# Dueling Bozos

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-bozos/247420>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 27, 2004, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-bozos/247420 "2004-05-27T21:27:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-bozos/247420/1 "2004-05-27T21:27:28Z")

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[Bozo battle royale](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040527/ap_on_fe_st/bickering_bozos)

> [@](#):
>
> MILWAUKEE - There are no hand buzzers, trick flowers or balloon animals in this clown story. The issue is who created Bozo the Clown — and the dispute is wiping the smile off some clowns’ faces.
> 
> For years, promoter and entertainer Larry Harmon claimed to have both created the character and said he was the original.
> 
> Now the International Clown Hall of Fame in downtown Milwaukee is formally endorsing a different version: Capitol Records executive Alan Livingston created Bozo for recordings in 1946, and the late Vance “Pinto” Colvig was the first person to play the clown.
> 
> On Friday, the hall is posthumously inducting Colvig as the first Bozo.
> 
> That reverses the hall’s “Lifetime of Laughter Award” given to Harmon in 1990 as Bozo’s creator. The hall has since taken Harmon’s plaque off its honor wall.

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-bozos/247420/2 "2004-05-29T04:17:58Z")

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Wow. What a shock. Bozo didn’t invent himself. He purchased himself. I still don’t quite know how I feel about that.

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-bozos/247420/3 "2004-05-29T04:43:58Z")

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“I think we’re all Bozo’s on this bus!”

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-bozos/247420/4 "2004-05-29T04:44:03Z")

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“I think we’re all Bozo’s on this bus!”

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dueling-bozos/247420/5 "2004-05-29T05:55:55Z")

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“…from the Spanish _vosotros,_ with the V and the B being the same…”  
–Firesign Theater  
“Be sure to inflate shoes before crossing the water.”

It’s popular to call a damn fool a Bozo. I thought at first it was an insult to a fine clown. Now I wonder if a professional damn fool would take it as a compliment that his character had become a part of the language. Old “Pinto” is gone, but I wonder what Larry Harmon would say.