Member Tips for New Clowns

One of the finest things about clowns is their desire to help others, to share their knowledge and experience with other clowns. This is most evident in local clown alleys where the reason for joining is to grow in your clown. But it is also seen in conventions, trade magazines and on web pages. This page consists of advice submitted by members of Hickory's Clown Alley. If you find a comment which is of particular help to you, please send an e-mail in "Thanks". I'm sure they would love to hear from you.

HI, we began our clown ministry almost two years ago with nothing but a few willing hearts and a good book. We gradually developed our own styles and our own specialties. We decided to write all of our own skits, that way we could incorperate out talents and our personalities. To get the basic stories we started out with the Bible. It is full of great stories, some of them are pretty funny when you think about it. One thing that helped us was that we allowed anyone to join us, we have all ages. Our youngest clown started when he was just two he is almost 4 now and is great. WE have some people who help with props but don't want to be clowns. It seems God sent us just the people we needed. WE also got in touch with other clown groups nearby to learn from them. WE used talents that we already had. Some of the kids were in gymnastics, so we let them do flips in our shows. We meet every week and if we dont' have something specific to work on, we practice our walk around skills or learn a new balloon, or just brainstorm. Our group has become like a family and that shows in our performences. We now are at the point where we sometimes have to turn down jobs, so we are going to offer to help other churches in our area start thier own ministry.

Find a good school that has at least a few different instructors. This gives you a wide range of different possibilities and philosophies on all areas of clowning. Clown Camp is always a good one to start at. In fact that's the first professional school I went to. It gave me a wide range of ideas, and I'd say I'm a good clown heading for being a great clown. Also check out MooseCamp @ http://mooseburger.com . Though I haven't experienced their school yet, I know many people have and say it's a wonderful experience. If you look for a school that just has 1 or 2 instructors, you won't get the same great experience even though its more affordable. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you'll learn some things, but the philosophies to be shared will be limited. Whatever school you do go to, make sure they have character developement classes and I don't mean just makeup and costume stuff. Actual character is the most important thing in clowning. This type of class should teach you how to find your character's walk, talk, and other expressions to exaggerate. Dressing as a good looking clown only gets you so far, you're not a clown, even if you may know how to juggle, balloon sculpt, face paint, do skits, unless you have the main ingredient, CHARACTER. Many beginner clowns skip this aspect by mistake of not knowing what clowning is about. I made sure I got the proper training. My character even has a background history and future, an age, likes & dislikes things he's good at and not good at... and believe me I've been asked many times by children very surprizing character questions. Many I've been prepared for and some I haven't... I hope this helps you and any others with the same question.

A name can be anything that you can relate with... It should fit your personal character to some degree. Since you'll have to live with it in your clowning life. When I was trying to come up with a name, I went through many weird names that did not fit me one bit... Well, before I got into clowning, I was into the game of golf... I loved the sport, I lived in a house with my parents that backed up to a golf course for about 8 years... I even got into a small business at the age of 16 selling the golf balls that flew into our yard, back to the golfers and with that selling drinks to them as well. Anyway, I had many books several comedy books on golf, and a term used for any golfer with good intentions but mediocre results was a DUFFER. I figured this was what clowning was too. So the name just stuck... that's my current main character, I also have a "street performing" character (not european auguste but just light makeup/costume) named Joey. coming from the nick name of all clowns. It is just easy to remember. :) And Duffer just fits me... now most of my associates usually call me Duffer, Duff, Duffy, rarely do I hear my real name. :) It's ok I'm just glad my stage name is being ingrained into people's heads. :) I've even been called by people around my performance area Dooffer. :) kinda funny I guess...

I wrote the book that Mama Clown recommended to someone wanting to know how to get started in clowning. I want to send the complete information to you in the hope that you will post the information about the book. I have information about the book posted on a page at our website. Not only does Mama Clown sell the book, she ordered a supply to use as the textbook with her class that she taught in Florida. In addition to Mama Clown, the book is currently being sold by some other dealers including Ralph Dewey and J. T. (Bubba) Sikes, Here is the complete title of the book:

SO YOU WANNA BE A CLOWN: Mo's Guide to Becoming A Real Clown by Mona L. Webb, Ed.D. aka MO and here is the link to my site that tells about the content of the book.

