What is a Clown?

So, you've got some wild looking clolthing, some makeup and flair for making others laugh. Now you're a clown, right? Wrong. It never ceases to amaze me how many "clowns" begin their existence without really understanding what or who they are attempting to be. My guess is that no one would take up other careers that way.

Clowning should be looked at like acting. The actor portrays the part or the character as though he/she were that character. Knowing how that character would act under any situation. Not only that but how the character dresses or, in the case of clowns, how their makeup should appear.

Historically there are three main kinds of clowns, although more recently clowns have developed variations.

White Face:

The make-up of the white face clown is typically simple to look at and will highlight the natural features of the face. The variations of a white face clown are endless and there are no specific guidelines other than the basic white base.

The white face clown is typically the straight clown in skits with a base of white grease paint. A straight clown will usually be the one acting very serious but who falls prey to the brunt of the punch line ("blow off") of the skit. The white faced clown's costume tends to be more formal than the auguste clown. Formal for a clown is different than for a regular person. This just means that the colors will tend to match and flow throughout the costume. The colors are less likely to be gaudy and mismatched as in the other clown types.

Auguste Clown:

The make-up of an auguste clown is usually bright and exaggerates the natural features in the face (e.g., a large nose, large outline of mouth, etc). Again there are millions of variations and each clown has their own special characteristics.

The auguste clown tends to be a silly clown in routines. Their make-up is a bright flesh-tone base. The silly clown will usually appear to not know what is going on in a skit but usually somehow escape the "blow off." The costume of the auguste clown tends to be large, gaudy, mismatched, and very bright. Primary colors are most popular with this clown type and the clothing is usually over-sized.


Character Clown:

The character clown is a character which is exaggerated into a clown. The most popular character clown is the Hobo or Tramp clown. The Hobo usually has tattered clothes and make-up which suggests a weeks worth of a beard, a red nose, and white around the eyes and mouth. This is the case as they are a model of the traditional hobo who would ride the railcars during the times of the steam engine. In doing so their faces would get covered in soot. The mouth and eyes would get wiped to see and/or eat, thus the white used in a traditional Hobo or Tramp clown.

Character clowns can be from almost any walk of life. Some of the other more popular ones are police officers, women, doctors, nurses or babies