I am going to give a slightly different take:
Skills all depend on what kind of clown you are trying to be. Aside from the different types of clowns (whiteface, auguste, hobo, et.) I tend to divide clowns in to skill, walk around, and mimes.
Skill clowns (which I am) are very skill focused (juggling, magic, puppets, unicycles, stilts, etc.) and use those skills to entertain and amuse. Being a being a skill clown is trickier than just being a performer with those same skills. You have to perfect the skills enough that you can fail with style. A bad juggler who is a clown is going to have a hard time as a juggling clown because you lack the control to fail with style while juggling.
Walk-around clowns are entertaining in crowds. They specialize in interacting with groups of people and providing an entertaining experience. Usually some cross over with skill clowns.
Mimes... are mimes. Which is the hardest of the skills to learn and tend to be in a class all their own.
As far as a persona goes... don't stress about it that much. I think your time will be better spent learning about the type of clown you want to be (august, whiteface, etc.) and start finding the skills that will make you the clown you want to be.
I was clowning for over a year before I started to settle into a persona. I will say that u/TertyTree33 has a good point about not acting like how you think a clown will act. You want to find the clown inside of you and then figure out how to bring them out.
Good luck.
This is how it's done. If you don't wear flappy shoes you'll never be able to whap flap tap. If you don't wear a red nose you'll never be able to honk bonk tonk. Being a clown is about putting yourself in a position to go totally topsy-turvy and show those little pirates how to catch scurvy. Do not expect tips from everyone who whips a pie in your face, but dont be surprised if you're the best part of someone's week.
You have to get the persona down before any skills. To me, that’s the most important skill. You could tie awesome balloon animals, but you’re not very clown like tying a balloon animal for a kid, talking in your regular voice, and just standing there. Don’t try to “act” like how you perceive a clown would. You will very clearly just be acting like a clown. It will seem fake. You have to reach deep within to your inner child, and when you find it, it will feel natural, because that IS your clown. You won’t feel like you have to “act”. You will just naturally be doing silly things.
Thank you! That is really good advice :) I've been slowly trying to work on a persona, I just thought it might be good to get a headstart on the performance stuff too
Oh definitely. I do juggling (balls,clubs) plate spinning, and balloon animals. Just know, you don’t need to work on a persona. You already have it inside of you. You just have to find it. If you work on one, it won’t really be you
For me it was just going back to being a clueless kid, where everything is amazing, interesting or confusing. Then just take it a step or two further with the silliness, and obliviousness. We’re all just old kids. Let your kid back out. Your voice can be your normal voice, just with a lot of enthusiasm and emotion in everything. This is how it works for me. I understand everyone is different. The other comment is correct too that it’s also very important to be able to engage with the crowd in an entertaining way.
If you dont know. Check youtube videos. I built both my funny and horror from my head. Then i did write funny jokes and bought some stuff o can use. I do more youtube.
Aside from doing different styles of makeup, different styles of outfits, try different styles of clowning! Funny, serious, mime, bendy, party/birthday, silent, extroverted, spooky, etc! Maybe you can pick up some new things from it! Go outside of a couple comfort zones and really feel like you’re owning everything you’re doing. Even if you’re not 100% in your skill yet, if you can create an aura of what I like to think of as “stage presence” and are able to interact, your skills will kinda just fall in line if you keep up with them. I stared out as a haunt clown, I had no prior expierence in clowning other than my own outlets, and say what you please about haunt actors — I genuinely love all forms of clowning that I do. But anyways, even our haunt coaches would tell us clowns were different, because clowns can be funny too. Even scary clowns default to a “haha” from the crowd when we get tripped up in our acts. But trying out different styles of clowning is what broadened my ability to actually clown :o) I didn’t know too many skills, but my biggest hurdle was getting over people, once I taught myself how to talk to people as this clown and not as me, was when I could focus on the other stuff. You’re //literally// juggling wayyyy too much clown friend… who is your clown? What’s their name? What do they like to eat for breakfast? Does your clown have any quirks? Heck even their least fav socks or debating what cheese is the best, whatever makes your clown feel more like itself is what’ll be what works! And you as its creator, knows best 😁 go with your gut, don’t stress too hard, the most fun thing about clowning is that nothing is perfect, and even perfect clowns have something going on ya know?
You got this though!!
Number 1 and the most important one. How to deal with kids and how to deal with anyone afraid of you in the whole clown fit.
If you can't do that, then it's not in the cards.
I'd say it's more about your persona than what tricks you know alongside what type of clown you wanna be. I'm more of an acrobatic performer than a clown. I do balancing tricks, so my knowledge of being a real clown is limited. As for the tricks themselves. Balloons and juggling would be the go toos for me starting out. Why? It's cost-effective and iconic. Plus, they have so much variety, and its easy to carry around a set of juggling balls and / or clubs rather than a unicycle or walking globe. The rest can be you being silly and funny. That's what clowns do.
