Clowns In the News Archives

Clowning Around at the
Santa Claus Parade

When I ran out of Skittles, I figured they’d turn on me.

The crowd at the Santa Claus Parade is jolly enough. But a lot of them scream “Trick of Treat” instead of Merry Christmas when I pass them in my clown getup. It’s candy they’re after — and some hold out boxes.

Read more...

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Queen Camilla?

Britain's Prince Charles Drops A Public Hint

Prince Charles has said for the first time that his wife Camilla could be crowned queen, reopening a debate over the status of the woman he married eight years after the death of Princess Diana.

His comments in an interview with the US network NBC, broadcast late Friday, come days after Britain’s royals were back in the spotlight with the announcement that Charles' son, Prince William, is to marry Kate Middleton.

Read more...

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Macy's Clown College Holds School In Lincoln Center

NEW YORK CITY (NBC) - Believe it or not if you enjoy being silly, there's a school just for you!

It's called Macy's Clown University in New York City where hundreds of people turn out this time every year for a crash course in clowning around.

Macy's needs about 800 volunteers to perform as clowns in their Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The clowns are the only ones who actually interact with the millions of people who will line the streets.

Readmore...

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Heck Yeah, Clown Murals!

If you can get past the scary picture outside, the Fun Factory delivers on its promise.

Have you been to the Fun Factory on the Pier? You should go for several reasons:

1. Fun is apparently manufactured there.
2. They have Pong there.
3. Prizes

Read more...

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He Kept Them Laughing:

The Business of Making Faces

The International Clown Festival says there's more to clowning than buffoonery. Clown, actor, playwright, teacher and circus arts performer Mike Hirschbach arrives on his unicycle this November.

"Someone once described them as orangutans who are also poets," laughs Mike Hirschbach, when we ask him for the definition of 'clown'.

Prod him a little more, and he says, "I'd say clowning is skillful clumsiness. The truth, though, is that clowning is something that's difficult to define, but easy to recognise when you see it."

Read more...

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He Kept Them Laughing:

Burley Resident Was Key Part of
'Greatest Show on Earth'

Reactions to the recent passing of a famous circus performer just prove the saying that everyone loves a clown.

Former Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey clown Glen “Frosty” Little, 84, died Tuesday in Kimberly.

I already miss him like crazy,” said Little’s wife, Pat Little, who described the man under the Ringling Boss Clown makeup as extremely kind and loved by people around the world

Read more...

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Sending In the Clowns to Prahran

Elly Schultz has seen first-hand how a little laughter can help some of hospitals’ youngest patients.

Motivated by her time as a Royal Children’s Hospital emergency department nurse, Ms Schultz is organising “Laughing All the Way”, a fundraiser for the Humour Foundation’s Clown Doctor program.

Read More...

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Just Clownin' Around

Daughter of Big Apple Circus Clown Says
Dad Just Wants People to Laugh

Danielle Lubin's father has always been the family clown, and she couldn't be happier.

"I think my dad is hilarious," she said.

Lubin, 25, grew up watching her dad pull on wigs and costumes and lots of makeup. Barry Lubin has been clowning around the circus for three decades.

Read more...

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500 Clown at Edison Nov. 5-6

It’s a madcap weekend of comic mayhem as Chicago sensations 500 Clown target a pair of literary classics with in-your-face improv, commedia dell’arte and physical theater.

Beginning Friday, Nov. 5, the company will descend upon Washington University’s Edison Theatre with 500 Clown Macbeth, a boisterous romp — featuring not a single red nose, tiny car or oversized shoe — through William Shakespeare’s tragic tale of an all-too-ambitious Scott.

Read more...

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Chiefs Participate in National Fallen Firefighter Memorial Weekend

On a beautiful fall weekend in Emmitsburg, Md., firefighters and family members from all over the country gathered at the National Fire Academy to honor those who died in the line of duty in 2009.

For the 29th time during the first weekend in October, the fire service kicked off fire prevention week with the National Fallen Firefighter Memorial Weekend. Family, friends and the nation honored 80 firefighters who died in the line of duty in 2009. For the first time, Military firefighters where also included in the memorial service and they included those firefighters who died while performing firefighting duties from 1981 to 2009.

Read more...

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Patch Adams Clowns Around with Healthcare

Patch” Adams, self-described “naughty clown, physician and social activist who promotes love and friendship, spoke on Wednesday, Oct. 6. Over 800 people, young and old, some dressed as clowns, lined up outside the Davis Concert Hall to see adams. The National Association of Social Workers, Alaska Chapter and the Alaska Counseling Association partnered with the UAF Social Work Department and the Organization of Student Social Workers to bring up Adams to speak.

