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Generally speaking, children hate clowns

Reuters

Latest comment posted at 12:19 AM EST 16/01/08

All 250 hospital patients aged between four and 16 surveyed disliked the use of clowns, with even the older ones finding them scary, ...Read the full article

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  1. Andrew B from Canada writes: Well as Marcel Marceau would say.......................................................
  2. John Smith from Canada writes: Good one Andrew (even though Marce would not, as a mime, appreciate being called a clown).
  3. J. D. from Hamilton, ON, Canada writes: Yes, well, clowns ought to remember their place in the performance hierarchy: legitimate theatre . musical theatre . stand-up comedy . ventriloquism . magic . clowning . . . mime
  4. Sue W from Canada writes: My former boss was a clown. I disliked him as well.
  5. John Smith from Canada writes: Sue W, we must of worked at the same place. :-) And damn if he was only a mime.
  6. Matthew Spears from Vancouver, writes: There's a difference between traditional clowns, with the makeup and costume, and clowning. Clowning can be non traditional without all the elements children are frightened of. It just means being silly and encouraging the kids to be silly themselves. Think Robin Williams in Patch Adams.
    Loving Awareness
  7. John Smith from Canada writes: We should take it Matthew that you are a clown (non traditional)? Actually, I never found clowns (traditonal or otherwise) all that frightening. It was that Santa Claus dude who scared me!! Keep up the good work Matthew, I am sure there are many children who love you. It is a worthy endeavour --- and just seems to be some post-modernist craze to dis clowns and all they joy they bring.
  8. Tony . from Waterloo, Canada writes: No big surprise on this one, I'm 29 and I still think clowns are scary!
  9. A. Heather from Toronto, Canada writes: As a child, every Christmas Eve, Santa Claus and his trusty sidekick (a clown) would pay myself and all the other children on the street a visit, before heading out to deliver all his gifts.

    I was so freaked out by this clown, I used to wait him or her wait outside in the cold.

    I wonder if 250 out of 250 clowns polled dislike children...
  10. Art Critic from Canada writes: It's the people who want to be clowns around children that freak me out.

    Take out the clowns la-la-la.
  11. R Swift from Canada writes: Bad news for Ronald MacDonald
  12. THX 1138 from Victoria, BC, Canada writes: Clowns are evil. Those size 28 red shoes need a good stomping on.
  13. Glen Krueger from Canada writes: I guess this explains why no federal leader has been able to get much support.
  14. Fool Monty from Vancouver, Canada writes: I only like sad clowns; their faces are painted happy, but they are actually completely crushed. It makes me smile; the irony of it.

    Actually, I take offense to all the clown-haters. What about all the great clowns? Shakes the Clown, Krusty the Clown, that other Bozo... all those awesome clowns.

    Krusty is probably the greatest of all clowns. He's a complete fraud, shallow, hates kids, forcibly exerts himself to be entertaining. Greatest clown EVER
  15. Steve . from Western Canada, Canada writes: A magician is far more entertaining. Besides if you want clowns just turn on the CPAC channel. It scares me.
  16. Michael Leblanc from Toronto, Canada writes: Sometimes I have to wonder if I'm living on the same planet as some of these study freaks. Let me be crystal clear - I loved clowns when I was a kid, and so did all of my friends. My nieces and nephews love clowns in the present day.
    I really have to question the veracity of this study. I don't know their exact methodology, but I do know its conclusion flies in the face of everything I've personally observed. Studies can always find results that are suspected - by slanted questions, linear demographic etc.
    In short, clowns rock, at least good ones do.
    I do agree that Santa strikes into some young hearts, although he didn't mine. Some kids just freak at the thought of a complete stranger sliding down the chimney in the middle of the night into their home. Also, a lot of kids go ballistic when placed on dept. store Santas lap.
    But clowns?? Most of them keep a reasonable distance and they dont' invade your home at night.
    I think the worst clowns here are the researchers who did this study. Good clowns abound.
  17. Clark The Mighty from Canada writes: I thought this article was about Stephen Harper.
  18. Mary Ann Varkaris from London, Canada writes: So what about Ronald MacDonald? He seems to have been a successful clown but he makes me cringe -- the baddest additive on burger alley :o)
  19. Jorly fuster from Canada writes: what about the insane clown posse? that's a good band.
  20. mondo pinion from Canada writes: Clowns are grownups.
  21. Anthony B from Sydney, NS, Canada writes: Now that explains why people hate George Bush .....and he doesn't even wear makeup.
  22. Ben H from Toronto, Canada writes: Clowns always have, and always will creep the living poop out of me, and I'm 28.

