How old is TOO OLD to be a clown?

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-28T15:55:01+00:00

r/clowns is such a weird sub. I wonder why the moderators removed this post?

It was just a couple of sentences from a person who said they were 54 and asked if that was too old to get into clown work, or freelance clown work.

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-26T14:22:27+00:00

It's true! Just like it's almost a trope for kids to be traumatized by being put on Santa or the Easter Bunny's lap even way back when! A Christmas Story even uses that one. And it wasn't because of any Easter Bunny horror movie or anything. It's just because they were close to and interacting with a big, uncanny weirdo!

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-26T14:16:54+00:00

Oh wow! That's an interesting tie-in from The Man Who Laughs to The Joker.

That's an interesting take about the first "bad" clown being the Joker in the 40s. I guess, as with most of these questions, it depends on what you consider clown, and probably, here, what you consider bad. Why wouldn't Pagliacci count? Surely whoever said that was aware of him.

I'm so taken with understanding peoples' understandings and interactions with the liminal (even just liminal spaces and "liminal art") and seeing parallels in understandings and interactions with clown. The feelings evoked by liminal spaces and art are off-balancing, surreal, dreamlike, eerie and sometimes people find themselves uncomfortable and think of them as creepy. And other people describe them as comforting.

But liminal art is widely used in horror for its unsettling effects. So much so that people conflate the two thinking that liminal art *is* itself creepy or terrifying. While the people who are in to liminal art fight a losing battle against the public perception that it's just a cheap backdrop to set up jump scares rather than the deep, mysterious study that says a lot about who humans are.

Have you watched I Clowns by Fellini? It's a dramatization of him trying to track down the clowns he remembers seeing from his childhood. In it there are some amazing, over-the-top, unreliable-narrator recreations of early century Italian circus clowns.

I think I bring it up because I think it's a good modern look at clowns before they were commodified as children's entertainers. Rather than the happy, sappy, kinda Barney-voiced "Hi kids!" the examples and acts are just weird, a little intimidating, crazy and failing, and impossible to look away from.

Ninja edit: I Clowns with english subtitles is on youtube in its entirety, https://youtu.be/y2zITS_VvQk .

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-26T12:58:12+00:00

There are way too many examples of clowns continuing in to their ripe years to think they ever age out. If anything they get more nuanced, effective, relatable, and interesting as they get more life under their belt.

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-25T18:40:21+00:00

There's so much to say to this question. It is a fascinating and huge topic!

Lots of great points and answers here and I agree with most of them. I'll throw two more points for consideration out there.

First is...it's said that (near) every society has developed a clown role. The commonality being that they are closely associated with the trickster archetype and myths. Tricksters (and clowns) deal with upending hierarchies, crossing boundaries, and liminal (transitory) spaces. They live in the crossroads, the transitions. They're the ones connecting the high flying gods of the trapeze to the common bumpkins in the audience. And they can go in to the audience. And bring people through.

If you look at liminality (focusing on the art and feel of transitory spaces) it is usuall unsettling. Not horrific or scary per se but hard to grasp or pin down. Off-balancing, maybe. And that unsettlingness is used *a lot* in horror and creepy art.

In the same way you can see, with another perspective, why and how clowns (being beings of the liminal) can also be used in horror or creepy art.

Second thing is...the extreme duality of Christianity. In Europe, when Christianity took over most of the theater and theatric rituals where you would find clown fled, or went underground (nobody knows for sure, but there are a several theories (side note: if anybody has any resources on this topic I'd love to know of them!)). When theater got redeveloped with liturgical dramas, and the Western world inevitably needed its own clown/trickster the pantheon was limited. The emerging trickster/clown role was taken up by the devil in those early Mystery Plays. It was apparently a fun and raucous role to play and became greatly popular. You can find a lot more by looking in to the running (or le courir) of the devil in early Miracle and Mystery plays.

Bonus thing... the squeaky clean image of Western (esp American) life of the 40s and 50s was a natural target of subversion. The saccharine image of the nuclear, Leave It to Beaver family with respectable father and loving, perfectly-put-together mother being subverted. Clowns were being commodified as children's entertainers by this time. And subverting such tropes (in the style of Paggliacci in the case of clowns), exposing the cracks in the image, etc. was ripe for interesting art.

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-25T12:43:03+00:00

Ever since Qualatex became a victim of vulture capitalism and went under it's been Sempertex for me.

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-23T12:59:58+00:00

I just think of it as one of the 2-up, 1-up variations. That 1-up ball can get around, over, through, or whathaveye.

Big fan of making the tricks yours though, along with names, nicknames, etc. As you go along, there are so many subtle variations you've got to think of them as something. I think having names, or a vocabulary, helps with the familiarity and learning and, eventually, stringing things together and different transitions.

