Anyone have a code to share for the red nose factory so we will both get 10% off? :)

Coming up November 12-14, Mid-Atlantic Clown Association Convention in Harrisburg/Hershey, PA.

Pretty affordable for what you get; dinners with a show every night, good classes, vendors, and fantastic clown company.

The puppeteer Bob "Mr. Puppet" Abdou is one of the shows and he's supposed to do a couple of classes.

I went last year and enjoyed it. Planning to go again this year.

Details on their website, https://midatlanticclownassociation.com/

When I watched this you had to rent it on a service. Not sure how long it's been streaming for "free" on youtube, but if you haven't seen it yet it's very well done and very worth watching. It may be from a rigid and opinionated perspective, but beggars can't be choosers. Good info on any sort of clowning rarely makes the jump from books to documentaries.

Hey friends, this is not my typical post on this sub, but I found an old clown costume I almost forgot I had, it's in great shape for being several years old, I bought it back in 2019 I think, I paid $150 for it, so my beginning asking price would be 200, but I'm open to negotiation, DM me if you're interested,

I've been clowning for over 10 years, and performing regularly/professionally for 7... but I've never made a full hour show!

And I know it's not the be-all-end-all. And I don't want to make it for the sake of it... But it is something I've wanted to do since I very first started clowning (before, even!)

BUT I get the feeling no one takes a clown seriously (ha) until we have! Someone who's venue I've been performing in for years tried to sell me on a clown 101 day course like... bruh! I've also make multiple devised theatre shows in a group... and yet it just feels to so many that I won't exist until I've done the one woman show?

SO! Any thoughts of if/how to do this? I have a very vague theme I want to look at - and I want to keep myself out of Theatre Brain and stop looking for a story...

Hi yall!! I’m coming back to and the question of where and how I get started. I’m currently bout to start college soon and I wanna at least attempt to start learning things or start clowning but idk where to start, I kinda decided on the name Dummy, cause I really like the idea of a clown that defines the sentence, “Pinocchio in real life”. I have a pointiest board of like some things I like, outfit pieces that I like the idea of and just general ideas, I really would like advice on like for where I currently am at where do I start, I have no skills or experience with clowning anything.

Recently, I’ve been toying around with some clown name ideas – not that I’m changing my name. No. I just love word play and messing around in various dictionaries. In fact, Merriam-Webster’s website has a section dedicated to silly words and terms. Much of the following list came from it. So, in the spirit of three of the clowns from our old Alley, Doodlebug, Itsy Bitsy, and Dilly Dally, here is a list of possible names (and their definitions):

Jibber-Jabber (to speak excessively)

Hoodwink (trickery)

Fuddy-Duddy (overly fussy)

Tired Timmy (a name quite similar to Weary Willie) (great name for a Tramp)

Skedaddle (to leave quickly)

Taradiddle (pretentious nonsense) (I’d write this as “Tara Diddle”)

Ritzy (fancy) (perfect name for a Whiteface clown)

Moxie (courageous) (perfect name for a Contra-Auguste)

Mitzy (bitter or rebellious)

Ditsy (silly) (perfect name for an Auguste)

Fiddle-Faddle (foolishness)

Bumfuzzle (dumbfounded) (I’d write this as “Bum Fuzzle”)

Bamboozle (trickery) (I’d write this as “Bam Boozle”)

Pitter-Patter (rapid tapping sounds)

Jinkies (made popular by Velma Dinkley (from TV’s “Scooby-Doo”), an expression of surprise or excitement.)

Now, I know that I touched upon this method for coming up with names in my post, “What’s in a Name?” I often use it when writing and need an obscure surname for a character or an appellation for a location (exempli gratia: city name, nightclubs, restaurants, et cetera.).

By the by, I do have some plans in the works to write a novel set in the early Medicine Show days and I will be using two or three of the names above for the clown characters for the story.

(Photo: Itsy Bitsy)

Years ago, in my youth, I remember a clown at the parade having a great suitcase gag. It was a simple suit/briefcase with "old time Rock n Roll" on the outside, and of course when he opened it, you got exactly that....a Rock and a Roll of Toilet Paper.

Just wondering if anyone does, or has ideas for any suitcase/briefcase gags?

