.

Clowning serves as a channel for the performers love. He tries to make others happy and feel good about themselves. Displays of affection between children and clowns are common.

Because of this love there is a tradition of clowns visiting hospitals and convalescent homes. Today there is a growing understanding and use of the benefits of clowning. A clown can often reach a patient who has withdrawn into themselves when all others have failed.

This love is something that cannot be taught in a class. In addition, there seems to be an instinctive element to clowning that cannot be taught. Some people show a flair for clowning, and are good clowns right from the start, while others never make good clowns no matter how long and hard they try. Every clown can learn to be a better clown, but not everybody can learn to be a clown.

The next time you see a performer in Make-up and costume do not automatically assume they are a clown. Ask yourself, are they funny? Are they portraying a definite character? Are they involved in others, or are they on an ego trip? Are they really a clown?

This article originally appeared in the November/December 1982 issue of The White Tops published by the Circus Fans Association of America.

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I think this is the most popular article that I have written.  It has been widely copied and distributed.  I had a friend who was starting a clown supply business in the mid-1980’s.  She went to six conventions or lectures one year, and received six copies of this article.  Some people violated the copyright law when they distributed it.

It has stood up remarkably well for forty years.  It was reprinted, with my permission, in the 2023 Clown Camp educational notebook.

Here is a little background on its publication.  In the early 1980’s, people currently performing with a circus were not accepted as members of the Circus Fans Association of America.  I toured with the Carson & Barnes Circus during its 1981 season.  During the spring, the show spent several days in the Pheonix, AZ area.  I met a couple of circus fans who lived there.

I returned to the Pheonix area in the spring of 1982 as part of the Funs-A-P0ppin’ cast.  Those two circus fans came to visit me.  They remembered that I took bucket baths when I was touring with Carson & Barnes and living in a compartment in the band sleeper.  They proudly informed me that they had made arrangements for me to use a garden shed that had a drain in the floor.  They explained that they would feed a garden hose through an open window so I could shower in the shed.  I thanked them for their thoughtfulness, but explained that I was no longer staying in a show sleeper.  I had purchased my own travel trailer which had a water tank, heater, and shower compartment.  This is just an example of how Circus Fans were quick to help in any way that they could.

I do not remember the names of these two men.  However, one of them was involved in producing White Tops.  He invited me to write some articles for the magazine even though I was not a member of the association.  I wrote a three-article series.  This definition of a clown was the first.  The second was an explanation of the many things a clown touring with a circus might do as part of their job.  The third was a description of the challenges faced by a circus clown.  The first two articles were published.  The third one did not appear in print.  I think it might not have been published because it was a complaint about the status of circus clowns at the time.

I am now a member of the Circus Fans Association of America. I have had many more articles published in White Tops over the years. I am thankful for all the friendships that I have made because of that organization. You can learn more about the CFA by going to CircusFansAssociationofAmerica.org.