Clowns: Evil Or Funny?

[Tribble]

Embalmed clown corpse on display https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/clown-corpse/

"French Tickler". Well, that's become a somewhat unfortunate nickname to be stuck with for eternity.

 

[GerdaWordyer]

Horrible, but better than yodeling.

 

[GNC]

Before watching Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema on horror last night, I'd always assumed the first "evil clown" in fiction to set off the trend was the toy in Poltergeist, but he reminded me of another, older example. Niall McGinnis plays the bad guy in 1957's Night of the Demon - and dresses as a clown in one scene, where he strikes up a hurricane that terrifies the kids in the garden.

They also mentioned Lon Chaney Sr in the silent He Who Gets Slapped, but I'm not sure if he was evil (haven't seen it). Anyway, Night of the Demon, it started earlier than we thought!

 

[Analogue Boy]

Before watching Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema on horror last night, I'd always assumed the first "evil clown" in fiction to set off the trend was the toy in Poltergeist, but he reminded me of another, older example. Niall McGinnis plays the bad guy in 1957's Night of the Demon - and dresses as a clown in one scene, where he strikes up a hurricane that terrifies the kids in the garden.

They also mentioned Lon Chaney Sr in the silent He Who Gets Slapped, but I'm not sure if he was evil (haven't seen it). Anyway, Night of the Demon, it started earlier than we thought!

Mr. Punch.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

Fritz Lang: Spione, 1928.

Two years later we get Emil Jannings humiliation as a clown in The Blue Angel, failing even in his own murderous rage.

Both variants on Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci, 1892.

Canio, the clown, driven to murder in a jealous rage, can be viewed as a study in pathos and alienation leading to evil.

 

[Tribble]

Mr. Punch.

"Now that is the way to do it."

 

[gattino]

The man who laughs (1928). Famously the visual inspiration for:

 

[maximus otter]

...Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci, 1892.

Canio, the clown, driven to murder in a jealous rage, can be viewed as a study in pathos and alienation leading to evil.

Vesti la giubba (“On with the Motley”):

maximus otter

 

[GNC]

View attachment 11146 The man who laughs (1928). Famously the visual inspiration for:

The Man Who Laughs is a good guy, though. So, arguably, is Mr Punch - anyone ever scared of a Punch and Judy show? It's possible, I suppose.

 

[Tribble]

The Man Who Laughs is a good guy, though. So, arguably, is Mr Punch - anyone ever scared of a Punch and Judy show? It's possible, I suppose.

Mr Punch is a child-abusing, wife-beating, policeman-assaulting villain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_and_Judy#Story

 

[GNC]

Mr Punch is a child-abusing, wife-beating, policeman-assaulting villain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_and_Judy#Story

And he's the hero! He saves us from the Crocodile.

 

[Tribble]

And he's the hero! He saves us from the Crocodile.

Or does the Crocodile save us from him?

 

[GNC]

Or does the Crocodile save us from him?

How long is a piece of string? Or a string of sausages?

 

[FrKadash]

Just read a recent news article on a fresh report from Kent. This reminded me of a story I read on the forums once of clowns driving in a van that was stopping by kids and the door opening up with more clowns inside beckoning to the kids to get in the van. I can only recall it vaguely, I have been searching the threads but can't find anything that matches, does anyone remember this?

 

[Coastaljames]

^ I remember it...but nothing more...and seems a very urban legend-type tale.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Just read a recent news article on a fresh report from Kent. This reminded me of a story I read on the forums once of clowns driving in a van that was stopping by kids and the door opening up with more clowns inside beckoning to the kids to get in the van. I can only recall it vaguely, I have been searching the threads but can't find anything that matches, does anyone remember this?

There's not a specific thread or story that matches all the elements you cite, but the elements you cite can be found in different combinations scattered across multiple threads:

Phantom Clowns
http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/phantom-clowns.205/


Mysterious gang of thugs
http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/mysterious-gang-of-thugs.24018/#post-585907


Clowns: Evil or Funny?
http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/clowns-evil-or-funny.6265/

 

[EnolaGaia]

If it involves a black van, there's a similar-sounding story in:

The Childsnatcher
http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/the-childsnatcher.19151/

 

[FrKadash]

Thanks EnolaGaia, I've found a reference to a similar sounding report coming from 1981 in Boston,

On May 6th of that year, police received a report that “one or two men wearing clown outfits” were driving a candy-laden van around near Brookline’s Longwood School. (The van even had a broken headlight, for maximum punchbuggy-style kid attraction.)

