[Jords]

I was in the middle of watching Modern Family and Cam was talking about how there are 4 different clown types (hes dressing up as "Fizbo" for Luke's birthday party), and I got intrigued and Googled about them. It never occured to me that there might be different sorts of clown that portray different roles!


1. Whiteface

(a) Pierrot

An elegant clown, artistic, colorful, bright and cheery. Its performance is highly artistic and skillful, but done with a comedic or dramatic flair.

(b) Straight + (c) Grotesque

Edited: Elegant clowns, artistic, colorful, bright and cheery. In a setting with other clowns, these would be in charge. Their performance are highly artistic and skillful, but done with a comedic or dramatic flair. When performing with the Auguste and/or Tramp, these clowns would remain in charge, setting up the routine, throwing rather than taking the pie, slap or kick. The Straight clown is more comical than the Pierrot clown, and the Grotesque clown is more comical than them both. These clowns however are a bit more reserved than the impish and gregarious Auguste.

Left: Straight | Right: Grotesque


2. Auguste

The most comical of all clowns. He/she is impish, gregarious and thrives on slapstick. His/her actions are big, clumsy and awkward. He/she does not have much in common with the Whiteface except for the makeup and costume. His/her personality is that of a rabble rouser. When appearing with the Whiteface, the Auguste (German meaning "foolish") is the brunt of the joke. However, with the Tramp, he becomes the instigator in control of the situation.

3. Tramp/Hobo

By nature, he will probably be a loner, which is reflected in his determination to be silent, generally not talking to anyone but his peers. His downcast mannerisms and shuffling burdensome movements reflect his hard life.

He is the one who is the brunt of the joke and will be on the receiving end of the pie, slap or kick from the Whiteface or Auguste. Both variations of tramps will be judged together. In addition, the "bag lady" would be considered the female version of a Tramp/Hobo.

4. Character

A Character Clown is one who portrays an identifiable character and/or occupation, i.e., fireman, nurse, doctor, cowboy, storybook character, policeman, sailor, small child, etc.

I found it a little interesting anyway!
Poor Tramp/Hobo clowns.

[Shaun]

the joker > all tbh

[Benjamin]

Why did I come in here.

Modern family though.

[Jake.]

What about scary looking clowns

[Joelle.]

Don't like clowns but is no. 2 Ronald McDonald

[Jake.]

Or sinister clowns

[Kizzy]

Everyone I knew as a kid at school had a peirrot pot doll or picture... #scarredforlife

[Jords]

Originally Posted by JH95

What about scary looking clowns

Probably classed as a Character since the others concentrate on comedy

[LikeABoatOnWater]

The Killer Clown

John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer and rapist, also known as the Killer Clown, who was convicted of the sexual assault and murder of a minimum of 33 teenage boys and young men in a series of killings committed between 1972 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy

[Jake.]

Originally Posted by LikeABoatOnWater

The Killer Clown





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy

I've just sat there reading that for the past half hour.. horrific

[AnnieK]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

Everyone I knew as a kid at school had a peirrot pot doll or picture... #scarredforlife

Everyone at my school had one too...except me, all clowns are evil and this thread is too.

[Kyle]

Anybody seen the film I.T?

An excellent film if you don't like clowns!

[Z]

This is pretty cool I like the Pierrot whiteface ones the most, it's artistic in a way that the others can never be...

[Jords]

Originally Posted by Simple Minds

Anybody seen the film I.T?

An excellent film if you don't like clowns!

Yepp, love it

[Tozzie]

my god daughter is petrified of clowns, she watched a movie a lot of years ago, I think it was called 'it' and it scared the life out of her. Her fear is nothing like I've ever known before, poor lass

[Kizzy]

Didn't shevonne have a phobia of clowns?

[Jake.]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

Didn't shevonne have a phobia of clowns?

Yup

[Tom4784]

The only kind of clowns I like are dead ones.

[Z]

Originally Posted by Jords

Yepp, love it

My friend's dad said IT was the scariest film he'd ever seen and we thought he was overreacting until the bit near the start with the gutter... oh my god why