# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/41 "2020-06-05T16:22:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > 1. By “clown” I mean an actual face-painted clown-clothed clown, not just someone who acts silly. Do you include court jesters and king’s fools? ---
**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 5, 2020, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/42 "2020-06-05T16:46:35Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Do you include court jesters and king’s fools? I am looking for counterparts to all those evil clowns on the small and large screen. Once again- clown face paint, and multi-coloured standard clown clothing. Y’know, the first thing that comes to mind when somebody says, “I hired a clown to entertain at my daughter’s birthday party!”. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/43 "2020-06-05T16:55:41Z")
**Colibri:** Good god, I had no idea you were such a clown scholar! My hat is off to you. But I want to hear your origin story. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/44 "2020-06-05T18:30:33Z")
There’s the [Seinfeld episode](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_irB0PIN_Ko) where Eric the Clown puts out a fire with his oversized shoe, after George runs away. ---
**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 6, 2020, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/45 "2020-06-06T04:01:51Z")
[Baptiste](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/54/85/44/548544ea29dcdf0cc223f84ff40db218.jpg) in [_Children of Paradise_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Paradise) (1945) has a heroic moment early on as he saves the beautiful Garance from an accusation of theft. While he remains a sympathetic character, by the end he is not really a good guy because he betrays his wife to pursue an affair with Garance. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/46 "2020-06-06T05:04:27Z")
[Krusty](https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Krusty_the_Clown) on the Simpsons can be a real jerk, but he also has moments of deep abiding kindness to others. But then goes back into being an arsehole. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/47 "2020-06-12T19:05:10Z")
I seem to recall a TV-movie with Dom DeLuise, in a rare dramatic role (ironically) enough, playing a clown who witnesses a bank robbery. Every other witness said the robber was a black man, but Dom contradicted them, correctly identifying him as a white man wearing makeup. “I’ve been doing makeup for twenty-five years – I know the difference between a black man and a white man wearing blackface.” I don’t remember the rest of the movie, but it basically involves him solving the crime. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/48 "2020-06-12T21:38:00Z")
Not heroic, but there was a [Barney Miller](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5RDFmHp3hA) episode where the detectives helped a clown who had been mugged. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2020, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/49 "2020-06-13T00:11:38Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > In the TV show _Circus Boy_ (1956-1958), Noah Beery Jr. played the title character’s foster father, “Uncle” [Joey the Clown.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxSLww4mw6w) (The boy was played by Mickey Dolenz, later drummer for _The Monkees_). I used to watch it faithfully. It was the reason I used to daydream about having my own pet elephant that I would ride up and down our driveway (in our suburban Ozzie and Harriet type neighborhood, no less). The theme music has stayed in my head all my life. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/50 "2020-06-13T00:18:33Z")
> **["Perry Mason" The Case of the Clumsy Clown (TV Episode 1960) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0673219/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_30)** > > The Case of the Clumsy Clown: Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. With Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, William Hopper, Ray Collins. Four years after a half-owner of a circus is mauled by a tiger, the two owners are trying to buy out each other. Both are... This Perry Mason episode has a good clown and an evil envious clown played by Gunsmokes Ken Curtis. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057/51 "2020-06-13T14:58:08Z")
_Toby Tyler; or, Ten Weeks with a Circus_. The clowns are supporting characters, but they are there. > **[Category:Circus films](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Circus_films)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Films in this category are set in (or significantly feature) a circus, traveling carnival or freak show. > This category has the following 3 subcategories, out of 3 total. > The following 200 pages are in this category, out of approximately 296 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. > **[Category:Films about clowns](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_about_clowns)** > > Films about clowns, persons who wear a unique makeup-face and flamboyant costume, performing comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness (by reversing folkway-norms) all while using physical comedy. > This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total. > The following 34 pages are in this category, out of 34 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cinematic-clowning-around/855057.md?page=2)