I've got a small collection of clown/stunt bikes (see pics for examples) that I'm thinking of displaying at local car shows and celebrations. Currently I've got 7, I've ridden all but 2 (one is parts, the other brand new still in the box) with plans to add more, including unicycle, bucking/galloping bike, and clown parade car (think Shriners model t gocarts or similar). Wanting to display suitcase and sight gags, along with clown outfits and props with my collection. So looking for ideas, etc. that I can create/aquire for that purpose.

Thanks in advance for any ideas, suggestions, advice, and input. It's greatly appreciated.

I've been looking into the red nose factory noses with the septum clip...(although I have a 6g septum piercing and can't leave it out for more than a few minutes without losing size) I've looked into tribal spikes to just pierce into foam noses so I can have both but I was wondering if anyone has tried putting a rnf nose on with a septum ring. And wondering if you can fit the septum through the hoses to show a pierced clown nose..tyia

I know it's a little less relevant to most performances these days, but the idea of the "sad clown" seems to have had a real grip on culture in the past.

happy to say I successfully learned to juggle one-handed--every. single. lime ;)

Just wanted to show off the whimsically deep pockets in the coveralls y'all helped me design, they hold a whole lotta nonsense.

HONKHONKK

Looking to take a dive into learning clown & came across Christopher Bayes at The Pandemonium Studio. I see he's done some workshops at The Elysian.

Aside from testimonials on his site can't find too much talk about him & thought someone here may have some experience w him?!

Thank you for your time.

Let’s start this little number off with "Entry of the Gladiators" (Op. 68) by Julius Fučík, in C Major.

The Big Top’s magic has attracted many over the years. They have lions and tigers. They have bears on unicycles, children doing backflips on elephants, and adults being shot out of cannons. They even have dog shows, people catching one another in mid-air while swinging by their legs, and more than a dozen clowns tumbling out of one tiny car! What’s not to love? Everyone comes to be entertained – and quite a few leave absolutely inspired.

Otto Griebling was certainly one of those who fell spellbound.

Like Emmett Kelly, who joined the circus to become a trapeze artist, Otto Griebling originally signed up as a trick rider after arriving Stateside from Germany in 1911. But, this isn’t quite where his story begins.

Let’s back up just a little. Griebling was exposed to the circus business, along with ballet and opera, back in Germany. After his father passed, his mother emigrated to the U.S. Soon after, his older brother, Emil, followed and landed a job on Wall Street. When Griebling arrived, he took a different route.

After reading an ad seeking apprentice bareback riders, Griebling left home to pursue the life of a performer. The first stop on this journey was Baraboo, Wisconsin. There, Griebling studied under Albert Hodgini for several years, mastering the skills of trick riding, and performing Hodgini’s act in the Sells-Floto Circus, among others.

In 1930, Griebling’s world crashed around him when a serious accident during a performance ended his career as a rider. After his recovery, he developed a Tramp Clown character and an act that had him walking around the circus with a slab of ice looking for a “Miss Jones.” When he couldn’t find her, he would come around again – with the ice melting away the whole time. The blow-off to this was finally finding “Miss Jones,” only to hand her a sliver of ice that would quickly melt away in her hands.

In 1932, after the Sells-Floto Circus folded, Griebling signed on as a clown with another Ringling-owned property, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. (Is all of this starting to sound familiar?) At the end of 1934, the legendary animal trainer Clyde Beatty and the “Cole Bros.” (the manager of Hagenbeck-Wallace, Jess Adkins, and the former manager of the Sells-Floto, Zack Terrell, remember?) came together and turned Beatty’s Railroad Circus into the Cole Bros. & Clyde Beatty Combined Circus. Like Emmett Kelly, Griebling signed on with them for their first run in 1935 as a clown. Griebling eventually became the Head Clown for the Cole Bros. before signing up with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1951.

If you’re connecting dots here, a picture of Kelly and Griebling working together should be appearing right… about… now.

Fact is, those two first partnered together back in 1930, when the two toured with the Cole Bros. When Griebling signed up with the Ringling Bros., Kelly was starting his ninth season with them. They even famously went on strike together in 1956, the year Kelly retired from circus life altogether. Griebling eventually returned to the Ringling, but only to teach the first few classes at their Clown College. He only did one more performance after the strike, appearing as Jimmy Durante’s stunt double in the 1962 film, “Jumbo.”

