# How do you feel about clowns? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2019, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025 "2019-06-04T17:34:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/1 "2019-06-04T17:34:19Z")
That’s pretty much it. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/2 "2019-06-04T17:41:56Z")
I remember when growing up I never understood why kids were supposed to like clowns. I didn’t fear them: I despised them. Thought they were stupid. It was only when was 11 when I read about Fellini’s childhood fear of clowns that I learned it was OK for kids not to like them and also some even feared them. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/3 "2019-06-04T17:48:09Z")
I LOVE CLOWNS. And in my case my favorite are the alien/killer/psycho/horror/whicked kind. Heck: I even own my own copy of SICK > **[S.I.C.K. Serial Insane Clown Killer (Video 2003) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367817/)** > > S.I.C.K. Serial Insane Clown Killer: Directed by Bob Willems. With Erica Hanlon, Ken Hebert, Christopher Allison, Charlie Fenwick. A couple of friends are chased by a killer clown in the woods during a week-end. and am a veteran of over a dozen ICP concerts. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/4 "2019-06-04T17:48:51Z")
The thing with clowns is, they’re only supposed to appear in specific contexts, such as at a circus show or at a child’s birthday party. In any other context, they simply don’t make sense, and it’s the juxtaposition that’s as unsettling as the clown itself, if not moreso. Also, clowns are things, like dolls and, in some cases, children themselves, that are inherently “childlike.” And so when you add evil attributes to them, the “evilness” is amplified. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/5 "2019-06-04T17:54:33Z")
I married a clown. She was, apparently, a fancy French clown\*, not a Bozo clown. She was offered a spot in Ringling Bros. Clown College, but declined to go after my (eventual) MIL threatened to disown her. \*Also, apparently, she got $50 a day to do parties, big money for a high schooler in the 80’s. I’m not entirely sure what a fancy French clown does at parties. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/6 "2019-06-04T17:59:03Z")
I have a soft spot for clowns because I grew up in Chicago during the Seventies when the Bozo Show was at its prime. It was bliss. Chicagoland also was the home of John Gacy, which is often cited as the reason clowns became a symbol of terror. Why? Gacy didn’t dress up as a clown when he killed those boys. The clown gig was something he did for neighborhood block parties and such. There’s a picture of John Gacy and Rosalyn Carter together too. Is Rosalyn Carter a symbol of terror? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/7 "2019-06-04T18:03:39Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I married a clown. She was, apparently, a fancy French clown\*, not a Bozo clown. She was offered a spot in Ringling Bros. Clown College, but declined to go after my (eventual) MIL threatened to disown her. > > \*Also, apparently, she got $50 a day to do parties, big money for a high schooler in the 80’s. I’m not entirely sure what a fancy French clown does at parties. It seems like it was something of a “thing” and fairly traditional for more than 150 years of clowning. > **[Vintage Clown Costume](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/403424079105182046)** > > Discover a vintage clown costume that will bring a touch of nostalgia to your next event. Perfect for circus-themed parties and Halloween! ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/8 "2019-06-04T18:04:18Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I’m not entirely sure what a fancy French clown does at parties. Drinks too much, drop cigarette butts on the carpet and insults all the fat lazy American children. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/9 "2019-06-04T18:19:39Z")
i love clowns and watched bozo on wgn when I lived in Indiana and the few i talked to were nice people … i wanted to join the circus… i dont think my poll choice counted ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/10 "2019-06-04T18:22:55Z")
I said neutral. I can’t think of a modern clown that has amused me (I watched Bozo but mainly for the cartoons) but I’m willing to accept that a skilled clown could be entertaining. I just never see the circus to catch them in action. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/11 "2019-06-04T18:23:20Z")
2 guys meet for lunch. 1st guy mentions that on the way over he saw a clown outside the restaurant. 2d guy asks, “Was it a real clown or just someone dressed like one?” ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/12 "2019-06-04T18:29:45Z")
Frankly, I never got the whole trope of clowns being inherently scary. Santa Claus is fundamentally a clown figure, and the standard is not that Santa is scary. Anywho, I always suspect that a percentage of adoption of the “clowns are scary” trope was just [bandwagoning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwagon_effect). Some kid at some party says “clowns are scary” and all the other kids start parroting it. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/13 "2019-06-04T18:31:38Z")
I went with “only the circus kind”, because IMO a good, well trained, circus clown at a premier circus like the Ringling Brothers can be quite entertaining. Your average kid’s birthday party clown, not so much. One memory that stuck with me of going to the circus as a kid was how the clowns put on a really good kind of _Three Stooges_ style slapstick comedy routine. I found it very entertaining, at least at that age. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/14 "2019-06-04T18:40:26Z")
No problem with clowns. I grew up long before it became fashionable to be scared of them. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/15 "2019-06-04T18:40:46Z")
Found them condescending as a child. Found _most_ of the pablum shit that get shoveled at children with the expectation that we’re going to goo and squee over it to be condescending. And pretty much anything that is designed to come across as happy and cheerful on purpose has a high potential for seeming fake; and fake playful cheer often has, immediately behind it, “I’m gonna do something to you that you aren’t gonna like, now hold still little child…”. So, at least mildly creepy and not my cup of stepped beverage but not actively frightening to me. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/16 "2019-06-04T18:46:23Z")
I was surprised to find out some people were scared of clowns. Not at all surprised to find out no one likes clowns. Not sure how to feel about the clown’s inability to understand that no one likes them, should I pity them or despise them even more? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/17 "2019-06-04T18:49:13Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Santa Claus is fundamentally a clown figure No… Santa Claus is fundamentally the red and white _Amanita muscaria_ mushroom, the high of reindeer-herding Arctic flying shamans. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/18 "2019-06-04T18:50:41Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > \*Also, apparently, she got $50 a day to do parties, big money for a high schooler in the 80’s. I’m not entirely sure what a fancy French clown does at parties. Indeed, America had to wait until the 90s before getting that fancy Presidential clown, Ross Pierrot. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/19 "2019-06-04T19:01:43Z")
I voted “kind of like them” but that’s mostly because they’re trying to entertain children and I think that motivation deserves some credit. Plus, have you seen what’s [under that makeup?](https://www.google.com/search?q=bill+skarsgard+pennywise&rlz=1C1GCEU_enUS821US821&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiDo8SvwdDiAhUPvlkKHbqaB9EQ_AUIECgB&biw=1920&bih=938#imgrc=UzPk6XdXtB91kM:) ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2019, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025/20 "2019-06-04T19:13:59Z")
As the documentary “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” has conclusively proven, clowns (and Klowns) are pure evil [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-clowns/835025.md?page=2)