Not Clowning Around Anymore

So when I picked him up he had one of those thrift shop suitcases sitting by his feet as he stood out on the corner.  I thought “Oh boy, an airport ride”.  I was wrong.  He got in the front seat and we headed out from Capital Hill to the ‘burbs’.  We began the pleasantries of how our day was going.  “Are you headed home”? I inquired.  “No, I am actually headed to a friend’s house for a surprise birthday party 🎂 🎉”.  I have my clown 🤡 costume and makeup in the suitcase”.  “So are you like, a professional clown, or do you just do this for fun”?  “Well, if I were a professional I would starve.  The clown life has fallen on hard times. I am not a secret pervert or serial killer.  I think I am swimming upstream.  I used to love doing this.  To walk in a room and bring joy and laughter to people is why I do this.  Now I feel like I am a suspect on “America’s Most Wanted”. 

I truly felt his sadness.  When I was a kid my dad was a volunteer at the Shrine Circus (with goofy fez and all).  One year when I was about 10, I got to go with him to six performances.  I loved the clowns the best.  They came piling out of a small 🚗.  Their gags with seltzer water 💦 and fire crackers never grew old.  Yes, I know I sound like the geezers who used to tire me with their ‘good ole days’ stories.  Hey, this is my blog so I get to possibly bore you.  As a kid I loved Red Skelton and his Freddy The Freeloader, Gertrude and Heathcliffe, Sheriff Deadeye, Cauliflower McPugg, George Appleby, San Fernando Red, and Clem Kadiddlehopper, to mention some.  When I would watch him on TV 📺 my mom would often stand quietly in the doorway.  After the sketch she would step into the room and say “It does my heart good to hear you laugh Mark”.   Emmett Kelley of Ringling Bothers fame made the whole world 🌎 laugh through their tears with ‘Weary Willy’.  Goodbye clowns 🤡.

The hard part for me is that shows like ‘American Horror Story’ use poor old clowns as the evil front when the real evil hides behind suits and ties and feeds us lies after broken promises, in order to feed their greed and power lust.  Perhaps today I am venting…

“Isn’t it rich?

Isn’t it queer?

Losing my timing this late in my career

And where are the Clowns 🤡 ?

Quick send in the Clowns 🤡

Don’t bother

They’re here”.

Well maybe next year…

Onward and Upward,

Mark