Max's date

[Princess]

Dr. Max crashes and burns:



The baby monkey thing is true! This group of soldiers escaped from a P.O.W camp in Burma and were soooo starving that they baked a baby monkey. When it was cooked no-one could eat it because it looked to much like a human infant!

[LibertyCabbage]

I told you circus clowns were tougher than soldiers. A circus clown would eat a fetus in a heartbeat.

Actually, I don't remember telling you about that. So, I'm telling you now.

[Princess]

I always wonder if clowns are a dying breed- I mean everyone past a certain generation things of them as creepy not funny (post "it", John Wayne Gacy ectera

[Blackaby]

Best date ever.

[Twitch360]

I've found myself using that "If you put a baby monkey in the oven" line in conversations lately.

[Little_e-]

I'm not sure I see what's wrong with clowns being creepy. I mean, if we look at clowns from an anthropological perspective, in different societies they serve different functions, not just to be funny. While I think the clowns-as-scary thing may be overdone a bit (it's all hip and cool to think that clowns are freaky, because heaven forbid you should enjoy getting a balloon animal), they do provide an interesting view into the subconscious, our childhood fears, etc.

unfortuanately, I don't think there's much of a market for clowns in 'providing insight into our subconscious and childhood fears.'

[Princess]

and then there are those teary eyed Pierrots!

[Little_e-]

Dude, Americans don't go in for wacky-assed French clowns... :P

...will give real response when I'm not an hour late for class...

[Little_e-]

Exactly, you prove my point. In America at least the clown has been so reduced to simply the circus archetype that there is no longer any room for other kinds of clowns, and it is the circus archetype which we see transformed into the 'scary' clown. Not the court jester or the harlequin or, as you mentioned, the Pierrot.

Back in the day, Red Skelton did a hobo-clown act, and if we go further back, Charlie Chaplin was in a similar vein, but comedy today is taken in the form of the sitcom, not the Punch and Judy show. (I doubt most Americans today could even identify a Punch and Judy show.)

Don't take me wrong, I'm not trying to rag on Americans. I don't know enough about foreign countries to speak about the state of clowns in Britain or Mexico. (Although I was rather disappointed to find out that the British magazine 'Punch" had nothing to do with the play.)

Have you read the Neil Gaiman Punch and Judy book ("The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch: A Romance,") or his Harelequin one? I liked the Punch and Judy, though I haven't read the Harlequin. Of course, even here we can see the clowns transformed into horror, although Gaiman's horror isn't the same horror of the chainsaw weilding clown...

I think if we had more clown variety, more sad clowns, more ploty clowns, we wouldn't see as much of the movement towards 'clowns are scary,' though.

[Little_e-]

My appologies for being so goddam long-winded about clowns.

[Gengar003]

In America at least the clown has been so reduced to simply the circus archetype that there is no longer any room for other kinds of clowns,...

I happen to know a professional clown who doesn't work in a circus; rather he freelances birthday parties, events and the like with a wacky juggling/magic show... and he's not scary at all. Well, at first, yeah (thanks mr. circus clown/"it" archetype), but he quickly cures the audience of it bye being totally NOT scary and BEING friendly and funny.

Summary: Not all clowns are scary, neither are they all the circus archetype.

[Little_e-]

I've actually done the birthday party clown gig (and believe me, greasepaint does not do good things for your skin when you're a teen). But even birthday party clowns in America are basically derivatives of circus clowns. They have the same style make up, hair, costume, etc. The main difference as I see it is that birthday clowns mostly make balloons while circus clowns have slapstick comedy routines.

I personally hated my days as a clown, but that may be a combination of my highly sensitive skin (even normal makeup makes me start cringing) and my general fear of strangers (I was much, much shyer back then,) but that's life. I hope your friend enjoys his work.

[Twitch360]

Did you know that Clowns are the symbol of death in Japanese Folklore?