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The Best Way To Get Started?

Punchanella
(@punchanella)
First of May

In your opinion what is the best way to get started as a clown? I think it is with your costume appearance first get your clown look down first then work on everything else. 

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Topic starter Posted : 06/05/2022 5:02 pm
yukidogzombie
(@yukidogzombie)
Master Clown Admin

it may be best to first pick what kind of clown you want to be clown / your clown character

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Posted : 06/05/2022 8:49 pm
Zeeppo
(@zeeppo)
Junior Clown Admin

First off I am a Circus Clown who runs a clown troupe that visits kids in hospitals and does events and parties. We train inner city kids to be clowns and then send them to the hospital to entertain those kids. I also help run the local Circus Craft Festival Fluggleburgh. So I have some very specific ideas about clowning.

In our training you start with juggling. Once you can do a three ball cascade we move onto more juggling and balloon animals. after a month of balloon animals and juggling we start to throw in some magic and jokes. Three months we throw in movement, pantomime give people a chance to unicyle and stilt. We have a chance to do something on a stage at around 4 months in one of our variety shows. At five months we have some old circus videos, 3 stooges, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplain. I then do the talk on the different types of clown. While practicing everything else we talked about you start to make up your clown personal. Your personal gets approved and then we start thinking about costumes. So sometime around 6 months you put on some makeup and start to assemble a clown persona.

We have an online meeting this Sunday at 4:00 PM. The link is in the juggling section. Bellow is a picture of some of the books we use in our troupe.

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Posted : 06/05/2022 10:57 pm
Zeeppo
(@zeeppo)
Junior Clown Admin

Also there is a functional reason to learn your skills first. What if you make a costume that does not have enough room in the arms to juggle. We had someone join our troupe who already had a costume with an ankle length dress. They paid someone hundreds of dollars to make it. It turned out they loved unicycling and their costume was useless.

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Posted : 06/05/2022 11:02 pm
Punchanella
(@punchanella)
First of May

I see a lot of new clowns spend thousands on costumes, wigs, makeup, shoes, and other things. Then this new clown posts a picture of themselves online. Then a bunch of other clowns flock to them and tell them how talented they are just because they look so good dressed up. Is there room in the clown world for these photogenic clowns?

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Topic starter Posted : 10/05/2022 9:59 am
Zeeppo
(@zeeppo)
Junior Clown Admin

@punchanella The most important thing a new clown needs to ask is why they are clowning.

If you want to start a business and make a living as a clown the answer is no. 

There is such a thing as Clowncore. So, if you are doing it because you love dressing up as a clown and going to a cafe then that is enough. 

This issue is if someone claims to be a professional clown and cannot perform. The general public does not understand that clowning has fans who pretend to be clowns. So it would be nice if the clowncore people could juggle a little and do some balloon animals. If you are dressed as a clown you should be ready to make even a couple balloon animals. The public will understand that someone is new to clowning and can only make five balloons. 

I will be starting a section for circus fans and clown fans in general. 

 

 

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Posted : 10/05/2022 6:18 pm
Punchanella
(@punchanella)
First of May

Sorry I'm not a clowncore clown. I was wondering how open you were to that. A miscommunication on my part. 

I go online and I see people post thing like "Hi I'm Sunny the clown! I just decided to be a clown a month ago. I spent all this money on this cool costume!" Then there is a picture of the person all dressed up. Just because this person has a nice costume and properly applied makeup other people and some fellow clowns think they are a clown. 

Or a person decides on a whim to become a clown and buys the first clown costume they see online. Maybe they have some water based makeup and a ratty wig around.  Or maybe some colorful clothing and some clownmart shoes. Maybe buy some props. Then this person goes around bragging about how they are a real clown. 

Other clowns have told me that working on skills or a character is not important. I have to look like a clown first. That's why I have this way of thinking. 

What do you think of streamers who dress in clown costumes and play video games?

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Topic starter Posted : 11/05/2022 10:04 am
Zeeppo
(@zeeppo)
Junior Clown Admin

@punchanella Ok I see where you are going. 

I suppose they fall into the same category as actors.

In the movie Greatest Show on Earth Jimmy Stewart played a clown. He learned juggle and it was clear he had taken lessons from someone. His make up was good his costume and act fit the type of clown and the circus he was supposed to be in. 

There was a Toby Hooper movie set in the circus. It has two clowns that were not very good. They never juggler of do anything a clown usually does. They also didn't have very good makeup or costumes. 

Basically anyone can dress up as a clown and pretend to be one. If I bought a badge and gun that would not make me a cop. 

The internet streamer or person with a fancy costume could probably not get work as a clown. For a working clown that is the measure of who is a real clown. For someone that wants to hire a clown that is the measure of a clown

As for being welcome here. We are working on adding fan pages and clowncore pages. We hope those people will want to learn the skill of being a clown.  

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Posted : 11/05/2022 10:40 pm
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