The Inu-Yupiaq dancers opened the lecture with a dance. Adams entered the stage wearing a colorful shirt and clown pants, children giggled and many people smiled. Adams welcomed the audience with a smile and a wave.

Read more...

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Smiles Shine As Circus Performers
Visit Children's Hospital

It meant only one thing when people in red noses and goofy-looking pants roamed the halls of the Janet Weis Children's Hospital on Friday.

The circus was in town.

Sort of.

Although the circus is two weeks and 70 miles away, in Wilkes-Barre, at the Mohegan Sun Arena, dozens of children and parents scurried to find seats in the lobby of the hospital for the arrival of two clowns from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.Read more...

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Longtime Newark Physician
Serious About Humor-Health Link

It's been said laughter is the best medicine. That's a prescription to which "Dr. Icky Nicky" wholeheartedly subscribes.

The white-faced, red-nosed doctor is the alter ego of now-retired Newark physician Nicholas E. Reed. In the persona of Dr. Icky Nicky, Reed made rounds at Licking Memorial Hospital last week. He also paid a visit to the Newark Rotary Club on Tuesday.

By his own reckoning, as an OB/GYN, Reed delivered about 12,000 Licking County babies - about 2,000 more people than lived in Pataskala circa 2000. Reed estimates he performed something in the range of 10,000 surgeries during the course of his 35-year career.

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald famously remarked, "There are no second acts in American lives." Reed defies that with his post-retirement dedication to the "art of medicine" - now focusing on patients' spirits rather than their bodies through humor therapy. Read more...

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It's About Big Hearts, Not Big Noses
for These Clowns

Wearing a polka-dot cap with shoes to match, Jenny Herrick doesn’t look like a tough drill sergeant.

But to her crew of unusually attired raw recruits, the Sioux City woman wants to make one thing clear: Being a hospital clown is serious business.

“Clowns are usually loud and raucous and flamboyant,” Herrick told the six students attending St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center’s six-week Caring Clown Troupe class. “Yet, in a hospital setting, less is always more.” Read more...

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Beware A Bouffon Clown Headed Our Way

If the name weren't clue enough, Red Bastard is not your average clown.

He's a charming but disarming, bizarro, boundary-pushing "comedy monster" who's coming to town next month to help raise funds for the 2011 Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival.

Jane Nichols- Professor of Clown, Harvard, Juilliard says, "Eric Davis’ Red Bastard has to be the funniest, most original, most outrageous solo performer in this country today. He’s huge. He’s smart. And he’s classic Bouffon." Read more...

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Festive Air As Thousands Await Miners

San Jose mine - This once desolate outpost in the Chilean desert assumed a festive air on Tuesday, as thousands excitedly waited to see the first of 33 trapped miners triumphantly emerge from a 10-week underground ordeal.

The sense of anticipation was palpable just hours before the start of an operation to hoist up the miners.

outdoor tent village, dubbed Camp Hope, which has sprung up outside the mine to house the men's families has become increasingly frenetic in the past few days, with thousands flocking to the site to witness the historic rescue.

More article & pictures...

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Searsport Gets Into
the "Fling of Things"

Hundreds of people turned out on Main Street to take in the sights and sounds of the annual Fling into Fall parade Saturday, October 9.

The parade entertained the crowd with many attractions, including colorful clowns, antique cars, children sporting Halloween costumes and fire trucks from many Waldo County departments. A float carrying pink-clad parade participants intended to raise breast cancer awareness also graced the parade procession, as did several area politicians, police officers, businesspeople and a horse-drawn carriage.

Read more...

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Clowns Serious About Fire Safety

HARTFORD - Fire Chief Dave Owens, dressed as a clown, holds up a cardboard smoke detector as he talks to first-graders Thursday at Hartford Elementary School.

Owens and fellow clown firefighter Chris Barnes from the South Roxana Fire Department were demonstrating to the children that smoke detectors should be placed up high on a wall or ceiling to be most effective.

Read more...

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Portland's B.J. the Clown
Is Serious About Making Kids Laugh

In an economy this bad, in a city this small, professional performers cannot be too choosy about the work they take. And yet B.J. the Clown's phone rings all the time with calls he's not interested in answering.