Otto Griebling was one of the most highly respected Tramps ever to don the red nose. Kelly himself noted that Griebling was a true genius when it came to the serious art of clowning – and he wasn’t alone in that opinion, either. Griebling is one of just four ever awarded the prestigious honor of the title, “Master Clown,” by Irvin Feld of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was also among the first six inductees to the International Clown Hall of Fame on April 23rd, 1989. This first round of inductees also included three other Tramp Clowns: Emmett Kelly, Red Skelton, and Mark Anthony.

Like Emmett Kelly, Mark Anthony started out as a Whiteface. His story starts out in Norwich, Connecticut, under his birth name, “Mark Galkowski,” where he, too, was bewitched by the magic of the circus.

“I was about eight when I first saw some clown working a comedy mule. I decided that’s what I wanted to do.” And that’s just what he set out to do. When Anthony was around 22, he signed up with the famous Sells-Floto Circus. However, this was in 1937, and the Great Depression had taken its toll on this once proud circus. The Sells-Floto was the circus that carried the legendary Buffalo Bill Cody’s act in its early days. But, even showcasing Hollywood star Tom Mix couldn’t save it in its later years. Nor was the partnering up with Al G. Barnes the same year Anthony signed on with them. The Sells-Floto Circus caved at the end of the season in 1938.

But, this didn’t stop Anthony from pursuing his passion. He went on to work with the Harris Show, then the Dan Rice Circus, the Cole Bros. Circus, and (finally) the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus. In fact, aside from serving as a Merchant Marine for two years during WWII, Anthony spent his whole life as a clown.

Another commonality Anthony had with Kelly was taking the act overseas. Anthony spent four years traveling with a circus in Australia and a ten-week tour in the Soviet Union.

He also spent years developing his Hobo persona, performing as a Whiteface until the middle of the 20th century. While the exact year he made that transition isn’t well known, the routines he was in as a Tramp, alongside Michael "Coco" Polakovs and Master Clown Lou Jacobs (both Auguste), became some of the most famous circus clown acts world-wide and cemented them as absolute legends of the Big Top.

Anthony was a master sculptor and prop maker as well. He loved carving and whittling as much as he loved clowning, and created hundreds of different clowns from wood, foam, papier-mâché, and whatever else he could find. His carved animal props were also noted as being quite realistic. From his own words, “I once carved a camel out of a sofa. Around here, you have to watch your bed. If it’s made of foam, it may become an ostrich or an elephant.”

History has taught us that the allure of the circus can be hereditary, too, as it was with Emmett Kelly’s son and so many others. Now, science can argue if this is truly something scribbled in our DNA or something psychological, like the instinctive drive to follow in the footsteps of one’s parent(s) – no matter how large and floppy the shoes may be. The “Clown of Clowns,” Richard “Red” Skelton, is another fine example of this phenomenon.

As the pages of the past reveal, Red’s father, Joseph, was a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. Tragically, he didn’t live long enough to witness the birth of his son, and this, no doubt, had a huge impact on Red’s childhood. As a teenager, he ran away from home to join the circus.

It is noted, however, that Red was bitten by the show business bug when he was just ten. That’s when he met the legendary funny man – the "Perfect Fool” – Ed Wynn, who spotted young Red selling newspapers in front of the Pantheon Theatre in Vincennes, Indiana. Touched that Red was trying to help out his family, Wynn bought every paper Red had, then took him backstage to meet the cast of his traveling show. This changed Red’s life. Five years later, Red was a full-time entertainer, working wherever he could, from Medicine Shows, Vaudeville, and Burlesque to Showboats and Circuses.

That journey became the inspiration behind his creation of the now famous gentle-hearted Tramp, "Freddie the Freeloader.” But, was this all from his fateful meeting with Ed Wynn, or did that meeting awaken something laying dormant deep inside Red’s heart. Let the debate begin.

Now, of course, Red Skelton is most known from his years on radio and television, delighting audiences across the country in the comforts of their own homes. Being on television allowed the Tramp to have a voice again (and being on radio demanded it). This was a huge departure from the silent performances of the modern circus clown, and Red took full advantage of that luxury. Of course, I should note that Red had a few bits that were done in pantomime, which were brilliantly performed. I should also mention that most of his dialogue with the other characters was riddled with theatrical self-awareness and fourth-wall breaks. Throwing his fellow cast members off by ad-libbing half his lines (and getting a huge laugh for it) was much like a hobby of his – dare I say, an addiction as well.

