The most ancient clowns have been found in the
Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, around 2400 BC. Unlike
court jesters, clowns have traditionally served a socio-religious and psychological role, and traditionally the roles of
priest and clown have been held by the same persons. For this reason, clowning is often considered an important part of training as a
physical performance discipline, partly because tricky subject matter can be dealt with, but also because it requires a high level of risk and play in the performer. In anthropology, the term
clown has been extended to comparable jester or fool characters in non-Western cultures. A society in which such clowns have an important position are termed
clown societies, and a clown character involved in a religious or ritual capacity is known as a
ritual clown. Many indigenous American peoples have a history of clowning, such as the
Pueblo clown of the
Kachina culture. A
Heyoka is an individual in
Lakota and
Dakota cultures who lives outside the constraints of normal cultural roles, playing the role of a backwards clown by doing everything in reverse. The Heyoka role is sometimes best filled by a
Winkte.
Canadian First Nations also feature jester-like ritual performers, translated by one Anishinaabe activist as "Harlequins", though the exact nature of their role is kept secret from non-members of the tribe into the present day. The
Canadian clowning method developed by
Richard Pochinko and furthered by his former apprentice, Sue Morrison, combines European and Native American clowning techniques. In this tradition, masks are made of clay while the creator's eyes are closed. A mask is made for each direction of the
medicine wheel. During this process, the clown creates a personal mythology that explores their personal experiences. The
circus clown tradition developed out of earlier comedic roles in theatre or
Varieté shows during the 19th to mid 20th centuries. This recognizable character features outlandish costumes, distinctive makeup, colorful wigs, exaggerated footwear, and colorful clothing, with the style generally being designed to entertain large audiences. The
modern clowning school of comedy in the 21st century diverged from white-face clown tradition, with more of an emphasis on personal vulnerability and heightened sexuality.
Origin The
clown character developed out of the
zanni rustic fool characters of the early modern
commedia dell'arte, which were themselves directly based on the
rustic fool characters of ancient
Greek and
Roman theatre. Rustic buffoon characters in Classical Greek theater were known as
sklêro-paiktês (from
paizein:
to play (like a child)) or
deikeliktas, besides other generic terms for
rustic or
peasant. In Roman theater, a term for clown was
fossor, literally
digger; laborer. as "Joey" the Clown, c. 1810 The English word
clown was first recorded c. 1560 (as
clowne, cloyne) in the generic meaning
rustic, boor, peasant. The origin of the word is uncertain, perhaps from a Scandinavian word cognate with
clumsy. It is in this sense that
Clown is used as the name of
fool characters in Shakespeare's
Othello and ''
The Winter's Tale. The sense of clown
as referring to a professional or habitual fool or jester developed soon after 1600, based on Elizabethan rustic fool'' characters such as Shakespeare's. The
harlequinade developed in England in the 17th century, inspired by
Arlecchino and the commedia dell'arte. It was here that
Clown came into use as the given name of a stock character. Originally a foil for Harlequin's slyness and adroit nature, Clown was a buffoon or bumpkin fool who resembled less a jester than a comical idiot. He was a lower class character dressed in tattered servants' garb. The now-classical features of the clown character were developed in the early 1800s by
Joseph Grimaldi, who played Clown in
Charles Dibdin's 1800 pantomime
Peter Wilkins: or Harlequin in the Flying World at
Sadler's Wells Theatre, where Grimaldi built the character up into the central figure of the harlequinade.
Modern circuses The
circus clown developed in the 19th century. The modern circus derives from
Philip Astley's London riding school, which opened in 1768. Astley added a clown to his shows to amuse the spectators between equestrian sequences. American
comedian George L. Fox became known for his clown role, directly inspired by Grimaldi, in the 1860s. Tom Belling senior (1843–1900) developed the
red clown or
Auguste (
Dummer August) character c. 1870, acting as a foil for the more sophisticated
white clown. Belling worked for
Circus Renz in Vienna. Belling's costume became the template for the modern stock character of circus or children's clown, based on a lower class or
hobo character, with red nose, white makeup around the eyes and mouth, and oversized clothes and shoes. The clown character as developed by the late 19th century is reflected in
Ruggero Leoncavallo's 1892 opera
Pagliacci (
Clowns). Belling's
Auguste character was further popularized by
Nicolai Poliakoff's
Coco in the 1920s to 1930s. The English word
clown was borrowed, along with the circus clown act, by many other languages, such as French
clown, German
Clown, Russian (and other Slavic languages) кло́ун, Greek κλόουν, Danish/Norwegian
klovn, Romanian
clovn etc. Italian retains
Pagliaccio, a Commedia dell'arte
zanni character, and derivations of the Italian term are found in French
Paillasse, Spanish
payaso, Catalan/Galician
pallasso, Portuguese
palhaço, Greek παλιάτσος, Turkish
palyaço, German
Bajass or
Bajazzo, Yiddish פּאַיאַץ (
payats), Russian пая́ц, Romanian
paiață.
20th-century North America In the early 20th century, with the disappearance of the rustic simpleton or village idiot character of everyday experience, North American circuses developed characters such as the
tramp or
hobo. Examples include
Marceline Orbes, who performed at the
Hippodrome Theater (1905),
Charlie Chaplin's
The Tramp (1914), and
Emmett Kelly's
Weary Willie based on hobos of the Depression era. Another influential tramp character was played by
Otto Griebling during the 1930s to 1950s.
Red Skelton's Dodo the Clown in
The Clown (1953), depicts the circus clown as a tragicomic stock character, "a funny man with a drinking problem". In the United States,
Bozo the Clown was an influential
Auguste character since the late 1950s.
The Bozo Show premiered in 1960 and appeared nationally on cable television in 1978.
McDonald's derived its mascot clown,
Ronald McDonald, from the
Bozo character in the 1960s.
Willard Scott, who had played
Bozo during 1959–1962, performed as the mascot in 1963 television spots. The McDonald's trademark application for the character dates to 1967. Based on the
Bozo template, the US custom of birthday clown, private contractors who offer to perform as clowns at children's parties, developed in the 1960s to 1970s. The strong association of the (
Bozo-derived) clown character with children's entertainment as it has developed since the 1960s also gave rise to
Clown Care or
hospital clowning in children's hospitals by the mid-1980s.
Clowns of America International (established 1984) and
World Clown Association (established 1987) are associations of semi-professionals and professional performers. The shift of the
Auguste or
red clown character from his role as a foil for the white in circus or pantomime shows to a
Bozo-derived standalone character in children's entertainment by the 1980s also gave rise to the
evil clown character, with the attraction of clowns for small children being based in their fundamentally threatening or frightening nature. The fear of clowns, particularly circus clowns, has become known by the term "coulrophobia." == Types ==