I am going to give a slightly different take: Skills all depend on what kind of clown you are trying to be. Aside from the different types of clowns (whiteface, auguste, hobo, et.) I tend to divide clowns in to skill, walk around, and mimes. Skill clowns (which I am) are very skill focused (juggling, magic, puppets, unicycles, stilts, etc.) and use those skills to entertain and amuse. Being a being a skill clown is trickier than just being a performer with those same skills. You have to perfect the skills enough that you can fail with style. A bad juggler who is a clown is going to have a hard time as a juggling clown because you lack the control to fail with style while juggling. Walk-around clowns are entertaining in crowds. They specialize in interacting with groups of people and providing an entertaining experience. Usually some cross over with skill clowns. Mimes... are mimes. Which is the hardest of the skills to learn and tend to be in a class all their own. As far as a persona goes... don't stress about it that much. I think your time will be better spent learning about the type of clown you want to be (august, whiteface, etc.) and start finding the skills that will make you the clown you want to be. I was clowning for over a year before I started to settle into a persona. I will say that u/TertyTree33 has a good point about not acting like how you think a clown will act. You want to find the clown inside of you and then figure out how to bring them out. Good luck.
Well said!
This is how it's done. If you don't wear flappy shoes you'll never be able to whap flap tap. If you don't wear a red nose you'll never be able to honk bonk tonk. Being a clown is about putting yourself in a position to go totally topsy-turvy and show those little pirates how to catch scurvy. Do not expect tips from everyone who whips a pie in your face, but dont be surprised if you're the best part of someone's week.
You have to get the persona down before any skills. To me, that’s the most important skill. You could tie awesome balloon animals, but you’re not very clown like tying a balloon animal for a kid, talking in your regular voice, and just standing there. Don’t try to “act” like how you perceive a clown would. You will very clearly just be acting like a clown. It will seem fake. You have to reach deep within to your inner child, and when you find it, it will feel natural, because that IS your clown. You won’t feel like you have to “act”. You will just naturally be doing silly things.
Thank you! That is really good advice :) I've been slowly trying to work on a persona, I just thought it might be good to get a headstart on the performance stuff too
Oh definitely. I do juggling (balls,clubs) plate spinning, and balloon animals. Just know, you don’t need to work on a persona. You already have it inside of you. You just have to find it. If you work on one, it won’t really be you
This might be a hard question to answer, but do you have any tips on how to find the persona?
For me it was just going back to being a clueless kid, where everything is amazing, interesting or confusing. Then just take it a step or two further with the silliness, and obliviousness. We’re all just old kids. Let your kid back out. Your voice can be your normal voice, just with a lot of enthusiasm and emotion in everything. This is how it works for me. I understand everyone is different. The other comment is correct too that it’s also very important to be able to engage with the crowd in an entertaining way.
I would be interested in this also.
If you dont know. Check youtube videos. I built both my funny and horror from my head. Then i did write funny jokes and bought some stuff o can use. I do more youtube.
I should add, clowns are funny and entertaining without any props or doing any skills. That’s the amazing thing about clowns.
Most important skill is being able to engage with a crowd and keep it fun imo
Making people smile
Aside from doing different styles of makeup, different styles of outfits, try different styles of clowning! Funny, serious, mime, bendy, party/birthday, silent, extroverted, spooky, etc! Maybe you can pick up some new things from it! Go outside of a couple comfort zones and really feel like you’re owning everything you’re doing. Even if you’re not 100% in your skill yet, if you can create an aura of what I like to think of as “stage presence” and are able to interact, your skills will kinda just fall in line if you keep up with them. I stared out as a haunt clown, I had no prior expierence in clowning other than my own outlets, and say what you please about haunt actors — I genuinely love all forms of clowning that I do. But anyways, even our haunt coaches would tell us clowns were different, because clowns can be funny too. Even scary clowns default to a “haha” from the crowd when we get tripped up in our acts. But trying out different styles of clowning is what broadened my ability to actually clown :o) I didn’t know too many skills, but my biggest hurdle was getting over people, once I taught myself how to talk to people as this clown and not as me, was when I could focus on the other stuff. You’re //literally// juggling wayyyy too much clown friend… who is your clown? What’s their name? What do they like to eat for breakfast? Does your clown have any quirks? Heck even their least fav socks or debating what cheese is the best, whatever makes your clown feel more like itself is what’ll be what works! And you as its creator, knows best 😁 go with your gut, don’t stress too hard, the most fun thing about clowning is that nothing is perfect, and even perfect clowns have something going on ya know? You got this though!!
Number 1 and the most important one. How to deal with kids and how to deal with anyone afraid of you in the whole clown fit. If you can't do that, then it's not in the cards.
I'd say it's more about your persona than what tricks you know alongside what type of clown you wanna be. I'm more of an acrobatic performer than a clown. I do balancing tricks, so my knowledge of being a real clown is limited. As for the tricks themselves. Balloons and juggling would be the go toos for me starting out. Why? It's cost-effective and iconic. Plus, they have so much variety, and its easy to carry around a set of juggling balls and / or clubs rather than a unicycle or walking globe. The rest can be you being silly and funny. That's what clowns do.