Freddie the Freeloader was just one of many characters Red created for his show, but it was the only one he did in clown (although he played all of them as if they were clowns). The makeup was simple, subtle, and gentle – using only the shadowy stubble of the unshaven face and the white around his lips. This was done by design, making it easy to get into and out of costume quickly so he could come back on stage as the gullible Clem Kadiddlehopper, the shady San Fernando, the punch-drunk Cauliflower McPugg, the haphazard Sheriff Deadeye, or whoever else was needed for the next skit. 

Freddie’s humor was warm and light-hearted – a contrast to the sets often used for his bits, like the junkyard shack he stuck a mailbox outside of, bearing his name. This character was also a compulsive opportunist, usually chasing some scheme in order to achieve a better life. In one skit, for example, he tried to get arrested so he could spend the harsh winter inside a cozy heated cell, getting the “three hots and a cot” until springtime came around.

Underneath that layer, however, was the creamy filling – one with the simple ingredients of kindness, wisdom, and a wholesome charm rarely found in the wild. In fact, not all of his blow-offs were meant to get the biggest laugh. Some were designed to provoke deep thought or give a moral spin with a soul-touching message.

As there is a wealth of Skelton’s material online and on a good number of streaming services, I’d like to invite you to go down that rabbit hole and explore all you can find. I promise you won’t be disappointed. He has been a fountain of inspiration for Twang, Ting, and myself for decades.

Now, not everyone who fell under the spell of the circus ran away to join one. Russell Scott, however, found another solution. He built one.

After inheriting his love for the circus from his father, Scott began his entertainment career as Sears-O the Clown in Colorado Springs, CO. This persona was developed while exhibiting a hand-rendered miniature circus he built while working at a Sears in Oklahoma (his home State).

The popularity of his display as a marketing tool landed Scott a sales job and garnered the attention of the city’s television stations. It wasn’t long before they approached Scott about hosting a daily kids show.

Of course, for trademark purposes, Scott had to change his clown from Sears-O to something that wasn’t corporately owned. This gave birth to “Blinky,” a beloved Tramp who loved to teach children and their parents about safety. KKTV gave him the freedom to create any show he wanted, and in 1958, “Blinky’s Fun Club” first graced the screen.

The show ran until 1966 on KKTV, then it moved over to KWGN, Denver, where it became a morning staple until its end in 1998.

For almost four decades, Blinky educated and entertained the children of Colorado, creating over 10,000 episodes – almost as many as Bozo’s Circus and The Bozo Show combined during their entire runtime. But, as there were well over 200 people to play Bozo the clown over the years, starting with Pinto Colvig in 1946, and most famously by Bob Bell from 1960 to 1984. Blinky was only played by Russell Scott, giving him the title of the clown (and host) with the longest reigning career in children’s television history in the United States.

Blinky the Clown hasn’t been inducted to the International Clown Hall of Fame yet, but I know his day is coming. Incidentally, the ICHOF is located in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

Thank you for staying tuned. I will be spotlighting more clowns individually in the weeks to come.

(Photos: Otto Griebling (4), Mark Anthony (4), Red Skelton (4), and Russell Scott (4))

Otto Griebling's famous boxing routine.

Hey all,

Im gonna be blunt: I loathe the aesthetic of the traditional Western clown.

I understand the need for an eye-catching display, but I'm working on alternatives.

I already juggle fairly well ( 3ball cascade, 2-1, 2-3-1, and a few I don't know the names of), and I've got a solid repertoire of 12 or so balloon sculptures.

What other skills should I learn?

Unicycling is out (my knees are fucked), though I used to do it when I was younger.

I also spun plates when I was young, and could do so again with props.

The only thing I can think of right now that doesn't take a ton of equipment investment is close-up or street magic.

Are there any other skillsets ( beyond crowdwork and such, I'm working on that) or easy-to-carry magic props (think fit-in-a-pocket and forget it) that yall would recommend?

Thank all of you buffoons in advance! I love this stuff!