# Cinematic clowning around **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2020, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057 "2020-06-04T16:42:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/1 "2020-06-04T16:42:06Z")
Evil movie and television clowns abound, but are there any good guy/heroic clowns out there in movie/tv land? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/2 "2020-06-04T17:00:35Z")
In Fellini’s[_La Strada_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Strada), Il Matto (The Fool) is a sympathetic character. And Gelsomina herself is a clown. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/3 "2020-06-04T17:03:01Z")
Not in TV or Movieland, but Siegel and Schuster (the guys behind Superman) created another hero – **Funntman** – in 1948. His look was based in Danny Kaye. But he never caught on: > **[Funnyman (comics)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funnyman_(comics))** > > Funnyman is a fictional comic book character whose adventures were published in 1948 by Magazine Enterprises. > After leaving DC Comics and suing that company in a dispute over the rights to their character Superman, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster rejoined their former DC editor Vin Sullivan — who had edited the earliest Superman adventures — at his new company, Magazine Enterprises. > Siegel and Shuster's new creation, Funnyman, starred in a series that ran six issues (cover-dated Jan.–Aug. 1948). > ... ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/4 "2020-06-04T17:03:06Z")
[Koko the Clown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_the_Clown)was a star of early cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/5 "2020-06-04T17:07:37Z")
Depending on how you feel about him, Pocket (from Christopher Moore’s **Fool** , **The Serpent of Venice** and the just-released **Shakespeare for Squirrels** is a heropic clown. He’s TThe Fool from Shakespeare’s _King Lear_. I suspect Moore felt he had to write a book about him after someone gave him a Fool’s cap and bells, which he wore in publicity photos. [https://litreactor.com/interviews/my-cats-never-learned-to-read-an-interview-with-christopher-moore](https://litreactor.com/interviews/my-cats-never-learned-to-read-an-interview-with-christopher-moore) Still no movies or TV shows, though. Most of the clowns in those are either kinda patheetic, or evil, or at best kinda nasty. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/6 "2020-06-04T17:10:32Z")
Do commercials count? Ronald McDonald is supposed to be a good guy. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/7 "2020-06-04T17:11:13Z")
There’s always the Fleischer Brothers cartoon character **Koko the Clown** (originally brother Dave in a clown suit, rotoscoped). He starred is a lot of silent cartoons before being relegated to Background Character in Betty Boop cartoons. But he was in movies (if you count cartoon shorts as movies) and he was a “hero” > **[Koko the Clown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_the_Clown)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Koko the Clown is an animated character created by Max Fleischer. He first appeared as the main protagonist in Out of the Inkwell (1918–1929), a major animated series of the silent era. Throughout the series, he goes on many adventures with his canine companion “Fitz the Dog”, who would later evolve into Bimbo in the Betty Boop cartoons. > The character originated when Max Fleischer invented the rotoscope, a device that allowed for animation to be mo... ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/8 "2020-06-04T17:11:21Z")
Patch Adams ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/9 "2020-06-04T17:11:37Z")
Jimmy Stewart’s character in “The Greatest Show on Earth” acts heroically. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/10 "2020-06-04T17:12:42Z")
Elya Baskin as Anatoly Cherkasov (a circus clown who chickened out of defecting) was a sympathetic character in _Moscow on the Hudson_. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/11 "2020-06-04T17:18:11Z")
Red Skelton’s [Freddie the Freeloader](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZBXuHoW1LM) was one of his most popular characters on his TV show. [Clarabell the Clown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarabell_the_Clown) on Howdy Doody was mischievous but not evil. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/12 "2020-06-04T17:18:52Z")
James Bond (Roger Moore) in **Octopussy**. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/13 "2020-06-04T17:20:21Z")
Hmm, do [clown_fish_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_Nemo) count? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/14 "2020-06-04T17:30:26Z")
[Clopin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clopin_Trouillefou) in the various adaptations of _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_ is often depicted as a fool/jester and leads efforts to rescue Esmeralda. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/15 "2020-06-04T17:30:58Z")
Sorry, **Colibri** – your entry hadn’t surfaced on my screen when I wrote about Koko. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/16 "2020-06-04T17:32:17Z")
On _The Golden Girls_, a season 5 episode, “[Love Under the Big Top](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0589775/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_42),” depicted Dorothy being in love with a successful lawyer (played by Dick Van Dyke) who was leaving law in order to follow his lifelong dream of being a clown. Van Dyke’s character was a bit obsessive about his interest in being a clown, but he was a sympathic character and a good person. (My wife has been binge-watching Golden Girls on the Hallmark Channel recently, and I happened to see this episode recently.) ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/17 "2020-06-04T17:42:14Z")
Bill Murray is dressed as a clown in the film [Quick Change](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_Change). Even though he’s technically a bad guy (he robs a bank at the beginning of the movie), he is a sympathetic character. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/18 "2020-06-04T17:45:56Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Do commercials count? Ronald McDonald is supposed to be a good guy. Is that the clown who associates with children when the parents aren’t around, offering them cookies and soda pop? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/19 "2020-06-04T18:21:14Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Clopin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clopin_Trouillefou) in the various adaptations of _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_ is often depicted as a fool/jester and leads efforts to rescue Esmeralda. If we’re counting jesters, Wamba the jester does a number of heroic deeds in “Ivanhoe” (which has been adapted many times). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/20 "2020-06-04T18:54:51Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > If we’re counting jesters, Wamba the jester does a number of heroic deeds in “Ivanhoe” (which has been adapted many times). Of course, there is also _King Lear’s_ Fool, who is the most loyal and probably the wisest character in the play, and who appears in movie and TV adaptations. (There are of course many other Shakespearean fools, who are usually sympathetic, but not all of them are literal jesters or clowns.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057.md?page=2)