Clown

A clown is a kind of entertainer, or performance artist, who performs physical comedy and stunts to amuse others. They usually wear grease paint makeup that hides their real face, a large wig with brightly-colored hair, and baggy, padded clothing.

Many clowns belong to a circus, while others freelance or have a talent agent who helps them find work. Some clowns study at a clown college or clown school, where they learn acrobatics, juggling and other physical skills, and ways to interact with an audience. Others learn from experienced clowns, or through study and practice.

Clowns in popular culture

A hobo clown.

Clowns are sometimes mentioned in other forms of entertainment. Pagliacci is an opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo, about clowns. This theme was borrowed by Smokey Robinson, when he wrote "The Tears of a Clown" working with Stevie Wonder. Red Skelton was a popular entertainer, who performed clown routines on television.

Ronald McDonald is a clown character who is the mascot of McDonald's restaurants. (Jeff Giuliano, who performed Ronald for many years on television, later became a vegetarian.)

In many different media, clowns are often villains due to the possibility of them being creepy. Examples are Pennywise from Stephen King's It and the Joker from the Batman universe.

Clown Media

Joseph Grimaldi as "Joey" the Clown, c. 1810
Les Rossyann, white clown and clumsy Auguste from France
G.L. Fox, the original Humpty Dumpty, c. 1860s
Joseph Grimaldi as Clown, showing his own make-up design (1820)
Actor in a clown costume (c. 1870)
The Italian Pagliaccio of c. 1600 (Maurice Sand, Masques et bouffons (Comedie Italienne), 1860)
Chuchín (José de Jesus Medrano), a famous Mexican circus clown from the late 1960s to 1984
A circus clown in an Arm & Hammer Brand Soda advertisement poster (c. 1900)
Clowns are often associated with the pie-in-the-face gag. An auguste clown holds a pie at a parade.
Pierrot and Harlequin by Paul Cézanne (1898)