I hope that this information will be useful to some new wannabe clowns. It is a comprehensive coverage and exists because when I started teaching clowning courses at our local community college and started looking for a book to use as a text, I could not find a single volume that had all of the information that a brand new clown needs to have. The book is my effort to meet those needs, and from the positive feedback that I have gotten from the likes of Mama Clown and Ralph Dewey, I think I must be on the right track.

This is in response to David Bissell's question, I have used Rev. Randy Chritensen's "Impact" Newsletter for many of my Christian skits and information about clown ministry. This newletter is very helpful. To contact Randy: Rev. Randy Christensen, c/o Bayside Christian Fellowship, 3475 Humboldt Rd. Green Bay, WI 54311 phone is 920-468-1122 Sending Sunshine Your Way...Debbie aka Suzy Sunshine, Eagle River, WI

I started doing clown shows about 2 years ago. I first started off by being asked to do a clown show in some horse stables, And then more bookings came in by word of mouth. I started by chargeing £5.00 now I charge £15.00. if you want to advertise you could try making an add in you're local newspaper, giving out leathlets at the end of you'r clown show and other ways I think word of mouth is the best way to get bookings. I do Punch and Judy, Magic, juggling, balloon bending and ventriloquism. Some clowns charge around £60.00 but I'm not quite that good yet. Another way to get booked is to write a letter to you're local super market or something askind if you can do a show there! Ive done a show in tesco's before and I got loads of bookings. All clowns have diffrent faces and costumes. You can buy some eggs with you're clown face printed on. If you're a beginner then you're bound to get scared of the audience! I used to but now I've done so many shows I never get worried. As long as you know you're script then you shouldn't be worried. If you can juggle then that would be great because you can let the children catch the balls. If you want to start Punch and Judy you would need insurence over you're booth! You would get the Punch and Judy puupets of John Styles. Magic is great but you should never repeat a trick more than once or tell anyone you're tricks. You can learn tricks from books. There might be a circus club around you're area! I learn from a circus club evry Wednesday. I hope all this imfomation has been usefull for you. If you want to ask me more questions you can phone me on (01625) 502507

I was 15 years old. It was my first job and i dressed up in an ugly one piece clown suit and they stuck a red nose on me. I sold mylar balloons to children as their parents shopped in the mall. I ended up entertaining/ babysitting the children as their parents shopped. I had a great time and new after a short time i wanted to do this always. I went into animated characters but found i couldnt give of myself to the character as mickey and minnie for instance already had a personality and i couldnt change it to be funnier.

I then created Lyric # 1. white face and not so pretty but funny and the kids loved her. A friend i met saw me, took me to her clown school and Lyric 2 was created. I found that she was an auguste by her personality and after i designed her outfit and created a new face for her she was ready to play once again.

When i think of the question " how did i get started in clowning " I what to answer that by saying that i got started in clowning the day my heart knew id never do anything else. I believe that I clown with my heart. What i give to the children i meet comes from within. No pink hair or fancy outfit can make me any more special than what comes from inside me. Each child i meet gets the best i have to give at that moment. And in return from their hearts I get the best they have to give as well.

How did i get started ? It was luck
Why did i get started ? For Love.....

Hugs and Baby Angels

Kath and Lyric :))

Around March of 1985 I flew down to San Diego so my Mom could see her granddaughter. After arriving I didn't see my Mom and Sister so I figure that they were late. So I went down to get my baggage. About that time they walked in as their clown characters Clumsy Mumsey and Mindy Mo. Boy was I ever surprise but it was funny to watched the reaction of everyone else in the airport. During that week my sister kept telling me I would be great clown. After coming home a few months later I called a costume shop and ask if their was a clown alley and they told me there was. I called and sign up to take their class. That was 13 years ago and I still love to clown around.

If you find this site useful, please consider making a donation. It's not tax deductible. You don't get any prizes. Just the satisfaction of knowing that you have helped to make the web a better place to play.

This website is not in existence to ask for money

This website asks for money to stay in existence

Thank you for anything you can offer.
Geoff "Hickory" Turner

Home Page	Clowns	Alleys	Dealers	Billboard	Photo Archive	Children Afraid of Clowns
Site Map	Chat Room	Books	Misc Links	Events	Previous Tips	Christian Routines