    The only time I have violent urges are around clowns and mimes, especially if they get in my face Shudders
  23. L I from Canada writes: I think this is a study about the decor of a particular hospital's children's ward in another country. Perhaps they currently have some sort of clown decor that is a bit dated and unappreciated by the current batch of children there. I'm not certain you can make a global inference form such a localized study... in fact I'm certain you can't.
    LI
  24. Pepper Gee from Toronto, Canada writes: Yes, clowns are creepy. They are unknowable and erratic in their behavior. Even the ones like Robin Williams or Jim Carey, who don't wear makeup - I couldn't imagine even being near them without being repulsed by their clown personas.
  25. Rollo Tomasi from Belgium writes: I saw a street mime in Paris last summer sneaking up on people to the amusement of onlookers, until one chap reflexively smacked his fist into the mime's face. Now that was funny.
  26. monty london from Canada writes: This study has major implications to certain individuals and groups in health care. There are always ways that medical staff are trying to make kids feel more comfortable in hospital - and clowning has been one approach. There is a group founded by Patch Adams (of the movie) that travels the world scaring the crap out of sick kids in their clown uniforms thinking they have done a good deed. If you dont believe it, check out their website - humanitarian clown trip - basically an oxymoron!!
    http://www.patchadams.org/clown_trips
    Maybe this study is the wake up call they need to take off the red noses and stop scaring children all over the world!!
  27. D H from Montreal, Canada writes: Anybody remember Poltergeist, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, It, and a few other interesting spoofs. Creeeeeepy!!!!
  28. Kim Philby from Ottawa, Canada writes: When I think of clowns, John Wayne Gacy comes to mind. The horror...the horror.

    I can see why kids might be creeped out by clowns. It's hard sometimes to remember the world from a kid's point of view. They used to put a skull and crossbones on products that were poisonous, but then discovered kids tended to think they contained 'pirate' food, so labels switched to a green 'yucky' face mimicking how one looks after tasting something disgusting.
  29. Sylvester McMonkey McBean from Ottawa, Canada writes: Well this is good news in light of the other story about clown meat being safe to eat now. Oh wait... yeah, that's clone meat. nvm.
  30. tom figg from Peru, Canada writes: I've never liked clown either...as one cannibal said to another while eating a clown, 'does this taste funny to you?'
  31. liz bredberg from vancouver, Canada writes: To this day, masks make me uneasy, so clown costumes still do. As a kid I can distinctly remember that it wasn't the appearance so much as the weird noises clowns made that made me uneasy. Didn't mind watching them from a distance, but close up I was scared.

    We've got a professional clown who visits the hospital I work at, who seems to be ok, but he's pretty quiet.

    Liz
  32. Paul G from Canada writes: Most kids scream and cry when they see Mickey Mouse for the first time too. To them he's just a 6 foot tall giant rat.

    ...
  33. Dr. Winston O'Boogie from London, United Kingdom writes: http://www.ihateclowns.com/
  34. Dr. Winston O'Boogie from London, United Kingdom writes: http://www.ihatemimes.com/
  35. brokeback mountain from toronto, Canada writes: this survey must have been sponsored by Burger King and used as an attack against MacDonald's
  36. Josephine B. from Canada writes: Steven King: IT. I read that book in Junior High and it scared the pants off me.
  37. Doug Dewan from Calgary, Canada writes: Sue W - LOL!

    I gotta say though....I have always disliked clowns, just don't get it.
  38. My eyes are open, Are yours? from Canada writes: When you see clowns in the circus most of the 'humour' comes from them hurting each other or themselves. Maybe this was funny when the other forms of public entertainment were hangings and the Spanish Inquisition.

    As a child, I used to cry when the Three Stooges came on.
  39. Jimmy K from Toronto, Canada writes: What, this is news? CLOWNS ARE SCARY! And so is Ronald McDonald.
  40. Vickky Angstrom from Canada writes: Most clowns are boring.

