The best part of a recent day was the clown and, really, how many times in life can you honestly say that? Particularly when you factor in a clown’s inherent creepiness with the release of the new theatrical version of Stephen King’s It.
When I was a child my oldest brother dropped out of the seminary, married a nice Jewish girl and became a clown in a traveling circus as Farmer Toone, his Wife and their Kid (a goat). I was very impressed! In my nine year old eyes he was a god!
However, since then the clowns I know of are normally unemployed magicians or serial killers of teen boys. Either way, a clown at a birthday party is in between gigs.
Mexicans have a different approach and think nothing of having a clown in the most serious of situations to be the comic voice of reason providing asides and double entendres.
The most recent clown I met at a three year old’s birthday party was probably a teen (hard to tell under all that make up) and could easily become a great stand up. He got the kids to run out to the adults to gather a wide variety of stuff to support his act. Keys were for the car he was going to steal, a phone to mock call the owner’s illicit lover and, naturally, each kid had to yank forward their most attractive single aunt!
Being the only foreigner present I knew it was only a matter of time before he focused on me, and he did. He wanted a kiss and I had two options. I could simply stand up with my arms crossed and be twice his size to scare him off, but realized it would be funnier if I hid behind an elderly woman for protection.
Honestly, I’ve never enjoyed a clown so much that I wasn’t related too.
By Joseph Toone
Joseph Toone is the Historical Society’s short-story award winning author of the SMA Secrets book series. All books in the series are Amazon bestsellers in Mexican Travel and Holidays. Toone is SMA’s expert and TripAdvisor’s top ranked historical tour guide telling the stories behind what we do in today’s SMA. Visit HistoryAndCultureWalkin