Portland's most successful clown gets eager requests from TV producers and independent filmmakers looking for a psychotic or inebriated clown to spice up a scene, as if acting like John Wayne Gacy was the norm is good for business. He gets imperious-sounding messages from parents looking "to rent a clown" for their kid's birthday party, as if anybody in a rainbow wig and a bulbous red nose will do.

More article, pics & video here...

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Park Attraction No Laughing Matter

A new theme park attraction has sparked fury among a group of clowns.

They may be funnymen by profession but members of Zippos Circus claim Alton Towers' Carnival of Screams is no laughing matter.

They have organised a demonstration against the horror maze which "reinforces an unfair stereotype" and "portrays clowns as evil".

Read more...

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New Hampshire Native Mike Richter
Clowns Around in Travels
Across the Globe and Back

Circus life has taken rednosed Mike Richter from coast to coast and back.

A 2004 Mascoma Regional of Canaan graduate, Richter has juggled at Madison Square Garden and walked a slack wire at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Recently the clown returned home to promote Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, making its annual stop at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester. The “Greatest Show on Earth” kicks off tonight at 7, followed by six more shows throughout the weekend.

Read more...

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Circus Hopefuls Clown Around
at Boston Tryout

When Phillip McNamara was a child, he never dreamed of running away to join the circus.

But yesterday the 40-year-old substitute teacher, cab dispatcher and taxi driver with salt-and-pepper hair joined a dozen other hopefuls for the chance to join the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus.“The Greatest Show on Earth” was at the TD Garden sizing up candidates.Read more...

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Cold Spring Unicyclist from Clown Clan
Dreams of Going Pro

The unicycle lying across the front steps, not to mention a two-wheeled model and a 5-foot-high version nearby, are a giveaway that what you find at Austin Mayers’ house is different from most others in Central Minnesota.

Most summer days you could find him working on his skills in the driveway, wriggling back and forth, hopping around on that one daring wheel, juggling, going up and down ramps, even a nearby stairway. Read more...

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Send In the Clown

Bobo the Clown’s daughter talks about discovering the man behind the face paint and his Hall of Fame induction in Baraboo

Bonnie Barnett made her way through the back door of the circus in her yellow Easter dress, walking by pacing tigers and swaying elephants

She was only 4 years old and had never seen a big top show, or experienced the smell of one. Her mother Dorothy was leading as they wound their way around the Shrine Auditorium.

In an instant, a tall tramp clown scooped Bonnie up, lifting her high into the air.

The clown's red nose bumped her nose, and he gave her a kiss.Read more...

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Hail King Clown Campbell of Cirque du Soleil's Kooza

The secret to playing the King in Kooza is to haphazardly tap into the latter, says Ron Campbell, the American performer who has been playing the role for more than two years.

More story & photos here...

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Clowns Are More Than Adults in Weird Clothes

A clown without kids nearby is just a grown-up dressed in weird clothes looking kind of forlorn. Kids bring a certain kind of fun with them that goes away when they leave. And no one misses that fun more than clowns.

More story & photos here...

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Photographer Shows Reverse Side
of Clown Art

Laughter, joy and even fear are the types of feelings most minds jump to when they think of clowns. However, this is not the case for Russia's top red nosed entertainer

Popular with children and adults alike, Vyacheslav Polunin is by no means an average artist. His wide range of performances – from the thoughtful to the downright silly have been attracting different kinds of audiences for decades.
Read more...

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Ringling Brothers Clowns Visit

By: Staff Writer • www.newschannel34.com • September 9, 2010

Laughter filled the auditorium of the Discovery Center today as clowns from the Ringling Brothers Circus entertained the kids in the pre-school program.

Cherie and Dave Gregg, ambassadors of laughter, delighted the children with their skit built around a theme to promote reading.Read more here...

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Mechanic in His Makeup

By: Jason Clark • www.courierpress.com • September 4, 2010

With Hank Williams wailing loudly from the radio, James Shekell looks at the 1948 Chevrolet panel truck in his shop.

"If you want a brake job on a 2006 Saturn, I'm not the one you want," says the 64-year-old Warrick County man. "I'm not a garage. I don't just grab a box of wrenches, turn 'em a time or two and I'm done. I restore antique vehicles. Big difference."

Read more here...

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Local Man Passionate for Art of Clowning

By: Kate Seegraves www.newcarlislenews.net • September 1, 2010

Even when he’s not entertaining, Careful the Clown arrives in style.

Careful, also known as New Carlisle resident Craig Jarratt, travels around town on a Segway vehicle. His rainbow-colored glasses, black bowler hat and “Off Duty Clown” pin signal a man for whom fun isn't just a hobby, it's a passion. He clowns at parades, at nursing homes, at community picnics and birthday parties. He's even the president, or “boss clown, of a local clowning organization, the Giggles and Grins Clown Alley.Read more here...

