Colin McEnroe Show: Clowns All Around
Hear what it really means to be a clown, and why so many people fear them.
Here's a quote: "A clown is funny in the circus ring. But what would be the normal reaction to opening a door at midnight, and finding the same clown standing there in the moonlight?"
Sounds like a 21st century post-modern take on clowns, but it actually comes from Lon Chaney, the horror movie star who died in 1930.
Almost one hundred years ago, somebody understood that clowns can be scary. To Chaney, it was all a matter of context. What we've almost forgotten in our 21st century post modern mood is the first part of Chaney's statement. Clowns are funny.
That's the part we have to remind ourselves about. Thanks to Stephen King, a raft of B-Movies, Insane Clown Posse and maybe Krusty the Klown, we've reached a point where the dark side of clowning almost overshadows the pure fun of it. We'll look at clowns from both sides on today's show.
Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.
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To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kinda scary. I've wondered where this started, and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus and a clown killed my dad.
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EMAIL FROM SIMONE:
Enjoyed your show on clowns and did not get through. Wanted to tell you that when I was a child and an orthopedic patient at Bellevue Hospital, the circus came to entertain us (3000 patients). I was 6 and a half at the time, and I was in a full body cast.
I did not enjoy the clowns, and someone noticed....Gay Talese, a young reporter at the time (1959) wound up interviewing me and I was photographed on my prone cart, too....the story was written as a contest between me and the clowns, who stayed afterwards to try to make me laugh. Didn't work.
never have found them very funny....
I guess I don't really go for slapstick humor. At the time, I did enjoy the prancing elephants. That was before I knew about cruelty to animals....
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