    But there are two clowns in Canada (not children's performers) who are absolute genius. I speak, of course, of the great MUMP AND SMOOT who have created amazing shows across the country at Fringe festivals. If you ever get a chance...
  41. B H from Toronto, Canada writes: The results aren't really suprising for the most part, but I am surprised that they were unanimous -- in 250 kids they couldn't find even 1 who liked clowns? That makes me wonder about their sample. Since they say the kids are 'patients', I kind of wonder if they just went to one or two local hospitals and asked the kids there, and maybe there is currently a clown program or clown decorations in that hospital that are particularly unsuccessful. I'm not debating that clowns aren't generally disliked my children, but I would think it does depend on the individual clown a bit, and how (if) they do the makeup and act. Some kids seem to enjoy some clowns, even if most don't.
  42. Ardnas Backwards from Canada writes: Clowns terrified me as a child. Santa Claus caused the same reaction. As I grew older, Santa became more tolerable, but clowns still didn't appeal. They are not funny, they have frightening faces and their behavior is bizarre. I can see why clowns would not be welcome in a children's ward. Children have a lot more insight than we give them credit for.
  43. Rollo Tomasi from Belgium writes: I suspect that clowns originated with the circus as a do-it-yourself parading freak show, and as such, like vaudville acts, are anarchisms today for a narrow audience.
  44. brokeback mountain from toronto, Canada writes: dogs also hate clowns
  45. Craig Cooper from Toronto, writes: Why are adults so utterly incapable of remembering what it is to be a child?
  46. Dafydd Brws from Toronto, Canada writes: The best clowns are Pirritx and Porrotx
  47. Chris Edwards from Greater Sudbury, Canada writes: I can't remember when the whole "I hate clowns/Clowns scare me" thing became fashionable, but it is now to the point where a generation or two has heard it enough that they really do hate clowns. Clowns never scared me, but I never much liked them either. Ambivalent would be about the best way to describe it. I think kids just have too many options for entertainment and aren't as easily amused anymore - some are even quite cynical.

    Still Michael Leblanc has a point - there are still clowns in business to this day doing kids' birthday parties, and if every one of those kids went home crying instead of having a good time, they wouldn't be in business for long. I question the methodology too. Nobody likes being in hospital, so maybe the clowns there that were intended to cheer the kids just became associated with the hospital. Maybe they'd have felt the same about Spider Man if they had to look at him day after day while cooped up recovering from surgery.

    Or maybe they visited a ward where the kids had gotten their hands on a particularly wicked batch of Vicodin and all had a bad trip.
  48. Thumb Sucker from Toronto, Canada writes: "Thirty-five years in show business and already nobody remembers me. Just like what's his name, and whos-its, and you know, that guy, who always wore a shirt."

    Clowns can be very funny, only if they're cartoon clowns.
  49. Martin Fedgrass from Canada writes: Just who are the bozos who conducted that study?
  50. Art Critic from Canada writes: Craig Cooper from Toronto, writes: Why are adults so utterly incapable of remembering what it is to be a child?

    Why are you so utterly incapable of asking a sensible question?
  51. Simon Hum from Canada writes: liz bredberg from vancouver, Canada writes:
    We've got a professional clown who visits the hospital I work at, who seems to be ok, but he's pretty quiet.

    ===========

    A quiet (introverted) clown, now that's creepy.
  52. A. Simple Human from Mtl, Canada writes: Maybe it has to do with the difference between seeing clowns at a circus [their antics from a distance] and being face to face with the strange face? Hmmm...
  53. Simon Hum from Canada writes: This article also reminds me of the Simpson's episode when Homer made Bart his own bed with a horrifying looking clown face as the bedboard. The bed had Bart rocking back and forth repeating "Can't sleep, Clown will eat me.." :)
  54. S Foley from Canada writes: I never liked clowns.

    Why on earth would a child like them? Giant noses and shoes, loud voices, strange expressions on their faces, and unusual behaviour.

    Ronald McDonald, who looks a lot like a normal person, is an exception.

    Art Critic: why are you so critical of a perfectly good question?
  55. John Baird from Ottawa, Canada writes: .

