As a child I grew up wearing homemade costumes such as a hobo, a gypsy, or a country girl (think Laura Ingalls). Most of my Halloweens were in the North, so we had to wear a coat over our costume to trick or treat. One year I got to wear a clear raincoat so you could still see my costume. I thought I was so rad.
Today, one of my greatest fears is clowns. I can’t go into Kroger if the Hobo Shriners are outside the store. Strangely, I love Cirque du Soleil. As a child I watched Bozo the Clown, and as a teen I worked at McDonald’s with Ronald McDonald. A movie I absolutely will not watch is Killer Klowns from Outer Space. I don’t even want to discuss Pennywise or The Joker.
The history of the clown spans over 4,500 years, evolving from sacred, powerful court entertainers who could mock emperors to the makeup-wearing circus performers and pop-culture icons we recognize today.
According to Barnum’s Museum, in ancient Egypt (2500 BCE) African Pygmies known as Dangas performed eccentric dances and imitated gods at the royal courts to amuse the Pharaohs. In Imperial China, court clowns were among the very few people who could challenge the ruler. Yu Sze used humor to dissuade Emperor Qin Shi Huang from painting the Great Wall of China, saving thousands of laborers’ lives. used humor to dissuade Emperor Qin Shi Huang from painting the Great Wall of China, saving thousands of laborers’ lives.
In ancient Greece and Rome, performers in farces wore padded, exaggerated costumes and pointed hats. The Roman Stupidus served as a mimic fool who parodied serious actors and slapped his castmates for laughs. In the medieval times, the court jester was employed by royalty. Medieval jesters wore the iconic “cap and bells”. Because they were viewed as fools, they were granted political protection to speak truth to power and brutally mock the monarch without execution.
Emerging in 16th-century Italy, a traveling theater introduced iconic stock characters, Harlequin, an acrobatic trickster carrying a noisy “slapstick “and Pierrot, a tragic, lovelorn figure who pioneered the use of a whitened, unmasked face.
The clinical term for the fear of clowns is coulrophobia, an intense and irrational anxiety response that affects a significant portion of both children and adults. A clown’s face paint hides their expression, making it hard to read if they are happy, angry or a threat. The near-human appearance with exaggerated, distorted proportions (giant shoes, bulbous noses, oversized mouths) that trigger a subconscious sense of unease. Clowns intentionally break social norms, act erratically, and surprise audiences, which keeps your nervous system in a state of hyper-vigilance. Portrayals of malevolent or killer clowns in literature and film or real people like serial killer John Wayne Gacy, have deeply fixed sinister associations of clowns in public minds.
Although many people now consider the “scary clown” as some ancient truth about clowns, it has a recent history. It did not appear in popular culture until the mid-1980s, and even then, it began as an exception to normal, presumably non-scary clowns, usually as an ironic joke that the clowns were in on. In 1986, David Letterman’s TV show introduced “Flunkie the Clown,” an ironic joke of a character in bad makeup, cigarette dangling. Then, Stephen King’s novel It (featuring the horrifying Pennywise), followed by a TV movie four years later, featured a clown who kills children. The horror comedy Killer Klowns from Outer Space became a cult classic. The 1989 movie Uncle Buck, makes the same joke, contrasting implicitly positive clowns with a negative one, a drunk clown at a kids’ party. The Simpsons expanded that joke, adding the addicted, depressive Krusty the Clown to the Springfield population. The 1990 sketch comedy TV show In Living Color introduced Homey D. Clown, an ex-con sour at kids and angry at “The Man” but working as a clown per his parole agreement.
After watching these shows, it’s not a surprise that I hate clowns. I am in good company; Johnny Depp also dislikes clowns.
Clown Charcuterie
Ingredients:
Black olives (for the eyes)
Red pepper (for the smile line and nose)
Loaf Bread (for the white clown face)
Soft Cheese (for the white clown face)
Salami
Pepperoni
Arrange on cheese board.
Clown Face Burgers
Clown faces
4 burger buns, cut open
Some iceberg lettuce leaves
8 pickle slices
2 pitted black olives, cut into rings
2 red cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Ketchup
Directions for Clown faces
Grill the burger buns (cut side down) over a medium heat (approx. 200 °C for approx. 1 min.). Top with 1 lettuce leaf and 1 burger. Place 2 slices of pickle on the top half of the meat for the eyes, place 2 olive rings on top for the pupils. Use 1 tomato half for the nose and ketchup for the mouth.
Clown Cookie Cones
Ingredients:
3 inches from 1 roll (16.5 oz) refrigerated Pillsbury™
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
3 cups any flavor ice cream
6 sugar cones or cone cups
Assorted candies
String licorice
Desired frosting, decorating bag and star tip
Directions:
Place cookie dough in freezer at least 1 hour. Heat oven to 350°F. Cut six 1/2-inch slices from frozen cookie dough. On ungreased cookie sheet, place slices 2 inches apart. Bake 10 to 13 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely. To assemble clowns, using 1/2-cup ice cream scoop, place 1 rounded scoop ice cream in center of each cookie; press down slightly to secure. Place cone, wide end down, on top of ice cream; arrange to form hat. Freeze until it is firm. Remove clowns from freezer; press candies into ice cream to form eyes and nose and licorice to form mouth. Use frosting, decorating bag and star tip to make collar around ice cream and decorate cone hat. Freeze until firm before serving.
Clown cookies (or cupcakes)
Large, flat cookies (or cupcakes)
White frosting, homemade or canned
Cheerios-assorted flavors for different colors for wig
M&M’s candies for nose and eyes
Gummy worms or licorice strings for mouth
Slather a generous amount of white frosting on each cookie as a base. Make a face using candies and cereal. Not every clown is alike so different is good.