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A Clown Beyond Compare

By: Matthew Hansen • www.omaha.com • August 24, 2010

Omaha's biggest clown is lost somewhere in the western suburbs.

Bubblegum T. Clown stops her minivan and sticks her entire head - pink wig, white cheeks, giant red nose - out of the driver's side window.

She looks right and then left, straining to get a visual on Elk Ridge Village, the retirement home where she's to perform on this Saturday morning.

More story & pictures here...

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Detractors Can't Deter
Harpo T. Clown's Enthusiasm

By: Bruce Fessier www.mydesert.com • August 22, 2010

Sometime between the glory days of Barnum & Bailey and Stephen King's It,”the reputation of clowns took a major hit from a rubber mallet.

People used to laugh with Emmett Kelly Jr.'s Weary Willie. Rodeo clowns were heroes. At the very least, people felt sorry for the clowns that were crying on the inside, like the operatic character Pagliacci.

But sometime after the last golden age in the 1960s, clowns became kind of creepy.

Read more here...

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New York Clown Theatre Festival
to Offer Clown Cabarets & Workshops

By: BWW News Desk • www.broadwayworld.com • August 20, 2010

The 2010 New York Clown Theatre Festival begins on September 3 with its traditional opening day parade from Union Square through the L line subway to Williamsburg, followed by an open-to-the-public pie fight at The Brick Theater.

Read more here...

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FUNundrum on A Train
with Ringmaster & Clown

By: Clinton Stark www.starksilvercreek.com • August 18, 2010

Is life in the circus all the FUNundrum it’s cracked up to be? We headed up to a railway station near Oakland Arena to find out. The circus is in town (and is now playing at the HP Pavilion in San Jose) and we got a unique opportunity to board the famous Ringling Bros. cricus train that crisscrosses the country bringing the latest show into town. It’s a tradition that dates back to 1872 when P.T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Circus, first began traveling that nation’s railways. Today, they are the largest private user of railroads in the country.

Read more here...

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All Aboard the Pie Car
Ringling Brothers Rolling Diner

By: Jackie Burrell •www.mercurynews.com • August 16, 2010

Mist swirls from the railroad tracks in the early morning air. A few miles away, at Oakland's Oracle Arena, the tigers and watusi cattle slumber on. But here, in the shadow of the mile-long circus train, the clowns and acrobats are stirring, lured by the aroma of freshly brewed Starbucks and sizzling bacon wafting from the Pie Car, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus' rolling diner.

Read more here...

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'Clownlets' Learn the Art of Performing,
Pie Throwing

By: Sara Israelsen-Hartley • www.deseretnews.com • August 14, 2010

SALT LAKE CITY: For three hours on Saturday, Madison Brown was more than a cute little 4-year-old. She was an obedient, performing circus elephant.

"She wanted to learn how to juggle, but when she found out they were doing animals she was so excited," said Madison's grandmother, Debbie Brown, as she watched her little blond elephant raise her "trunk" and spin in circles.

Read more here...

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Clowning Around

By: Sarah Haughey •www.sfexaminer.com • August 11, 2010

Two small-town clowns who stumbled upon the San Francisco Circus Center had little intention of joining a professional circus, yet now they’re performing with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's FUNundrum,”which opens in Oakland today.

Oscar Liendo juggled throughout his childhood in Laredo, Texas, and Kelliann Karsten had always been a jokester in her hometown of Baldwinsville, N.Y., but they never imagined they would work as clowns one day.

Read more here...

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The Man Behind the Nose
Send in the Clown - Bozo!

By: Michael Kane • www.nypost.com • August 8, 2010

Confronted by 60 cannibal tribesmen carrying spears, Larry Harmon recalled what the grizzled Aussie bush pilot had said upon dropping him off at the airstrip. “You ain’t coming out of them jungles, mate. Your head’ll be on a stick before nightfall.

Harmon could have run. But not very fast. He was wearing clown shoes.

Read more here...

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Dover Museum Celebrates National Clown Week
with Special Event

By: Staff Reporter • www.dailyrecord.com • July 31, 2010

It's time to send in the clowns for National Clown Day on Wednesday at the Community Children's Museum, 77 E. Blackwell St., Dover. The event begins at noon and is held in collaboration with MerriMakers Clown Alley No. 51.

