Editing Clown (section)

== History ==
The most ancient clowns have been found in the [[Fifth Dynasty of Egypt]], around 2400 BC.<ref name="Bala2010">{{cite journal|last1=Bala|first1=Michael|date=Winter 2010|title=The Clown: An Archetypal Self-Journey|journal=Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche|volume=4|issue=1|pages=50–71|doi=10.1525/jung.2010.4.1.50|jstor=10.1525/jung.2010.4.1.50|s2cid=143703784}}</ref> Unlike [[Jester|court jesters]],{{dubious|date=August 2015}} clowns have traditionally served a socio-religious and psychological role, and traditionally{{When|date=October 2021}} the roles of [[priest]] and clown have been held by the same persons.<ref name="Bala2010" />
Peter Berger writes, "It seems plausible that folly and fools, like religion and magic, meet some deeply rooted needs in human society."<ref name="BergerP78">{{Harvnb|Berger|1997|p=78}}</ref> For this reason, clowning is often considered an important part of training as a [[physical theatre|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.<ref name="CalleryP64">{{Harvnb|Callery|2001|p=64}}</ref>

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 society|clown societies]]'', and a clown character involved in a religious or ritual capacity is known as a ''[[ritual clown]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Pollio|first1=Howard|date=1978-09-14|title=What's so funny?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HE3kv720yyEC&pg=PA774|magazine=New Scientist|location=United Kingdom|publisher=Reed Business Information|volume=79|issue=1120|page=774|issn=0262-4079|access-date=2020-05-16}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Charles|first1=Lucile Hoerr|date=Jan–Mar 1945|title=The Clown's Function|journal=The Journal of American Folklore|volume=58|issue=227|pages=25–34|doi=10.2307/535333|jstor=535333}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Edward P. Dozier|url=https://archive.org/details/puebloindiansofn0000dozi|title=The Pueblo Indians of North America|publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston|isbn=0030787459|location=New York|date=1970|page=202|lccn=75114696|ol=5218719M|access-date=2020-05-16}}</ref>

Many native tribes have a history of clowning, such as the [[Pueblo clown]] of the [[Kachina]] culture. A [[Heyoka]] is an individual in [[Lakota tribe|Lakota]] and [[Dakota tribe|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.<ref>[[Kinew, Wab]]. ''The Reason You Walk: A Memoir'', [[Penguin Random House]], 2017.</ref>

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.
{{quote box
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| quote = "Grimaldi was the first recognizable ancestor of the modern clown, sort of the ''Homo erectus'' of clown evolution. Before him, a clown may have worn make-up, but it was usually just a bit of rouge on the cheeks to heighten the sense of them being florid, funny drunks or rustic yokels. Grimaldi, however, suited up in bizarre, colorful costumes, stark white face paint punctuated by spots of bright red on his cheeks and topped with a blue mohawk. He was a master of physical comedy—he leapt in the air, stood on his head, fought himself in hilarious fisticuffs that had audiences rolling in the aisles—as well as of satire lampooning the absurd fashions of the day, comic impressions, and ribald songs."
| source = —''The History and Psychology of Clowns Being Scary'', [[Smithsonian]].<ref name="Smithsonian">{{cite news |title=The History and Psychology of Clowns Being Scary|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-history-and-psychology-of-clowns-being-scary-20394516/ |access-date=2 March 2022 |work=Smithsonian}}</ref>
}}

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.<ref name="Smithsonian"/>

The first mainstream clown role was portrayed by [[Joseph Grimaldi]] (who also created the traditional whiteface make-up design). In the early 1800s, he expanded the role of Clown in the [[harlequinade]] that formed part of British [[pantomime]]s, notably at the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]] and the [[Sadler's Wells Theatre|Sadler's Wells]] and [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] theatres. He became so dominant on the London comic stage that harlequinade Clowns became known as "Joey", and both the nickname and Grimaldi's whiteface make-up design are still used by other clowns.<ref name="Smithsonian"/>

