The Armchair Scholar's Guide: Clown History

Were clowns ever supposed to be whimsical? Come along with me and I'll tell you more about the surprisingly long history of subversive or just plain bad clown figures. Special thanks to my friend, Jonathan Glass, who helped me with the sound editing!
Show notes can be found at www.sinistergardenlegacy.com under the heading Litanies
For early access, bloopers and other goodies, check out my Patreon here:
/ danielleklassen
Thank you for listening!!

[@jester6623]

Thank you so much for this! Im hyperfixsting on clowns so much rn

[@odditycat2716]

same!! (my name is also Jester :o3)

[@froggy_cherry172]

Same!!!^^

[@SeveralLizards]

This was a blessing. It's so hard to find good resources on clowns. Thank you.

[@graingeresch7696]

I am a professional clown, and, except for the repetitive music running throughout, I enjoyed your program. I found your coverage of the history of clowning to be completely in agreement with everything I’ve learned about it. I began my career with Ringing Brothers and Barnum&Bailey in the late 80’s, and have worked with other, smaller shows as well. Nowadays, I still do clown gigs (NOT birthday parties), but my anchor job is in therapeutic medical clowning at a children’s hospital. I love the job as much as I loved the circus, and find it even more meaningful. My role in this work is much like the shamanic role of the Heyokah, but with the goal being to reduce the level of stress for the patients, their families, and the hospital staff. our goal is also to empower the young patients, by being stupid, thus giving them the opportunity to boss us around, as opposed to taking orders from doctors and nurses. There is a history of hospital clowning that goes back at least to the Fratellini Brothers that you might find worth exploring.

[@Casperlasperdasper.]

I was drawing a Pierrot while listening to this, ty for making such a deep analogy of the clown!! Super fun to listen to.

[@jester6623]

DO. U HAVE ANY SOCIALS? ID LOVE TO SEE THE DRAWING

[@Casperlasperdasper.]

@@jester6623 ITS SUPER OUTDATED BUT SURE!! It was from one of those create ur oc challenges and it was a lotta fun. :)

[@jester6623]

@@Casperlasperdasper. WJERE CAN I SEE IT ON?

[@Casperlasperdasper.]

@@jester6623 Artvldaz3 # 9240 IF YOU HAVE

[@jester6623]

@@Casperlasperdasper. I DO I DO! I SENT U A REQUEST IM INACTIVECLOWN

[@Studdmufin111]

Excellent work! You know your stuff! So much here to unpack and we haven’t even gotten to the meat of things! I should mention the clown figures relation to the manipulation and vivisection of the human body. The earliest ties I know of being in victor Hugo’s the man who laughs in which the comprachicos were said to physically cripple and deform children to work as beggars or living curiosities. I should also mention the typical clowns characteristics are evocative of cannibalism. Red hair mouth nose etc.

[@WilliamAllikzander]

How does this only have 4 thousand views?😮 I’m about to add this to a playlist and make it a regular. This is super dope.

[@Ace-vk7kp]

Thank you so much for this video! Truly amazing and filled with great info. Really appreciate how thuroughly you go over it :D

[@oliviamay4315]

Pls do quieter background music. It’s overstimulating but I wanna listen bc clowns

[@talon_serena]

"...family friendly figure who trips over his own shoes... or shills burgers"...... my Big Top Burger fangirl mode went off and I went "STEEEEVE?" No, but honestly, I heckin' love these. I've said it before but I'll say it again: you have an awesome voice for this podcast and I always learn so, so much in these. I have an ancient copy of The Pickwick Papers on my shelf (honestly, it's the oldest book I own at like 150 years old) and I've never read the story. Now I'm kind of curious! I was also reminded of the Hopi clown kachinas I used to run into as a kid when my family was visiting Arizona. I haven't thought about that in years but when I was a kid I was fascinated by them. I just, in general never thought about how much clowns figure into our societies. They're just always there in one form or another. Nifty. After this, on to part two! I shall be binging the clowns today! Two-for-one this weekend! Whoo!

[@thearmchairscholarsguide1894]

It's a lot of fun doing these deep dives because I never know what I'm going to find when I start. And I certainly didn't think it was going to lead me to Dickens but there you are. I hope you enjoy the second episode. There's lots in there too! So much greasepaint!!

[@DieselWeazel]

Music is too loud. I’d really like to hear you.

[@loyomalley5861]

I’m writing a book revolving around clown characters and this is such an inspiration. Also very well done.

[@atthespeedofshadow7784]

Try @UnderstandingConspiracy Nephilim looked like Clowns.

[@bibblegoose452]

This is so fascinating! I’m beginning an art project on clowns and this is extremely helpful, thank you!!!

[@lucyalicenox5871]

It probably wouldn’t fly in 2024 but Punch n Judy would be a sick band name

[@samhaine6804]

video would be much improved with some images!

[@solarz2138]

this is sutch a good video, realy informative :D its so sad that there arent any documentairys on clown history (that i know of )

[@elimorton7511]

I once met the former head clown of a large circus when I was teaching magic at a summer camp. Back stage he was very sour and telling dirty jokes to the teenage councilors. I later learned clowns burn threw most of their serotonin when performing leaving them emotionally and physically spent to the point they only feel joy when performing. This isn't true for all clowns but it's fairly common.

[@josephcroeniangamer3727]

i want to create my own ttprpg sytem called "clown" and i am very sure this video will help tremendously.

[@susandonahue865]

Thank you 🙏🏼🌹🌿

[@shawnmoore7517]

Who were the first female clowns, and how did the public perceive them? Thanks a lot.

[@at8630]

Very good video but I couldn't watch it all because the music is too loud and distracting for me.

[@shawnmoore7517]

Is there a future for "traditional" circus clowns?