In celebration of National Clown Week, kicking off Sunday and continuing through Aug. 8, several clowns from New Jersey's chapter of Clowns of America International (COAI) will delight and entertain children throughout the day.

Read more here...

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Clowns Work to Remember Ho Ho, His Charities

By: Carrie Coppernoll • www.newsok.com • July 31, 2010

Toni Woodruff turns into someone else when she puts a sparkly red heart on the tip of her nose.

"Once you get the nose on," she said, "it's all about clowning."

Woodruff and other members of Ho Ho's Central Oklahoma Clown Alley will get together to honor the man who was an inspiration for most of them: Ho Ho.

Read more here...

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The Incredible Real-Life Adventures and
Inspirational Philosophy
of the World's Most Famous Clown

By: Bozo Fan • www.allaboutclowns.com • July 30, 2010

He left the world a happier place than when he came into it. This is the wonderful legacy of Larry Harmon, the man known and loved by children and adults everywhere as Bozo the Clown. With his flaming red wings of hair, bulbous nose, enormous ruby smile, and signature yuh-yuh-yuh-yuh chuckle, Bozo was not only the archetypical clown, but also perhaps the only full-grown adult who understood children. Shortly before his death in 2008, Harmon finished writing his biography, THE MAN BEHIND THE NOSE: Assassins, Astronauts, Cannibals, and Other Stupendous Tales (It Books/Igniter; $25.99; Hardcover). Together with writer Thomas Scott McKenzie, Harmon tells the inspiring, touching, and unique story of his life.

Read more here...

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Send in the Clowns!
Ringling Brothers to Hold Auditions

By: SSC Newsdesk www.starksilvercreek.com • July 28, 2010

For those tired of everyday humdrum lives, wanting to travel, and hoping to inject some laughter into each and every day, Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey may have just the answer: Be A Clown! Celebrating “National Clown Week,” in the first week of August, Ringling Bros. Clown College is giving clowning hopefuls the unbelievable opportunity to audition for a part in the world famous Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown Alley.

Read more and see more pictures here...

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A Life Clowning Around Is All About Smiles

By: Arlene Funke • www.hometownlife.com • July 25, 2010

Marilyn Anderson of Redford is truly in touch with her inner child.

She slips into a goofy costume and applies colorful makeup. She plops on an orange wig and a beanie with a whirling propeller. Now, she's Wink the Clown,”ready to put smiles on people's faces. Her sidekick is “Silly,”a bird puppet.

Read more and see more pictures here...

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El Maida Shrine Circus Clowns
Bring Cheer to Youngest Patients at Providence

By: Alex Hinojosa • www.elpasotimes.com • July 25, 2010

When it comes to passing out smiles, the El Maida Shrine Circus clowns don't fool around.

Six clowns thumped, honked and joked their way down the hall and into the rooms of patients Saturday at the Children's Hospital at Providence, 2001 N. Oregon. The clowns - Pooter, Tooter, Luckie, Butenz, Snickers and R-Jay - handed out coloring books and giggles to about 75 hospitalized patients, their families and employees of the hospital.

Read more...

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Clown Aids Tornado Recovery Efforts at
Barnum Museum

By: Marc Hartzman • www.aolnews.com • July 2, 2010

Last month a freak tornado struck the historic Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Conn., causing damage to both the building and the exhibits. Starting Thursday, it's responding in a way one might expect of such a museum: by clowning around.

Literally.

Renowned clown Joe Barney is helping the recovery efforts by running a series of workshops through the end of this month at the museum's gallery event space, which was not affected by the storm.

Read more...

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Clown Jam in Branson Is A Mixture of
Business & Balloon Animals

By: Cliff Sain • www.news-leader.com • July 16, 2010

D.J. Ehlert is at a convention in Branson teaching a class about marketing. He's also teaching classes about parties and how to make balloon animals.

That's the mixture of fun and serious business that is part of the 13th annual Clown Jam held in the Stone Castle Resort in Branson through Sunday. Read more...

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Tales of Love and Sausages

By: Fiona Zublin • www.washingtonpost.com • July 15, 2010

Clowning deserves more of a place in American entertainment. Not the red-nosed circus clowns, who are uniformly terrifying (the writer's opinion), but classical pratfalls-and-pies clowns, vaudeville clowns, Shakespearean clowns - Commedia dell'Arte clowns? Read more...

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Quick Chat with A Real Live Circus Clown

By: Jennifer Gustavson •www.northshoresun.com • July 13, 2010

Roy Dietrich is a clown. An Auguste type of clown, to be exact, which means he's a prankster.