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articl...ton-can-this-help-explain-current-clown-panic

And this one,

The department said in a separate Facebook post that it had received calls about clowns in a van trying to talk to children in wooded areas.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/30/us/creepy-clown-hoaxes-arrests.html

 

[hunck]

Vanload should be the collective noun for clowns.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Thanks EnolaGaia, I've found a reference to a similar sounding report coming from 1981 in Boston, ...

Yep ... These illustrate what I meant when I reported I could only find 'partial' combinations matching the set of elements you cited.

 

[Bigphoot2]

Funny but with a hint of evil

“I had to turn up at a kids’ party with one clown shoe on – I looked a right idiot."
"He said: “You do not want to keep anything from a clown – it’s bad ju ju. Also, you do not want to find a partially dressed clown outside your window at four in the morning."

MISSING: Clown loses size 15 comedy shoe during bike ride
By Jody Doherty-CoveReporter
See all 7 photos

A CLOWN is feeling less than funny after losing his size 15 shoe.

5 comments
Tommy Tickle was cycling from Elm Grove, Brighton, to the seafront on Sunday afternoon when he noticed his £120 size 15 shoe had fallen from his bag.

Now he is calling on people to help him find the comically sized blue and red boot.





Tommy Tickle's Terrible Time
Clown loases his shoe

Mr Tickle, who has been working as a children’s entertainer in the city for 14 years, said: “I had to turn up at a kids’ party with one clown shoe on – I looked a right idiot.

“I’m very fragile in this very sad time for me.

“These shoes cost a packet.”

The 47-year-old clown from Kingswood Street, Brighton, said he has had the outsized footwear for more than eight years but will now be performing in one shoe for the foreseeable future.

He said: “You do not want to keep anything from a clown – it’s bad ju ju.

“Also, you do not want to find a partially dressed clown outside your window at four in the morning.

“So do the right thing and if you see the clown shoe – hand it over to the clown.”
etc

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/16985196.missing-clown-loses-size-15-comedy-shoe-during-bike-ride/

 

[James_H]

Why did Hollywood star Robert pattinson make up a weird lie about an exploding clown in a TV interview?
https://www.thecut.com/2019/08/i-think-about-robert-pattinson-lying-on-the-today-show-a-lot.html

 

[Vardoger]

Why did Hollywood star Robert pattinson make up a weird lie about an exploding clown in a TV interview?
https://www.thecut.com/2019/08/i-think-about-robert-pattinson-lying-on-the-today-show-a-lot.html

Doesn't these celebrities on talk shows have to tell a funny story when they're there? So he made up a story because he had no other story to tell.

 

[Bad Bungle]

29 pages in and no-one has posted my favourite Larson cartoon ?

 

[EnolaGaia]

29 pages in and no-one has posted my favourite Larson cartoon ? ...

Since you brought up the subject of The Far Side ... Here's my personal favorite Larson clown cartoon ...

When clowns go bad ...
​

 

[Spudrick68]

"When i told everyone that I was going to be a comedian, they all laughed at me. They're not laughing anymore". Thank you Bob Monkhouse.

 

[Bigphoot2]

"When i told everyone that I was going to be a comedian, they all laughed at me. They're not laughing anymore". Thank you Bob Monkhouse.

That line is used in the trailer for the new Joker movie

 

[AlchoPwn]

Lets get scientific about why people fear clowns: SciAm article on Coulrophobia

 

[Ger]

Was chatting about clowns recently to colleagues, my memory of them when I was a child was wanting to hide...NOT from fear but simply from embarrassment...I felt embarrassed, on their behalf, so to speak because they were adults who just behaved in a silly fashion, couldn't bear them ! Lol.

 

[Bigphoot2]

We've had funny clowns* and evil clowns and now we have...support clowns.

Auckland adman hires professional clown for redundancy meeting
13 Sep, 2019 5:52pm


A Kiwi adman has chosen an unusual support person to accompany him to a redundancy meeting.
In lieu of the usual suspects of a friend, colleague or family member, the member of the creative team at FCB hired a professional clown to attend the meeting with him.
An image sent to the Herald overnight shows the staffer, sitting alongside his support clown while he talks to the individuals running the meeting.
etc

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business...pt5TG1dpxmusVHNB05l-BXEtD2g2fEWPkU3G41GD8AmH0

*Allegedly. I've had gas bills that are funnier than the average clown.