Thanks to creepy horror clowns like Pennywise from It, Twisty from American Horror Story, and the infamous Joker, the reputation of these colorful and costumed performers has been forever tainted. These days, clowns are more associated with terror than amusement, dismissing the clown’s purpose for most of history: entertaining.
Fortunately, there is a slew of funny television and movie clowns out there to remind the traumatized public that not all clowns are crazed killers or demented supernatural entities. While they’re not all necessarily pure and innocent, the clowns on this list take their jobs very seriously. From Bobby Hill’s Tartuffe the Spry Wonder Dog to Homey the Clown, these comic clowns represent the varying, wonderous world of jestering.
Baskets
In the FX show Baskets, Zach Galifianakis plays the eponymous clown trying to make a name for himself in Bakersfield, California. After studying at a prestigious clown school in Paris, Chip Baskets returns home to California after failing to make it as a professional clown in France.
Chip is forced to become a clown in a local rodeo, where he treated poorly by cowboys. He has an on-again/off-again job at Arby’s, hangs out with a Juggalo, lives with his mom Christine, and maintains a toxic relationship with his French wife, who is only interested in the free ride to America. Galifianakis also plays Chip’s twin brother, Dale, in the show.
Krusty
Perhaps the most famous animated clown of all time, Krusty is a celebrity in The Simpsons’ Springfield. He hosts the local TV station’s variety show, which includes various sketches, including The Itchy & Scratchy Show. This smoking, drinking, and womanizing entertainer makes millions by selling his image to various companies for advertising purposes.
Krusty lives by a simple credo: “There are only two rules in TV: don’t swear, and don’t whip it out. It’s not rocket science!” While Krusty struggles throughout the series, often on the verge of self-destruction, he always remains Bart Simpson’s favorite television figure.
Homey
“I don’t think so! Homey don’t play that!” On the classic 1990s sketch show In Living Color, Damon Wayans plays the ex-con turned clown Homey, forced to work as an entertainer as part of his parole deal. This disgruntled, angry performer is always angling to get back at “The Man,” aka the racialized criminal justice system.
In his sketches, Homey spends more time yelling at children than making them laugh. He usually forces them to participate in a call-and-response that involves dissing the establishment. Homey was such a popular character in his heyday that they had his own video game.
Bozo
What a bozo! Created by Alan W. Livingston in 1946 and originally portrayed by Pinto Colvig, the rights to Bozo’s image were sold to television stations around the United States, which spawned several iterations of the children’s show host.
While Bozo’s look is pretty disturbing by today’s standards, he was beloved by children all over. The content of each show varied, but Bozo always served as the buffoon in charge, keeping kids in stitches with his antics. Folks growing up anywhere from Brazil to Detroit, Michigan, between the 1950s and 1980s had their own versions of the clown to enjoy on television.
Patch Adams
Robin Williams portrayed this real-life clown doctor in a 1998 movie. Dr. Hunter “Patch” Adams had an interesting, unique journey to medical school. After suffering from suicidal depression, he decided to change his attitude by focusing his energy on helping other people.
Dr. Adams spearheaded a new approach to treating patients in a medical environment. By dressing up as a clown, he found he was able to make the experience more holistic by filling it with humor. He’s still alive today, and every year he organizes worldwide volunteering opportunities for people willing to don some make-up and act like a goof.
Clarabell
“Who’s the funniest clown we know?” Yes, the clown pictured above was an adored television sidekick, not a late-night horror monster. Clarabell served as Howdy Doody’s mute partner-in-crime for much of the popular show’s run, between 1954 and 1960.
Clarabell was played by a rotating cast of actors who relied on traditional miming to communicate and garner laughs. Clarabell employed many of the classic clown tricks, like spraying people with Setzler and honking his toy horn.
Doo Doo
Doo Doo the Clown is a touring entertainer known for his cameo in Adam Sandler’s slapstick golf comedy Happy Gilmore. This trickster has appeared on the Discovery Channel and The Daniel Cooke Show.
It turns out this clown is also a hero. In 2015, when a man was terrorizing people in a Toronto neighborhood, Doo Doo and two members of his clown posse rescued a pair of women as they were being attacked, allowing them to seek refuge in his car. Doo Doo later received special recognition from the city government.
Bobby Hill
Bobby Hill is an aspiring comedian and entertainer in King of the Hill, so it’s no wonder he tries his luck with clowning. In the 4th season, he secretly becomes an apprentice to two local rodeo towns when his parents think he’s training for the calf lassoing competition. After stealing clothes and make-up from the neighborhood, Bobby works on his act, repeating the line, “Vat are you talking about?” in a Russian accent.
Later, in the 10th season, he takes a clowning class at a local college, where his instructor treats clowning like a highfalutin art form. Bobby decides to participate in his school’s talent show competition as Tartuffe the Spry Wonder Dog. While his teacher thinks it’s genius, his dad Hank knows Bobby will forever be made fun of, saving his son from a tarnished reputation by throwing a whoopie cushion on stage. Who doesn’t love a fart joke?
Shakes
The title character from this 1991 black comedy is played by Bobcat Goldthwait, who also wrote and directed the flick. Shakes is a birthday party clown on the verge of a nervous breakdown. His reliance on alcohol doesn’t help matters.
The movie digs into the strange world of professional clowns and mimes, featuring memorable performances from Robin Williams, Adam Sandler, Julie Brown, and Paul Dooley. While the movie was a box office bomb unliked by most critics, Martis Scorsese called it “the Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies.”
Calvero
One of the original Hollywood slapsticks, Charlie Chaplin, plays a burnt-out, aging comedian who was once a popular stage clown known as Calvero in the 1952 film Limelight. After saving a young dancer from suicide, Calvero embarks on a journey to reclaim his life.
The dancer is portrayed by Claire Bloom, and the film includes an appearance from another comedian from the early days of cinema, Buster Keaton. Keaton plays Calvero’s sidekick in a climatic comeback performance at the end of the movie.