But don't expect to find a whoopee cushion waiting on your seat under the big top if you visit the Cole Bros. Circus in Middle Island, where he'll be performing this weekend. Read more...

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Final Salute: Shriners Clown Kept Ill Children Smiling

By: Bob Albrecht • www.columbian.com • July 10, 2010

Bill Greene could paint, whittle, scuba dive and mold ceramics.

He could also blow, twist, coil and weave balloons into flowers and animals. That’s when his massive, almost head-sized hands were at their best, according to friends.

Greene, who died of liver cancer at 68 on June 20, was known as “Tug Boat” around the halls of the Shriners Children’s Hospital in Portland, where in full clown garb he twisted balloons into flowers and coaxed laughs out of seriously ill patients. Read more...

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News Anchor Accepts Proposal During Live Shot

By: Alexander Supgul • www.myfoxhouston.com • July 9, 2010

HOUSTON - FOX 26 Morning News anchor Natalie Bomke visited the Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey Circus with co-anchor Chris Stipes as part of her usual assigned duties, but would never have guessed that one of the clowns would change her life forever... Read more & watch a video of the Proposal!

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Circus in Fresno

By: Rich Rodriguez • www.kmph.com • July 8, 2010

There's a kid in all of us and it seems when the circus comes to Fresno young and old savor all the great moments under the big top. The circus stars were decked out in colorful costumes and full of energy on Wednesday night.

They sent in the clowns, elephants and motorcycles... Click for a Video of the Circus

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Clowns Entertain Barnum Museum with $10,000 Gift

By: Marc Hartzman • www.aolnews.com • July 6, 2010

Clowns have a special way of either making people laugh or scaring the bejeezus out of them. But on Monday there was nothing but smiles at the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Conn., when a pair of circus performers showed up with a $10,000 gift. Read more...

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Coping With the Fears of A Clown

by By Cadisha Brown • kidderminstershuttle.co.uk • June 30, 2010

A COLOURFUL circus will be rolling into Stourport with a fun packed show and therapy for people with clown phobia... Popol and Kakehole are determined to ease people’s fears at the show, however and remind them that the clown figure is fun. Read more...

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The Greatest Neighborhood on Earth

By: Bill Vogrin • www.sidestreets.freedomblogging.com • June 13, 2010

Think your neighbor’s a clown? You’ve got nothing on Paul Lanquist and Mike Murphy. Their neighbors are a real bunch of clowns.

Not the kind of guys who run chainsaws at dawn. Or play basketball outside your bedroom at midnight.

We’re talking pie-in-your-face, seltzer-water-down-your-pants, “Greatest Show on Earth” clowns.

See photos and read more here...

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Clown Helps Students Learn About Fingerprinting

by By Erin Patricia Griffiths • northjersey.com • June 3, 2010

Chips The Clown stands before an auditorium of kindergarteners anxiously awaiting the disappearance of a handkerchief he has draped over a white rope. Abracadabra! In a swift move of magical proportions, Chips makes the handkerchief disappear. Read more...

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Quick, Send in the Clowns

by Staff Writer • sunshinecoastdaily.com.au • February 2, 2010

CHRISTINE Rule might have a red nose, a silly name (Flutter-bye) and a lot of face paint, but she is very serious about being a clown.

The Coastal Caring Clowns vice president is one of many jokers who travel to hospitals, respite centres and retirement homes to perform tricks and jokes and provide a cheerful ear for people who are ill, have a disability or are simply lonely.

Now they are looking for new clowns to help bear the load and share some joy. And there will be a workshop held to teach them the trade.

“Some of us are clowning four or five times a month,” Ms Rule said.

The clowns have now launched a recruitment drive for more face-painted jesters to give out a few doses of fun that are not available by prescription.

“The biggest trait we’re looking for is empathy,” Ms Rule said.

“They do like some of the tricks, so we can sculpt balloon animals, but it’s something you learn when you become a clown.

“We find a lot of people are just happy to talk and tell us how they feel.

“And we never clown alone.”

Ms Rule, also known as Flutter-Bye, said she became a clown after she was semi-retired and wanted to volunteer somewhere on the Coast. “I saw Coastal Caring Clowns at the Australia Day parade in Buderim and I’ve since become very heavily involved,” she said.

The workshop, Clowning for Beginners, will be held on Saturday, March 6, at Kawana. It will run from 9am until 4pm.

Would-be clowns must be over 18 but there is no upper age limit.

For more information, contact Christine Rule on 0420 718 025.

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