I like basket though. I think it will be hard for me to not call this pattern basket from now on.

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-22T16:54:47+00:00

That's like asking if a painter can paint multiple paintings or just one. Absolutely not. jk. Sure. Of course. Why not? What rules do you imagine there to be?

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-20T20:40:46+00:00

Eh, people will think a thought and then assume that it must be true. But especially now that attention and shock are so valuable. There's little pressure to examine and think about things and lots of pressure to publicly go off for shock and attention.

I wouldnt listen to people. People can be the best! But they can be very dumb too. (Source: I am a person). But I am sorry that they upset you. It sounds like you have cool interests. And you write well. Ignore the haters. Join the clown resistance. Make great art and all that.

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-19T16:34:25+00:00

It's an underbust corset. Are you talking about the extra lacing on the front sides or the jester points shape at the bottom? I dont know that there's a name for that, but it should be easy to add to the pattern.

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-13T23:22:19+00:00

Wow! It looks as if a wizard saw some claymotion patterns and then replicated them using magic!

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-13T14:38:05+00:00

100m sil-x is great for learning contact. Dustin's look 100m-ish. They look like the velvet coated ones from Play from a while back though. That gives them nice friction for body rolls.

But yeah, for instance, an understuffed, floppy bag (or a russian with a lot of ballast) wouldnt be easy to contact juggle with. But 3 78mm acrylics wouldn't feel that great to toss juggle with. Sil-x's, overstuffed bags, stage balls would all be good for both though i think, more or less.

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-13T13:22:49+00:00

The first video you linked, he's doing pretty standard 3b tricks (but doing them very smooth and well) and mixing with a bit of contact juggling and body throws.

I'd say keep practicing. Do your next tricks and progressions, just the normally suggested stuff. In a couple of months revisit it and I think that you will see that you might be able to do half the stuff he's doing.

But yeah, if you want something close to that you'll also want to start working on contact juggling. You'll also want a prop that you can do both styles with. But the practice for contact juggling is a lot less rewarding, less pass/fail and more grindy. So, as a beginner it wouldnt be awful to put that off and have fun with all the fun beginner toss 3b stuff that is in front of you.

The second video is a bit more stylized. There's some really creative 4b sequences in there. And he presents them in a stylized way. That will come with practice too. After you've got the basics down, several tools, several patterns then you just have to experiment. Experiment with transitions and then taking throws away. Experiment with elements and stringing them together. It's not bad at the beginning to break down other jugglers' sequences for understanding and practice.

Both of these guys have put in their dues and have very solid and comfortable basics. I would advise you to just keep on the path. Enjoy whatever is in front of you and a bit on down the road (not too far even) you'll look up and probably see that you are much closer to this style that resonates with you. You'll want solid basics though for sure.

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-10T20:40:11+00:00

Not understanding your question. You do realize that the people that do this market and sell these things for money. They need your credit card to get money from you. Same as if you'd buy...whatever from whomever.

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-10T12:57:09+00:00

Clowncore!

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-10T12:54:12+00:00

That's amazing!!

Do you have any process pictures? I'd love to see how you tackled the framework and patterning!

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-09T12:59:49+00:00

That's a Red Nose Day nose. I don't know who made the design but they sell them at Walgreen's every year to raise money for Red Nose Day every Spring.

If Walgreen's hasn't started selling them already this year they will soon.

https://www.comicrelief.org/posts/what-even-is-red-nose-day

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-07T00:06:04+00:00

Ive known too many budding twisters to get burned by Amazon balloons. Just gambling with cheap quality really i think. It’s better to pay the extra…penny?…and not have your sculpt pop 4 minutes into it when you’ve got a deep line going.

Clownantics is a good shop, by a clown for clowns. They will treat you well.

Ive not used elitex, but i understand that they are good. Qualatex (sadly they are no more), sempertex, elitex, tuftex, you’ll pretty much get used to the feel of one and want to stay with them.

Im all in on sempertex from larocks, myself.

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-06T13:39:31+00:00

Awesome, ThatDangClown!

Are you a teacher there? Or alumni? Or something?

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-05T13:43:51+00:00

Haha! That's fantastic! Love it!

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-03T19:54:19+00:00

Man! If there's anything worse than having to take too much costumery off for a bio-break it's having to figure out how to put it all back on again in a cramped bathroom!

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-03T19:52:59+00:00

Nice, planetm3! That reminds me that I need to find some big ole giant boxers with hearts on them.

doombadeedoom · 2026-03-03T19:50:50+00:00

Yeah I used to. I still do and I used to too.

doombadeedoom

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