The [[comedy]] that clowns perform is usually in the role of a fool whose everyday actions and tasks become extraordinary—and for whom the ridiculous, for a short while, becomes ordinary. This style of comedy has a long history in many countries and cultures across the world. Some writers have argued that due to the widespread use of such comedy and its long history it is a need that is part of the human condition.<ref>{{cite web |date=2021-09-06 |title=Clowns – a Brief Look Into their History and Mythology |url=https://www.theatreartlife.com/circus/clowns-a-brief-look-into-their-history-and-mythology/ |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=TheatreArtLife |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-03-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301162512/https://www.theatreartlife.com/circus/clowns-a-brief-look-into-their-history-and-mythology/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[modern clowning]] school of comedy in the 21st century diverged from white-face clown tradition, with more of an emphasis on personal vulnerability<ref name="NYT Fear Factor">{{cite news |last1=McElroy |first1=Steven |title=Modern Clowns With a Fear Factor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/theater/modern-clowns-with-a-fear-factor.html |access-date=28 August 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=3 September 2006}}</ref> and heightened sexuality.<ref name="NYT CARNAL CLOWNS">{{cite news |last1=Zinoman |first1=Jason |title=Make Way for the Carnal Clowns of Stand-Up |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/arts/television/clowns-comedy.html |work=The New York Times |date=15 November 2019}}</ref>

=== 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 [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Theatre of ancient Rome|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; labourer''.

[[File:Joseph Grimaldi.jpg|thumb|right|225px|[[Joseph Grimaldi]] as "Joey" the Clown, c. 1810]]
The English word ''[[:wikt:clown|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''.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Icelandic ''klunni'', Swedish ''kluns'' "clumsy, boorish person"; cf. North Frisian ''klönne'' and ''kluns'', also meaning ''clumsy person''. An alternative proposal derives ''clown'' from Latin ''colonus'' "colonist, farmer". The verb ''to clown'' "to play the clown onstage" is from about 1600.<ref>{{cite web|title=Etymology Dictionary|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/clown|access-date=May 6, 2020}}</ref>}} It is in this sense that ''Clown'' is used as the name of [[Shakespearean fool|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 [[English Renaissance theatre|Elizabethan]] ''rustic fool'' characters such as Shakespeare's.

The [[harlequinade]] developed in England in the 17th century, inspired by [[Harlequin|Arlecchino]] and the commedia dell'arte. It was here that ''[[Clown (Harlequinade)|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 the younger|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.<ref name=Neville6>{{Harvnb|Neville|1980|pp=6–7}}</ref><ref name=Wilkins>{{Harvnb|McConnell Stott|2009|pp=95–100}}</ref>

==={{anchor|Auguste}}{{anchor|Red}}Modern circuses ===
{{main|Circus clown}}
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 (clown)|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,{{refn|group=lower-alpha|From ''paglia'', the word for ''straw'' (after the straw costume of the rustic buffoon character), or from ''bajaccio'' "mocker, scoffer".}} and derivations of the Italian term are found in French ''Paillasse'', Spanish ''payaso'', Catalan/Galician ''pallasso'', Portuguese ''palhaço'', Greek παλιάτσος, Turkish ''palyaço'', German ''Bajass'' <ref>Dialectal [https://digital.idiotikon.ch/idtkn/id4.htm#!page/41099/mode/1up Bajass] (in German) in ''[[Schweizerisches Idiotikon]]''</ref> 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 [[New York Hippodrome|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 film)|The Clown]]'' (1953), depicts the circus clown as a tragicomic stock character, "a funny man with a drinking problem".{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

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.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|

A study by the [[University of Sheffield]] concluded "that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7189401.stm |title=Health &#124; Hospital clown images 'too scary' |work=BBC News |date=2008-01-15 |access-date=2020-05-16 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |work=BBC News |date=2008-01-16 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7191721.stm |title=Why are clowns scary? |first1=Finlo |last1=Rohrer |access-date=2020-05-16}}</ref> The natural dislike of clowns makes them effective in eliciting laughter by releasing tension in acting clumsy or rendering themselves helpless.<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Durwin| first1=Joseph| title=Coulrophobia and the Trickster| journal=Trickster's Way| volume=3| issue=1| publisher=Trinity University| location=San Antonio| date=15 November 2004| url=http://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1080&context=trickstersway| format=PDF| issn=1538-9030| access-date=2020-05-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trinity.edu/org/tricksters/trixway/current/Vol%203/Vol3_1/Durwin.htm |last1=Durwin |first1=Joseph |title=Coulrophobia and the Trickster |publisher=Trinity.edu |access-date=2020-05-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110624001158/http://www.trinity.edu/org/tricksters/trixway/current/Vol%203/Vol3_1/Durwin.htm |archive-date=2011-06-24}}</ref>
}} The fear of clowns, particularly circus clowns, has become known by the term "coulrophobia."<ref>{{citation|last1=Crosswell|first1=Julia|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins|edition=2nd|date=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-954792-0|entry=clown|entry-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199547920.001.0001/acref-9780199547920-e-1047|entry-url-access=subscription|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199547920.001.0001/acref-9780199547920|access-date=May 6, 2020}}</ref>