i'm into clowns now

[Agent]

[dexeron]

I, for one, am here for your inevitable rebranding as "The Juggal-agent."

[Agent]

you need to learn about more clowns my man that can't be your only cultural touchstone

[Samurai]

Any preference between white, auguste or tramp?

Interestingly, I went to the Moscow State Circus as part of a school trip back when it was still inside the USSR and it turns out Russian clowns have quite a different tradition from the archetypes that emerged from the Commedia dell'arte.

[Agent]

I think I prefer subtler makeup, which you usually find with augustes, but a well done white is probably the best. Tramps are pretty consistent in quality, though, you don't see a lot of bad ones

[Samurai]

The haughty White Clown allows for status drops, 'pon which so much of the best comedy is based. :)

[Steltek]

I am obviously very late on this thread, but could you tell me where one finds this form of entertainment? Searching for clowns on YouTube gets me mainly horror-themed pranks and such -- is there some insider clown terminology I should be looking for instead?

I've often felt that clowns don't get a fair shake nowadays, because of Stephen King and such, and I'd be interested to see what contemporary clowning looks like.

I gather, has to technically be a clown on paper, and wears Chinese-style clown makeup at his exhibitions. In reality, he is an MMA fighter who challenges traditional martial arts masters in China to exhibition fights. (It's not clear from the stories I read exactly why he has to wear the makeup, maybe there's a professional martial artist permit or license he can't get because the government lowered his social credit score so low that he can't go on airplanes.)

He wants to raise awareness about the effectiveness of modern, mixed styles versus rigidly defined historical ones. The government of China views him as a cultural traitor because he is exposing the flaws in traditional Chinese martial arts -- which the Communist Party has been promoting for nationalistic reasons for a few decades -- but it seems like he just wants his people in China to learn how to punch things better, and get with the latest in punching technology.

Even though he never set out to be a clown, and instead had clowning thrust upon him, there's still a kind of humor in watching a slightly chubby, blank-faced clown easily beat up a dour, determined-looking Kung Fu master.