I work in a retail setting that is hosting a carnival-themed promotion starting today. During a meeting this afternoon, a co-worker opened the door and popped his head in to announce, “the clowns are here”. Almost immediately, I replied, “send them in.”
Then, silence. Maybe a dozen people in the room. ‘Dopers woulda got it’, I muttered to myself.
mmm
HAHAHA! I liked it.
I got it.
Try working ‘One of us! We accept her! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble! We accept her! We accept her!’ into a conversation.
That would have caused me to burst out laughing… heck, just reading about it did!
I was humming the first few bars as I read it, too, so if I’da been in the room you’da had musical accompaniment.
HA!
Sorry your wit was wasted. Hate it when that happens. When it happens to me, I have to call my brother and tell him the joke. He always gets it. Nice to have one of those around.
Little help?
I worked with the local McDonad’s restaurants head office for a while a long time ago, and one of the perks of the job was Ronald McDonald coming in to pick up his paycheques or whatever once in a while. He made some kind of joke to me about his clownishness, and I answered that I was used to working with clowns. He thought it was hysterical. 
Your joke was very funny, Mean Mr. Mustard - I would have burst out laughing.
My sister has only pulled off that joke by singing it.
I would have chuckled. In fact, I did. Sorry you work with people who are slow on the uptake.
Reminds me of a phone call my dad once got:
Dad: Hello?
Caller: Is this Mr. ______ ?
Dad: I am he.
Caller: You are he?
Dad: And you are me and we are all together.
Caller: Huh?
Dad: Can I help you?
I prefer this. Skip to 3:05.
On preview: Alessan, bravo to your dad.
Slow on the uptake? Maybe they just aren’t well versed in ancient pop-culture. I certainly wouldn’t have gotten it.
Maybe it’s a generational thing. I make cultural jokes/references all the time and often find that people under 30 completely miss it.
Or they’re just a bit thick. I thought your joke was hilarious.
I keep forgetting that I work with much younger folks. The other day, I was saying something about Carol Burnett’s character Mrs. Wiggins - none of the 3 guys I was talking to had any clue. I told them to check YouTube. Then I told them to get off my lawn…
But I think your response was gold!
My wife missed one yesterday… I was telling her that my manager had been kicked out of a nightclub at the weekend (which although unlikely is not totally impossible to imagine).
It was a retro night, so he’d been dancing to a load of 1980s and 1990s tunes, and he decided that he would follow any “actions” mentioned in the songs.
So when the DJ played “Sit Down” by James, everyone sat on the floor; when the DJ played “Jump Around” by House of Pain everyone started hopping around the dancefloor.
The problems started when the DJ played “Come on Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners…
(Cue tumbleweed moment from Mrs Wallenstein, followed by “… and then what happened?”).
Interestingly, as soon as *told *her it was a joke she got it right away, but it’s more fun when you report it deadpan 
Argh, earworm!
shakes fist angrily at OP
Now that’s an interesting combination of words if ever I heard 'em.
I can’t look at the videos from here, but to me “send in the clowns” is a stock phrase, so yes I find it a funny, if slightly obvious (!) joke. It doesn’t make me think of any tune in particular, though, so I’m not sure what the ear-worm comments are.
Unless it’s that “duh-duh-du-du-du-du-DUH-DUH-deer-duh” circus tune?
Edit… OK, I googled it and it seems to be a Sondheim show tune. Well maybe, but “send in the clowns” is just such a common phrase that anyone ought to know it even if (like me) they don’t know the song).