    Has anyone ever seen Cirque du Soleil. In addition to the "performers" there are clowns. They start the show, appear specifically in the show and are also running in and out of the show. These are clowns at their absolute best. At the shows, children laugh.

    .
  56. Jack Robinson from London, Canada writes: It's refreshing, if not a little spooky, to see that sixty-or-so posters have rubber ducked the dismal drama-dirge elsewhere on these pages to comment on this slap-happy item.

    'Man of 1K Faces' Lon Chaney was once asked what would scare the silly putty out of his twisted shorts. The obsessive actor who incited smelling salt assaults on audiences as the Opera's Phantom, Quasimodo and an armless knife-thrower amongst his many mutant manifestations replied: "An unexpected knock comes at Midnight. Upon unbolting my door... I'm inexplicably confronted by a garishly-painted clown grinning silently in the moonlight."

    I get the same sense o' the willies when I catch Harper on the late night cathode and hit the mute button.
  57. roy f from van, Canada writes: I'm more concerned about being hated by clowns. Gulp.
  58. Broken Record from Victoria, B.C., Canada writes: Fool Monty, I hate to break it to you but Krusty's not a real clown. He's a cartoon character. Still, such a shainer Yukel!
  59. Better to light a small candle than to sit and curse the darkness from Canada writes: Proves that kids know more than adults or maybe have more taste.
    Why do we forget? I was never scared of clowns but I alway felt they we stupid. Still do. Except for Pagliacci; I liked him because he had a great voice and sang Vesti La Giubba. (Forgive poor spelling).
    Cymro dim Eidalwr
  60. Kevin Desmoulin from TO, Canada writes: ya clowns are kinda of unsetting to say the least.
  61. Robert Thomson from KW, Canada writes: That's a lot of discusion that's been generated, and obviously there's more than two sides to this problem.

    I thought I was odd in being afraid of clowns, but come to think of it what a disguise for crooks and terrorists and the like. Laugh on those who are amused!!!!!!
  62. Cmdr. Chaos from Vancouver, Canada writes: True clowning is best served dark for an adult audience. This is where clowning origins lie. Bouffon (which originally meant ugly people and the where the English slight "bafoon" comes from) a clowning style that evolved and found it's way in royal courts (court jesters).

    I don't know who's twisted idea it was to expose children to these characters. However, that in itself is a piece of dark comedy, once again, best suited for adults.
  63. Midtown Bob from Toronto, Canada writes: When I was a kid, I didn't like clowns at all. Mom would say go see the clown. I would freeze because I knew that was an ADULT dressed up grotesquely just to amuse me.

    I would scream, "KEEP THAT FREAK AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Then mom would hit me for misbehaving and I would cry, then we would go home and I'd get reamed out again then maybe even hit again.

    What do you $0.02 shrinks think about that?
  64. Harbinger from Out West from Prince George, Canada writes: John Wayne Gacey, Jr. was a clown. Knowing his history he would have scared me. So there.
  65. G Young from Canada writes: I don't know about hating clowns being "in fashion"...what did it for me was that danged "jack-in-th-box"...a toy clearly invented by someone who HATES children. As a result of this toy, clowns really do creep me out.

    That said, MUMP and SMOOT Rock!!
  66. S. P. from Cape Breton, Canada writes: I hate 'em -- always have. When I was young, my parents took me to see the Santa Claus Parade in Toronto. When my Dad came back from parking the car, I was crying. He asked my Mother what was wrong with me, and she said: "The clown shook her hand." To this day, several decades later, I still remember it!
  67. David Simon from Canada writes: Nonsense. Bart loves Krusty-who doesn't?
  68. dave mackay from Canada writes:
    I find Jack Layton frightening !!!!!
  69. Simon Garth from istanbul, Turkey writes: G&M is very good in attacking taboos and in talking against generally accepted myths. A clown, a woman in burka, Haloween's day children or a Santa Klaus... These all are humans in disguise, moving organisms within a costume, who may be some criminals undercover intending to do harm as well. You can never be sure about the actual content of such packages but you are not given the right to see inside.
    Great article.
  70. Mr. Reilly from Canukistan, writes: Generally speaking. Clowns hate children
  71. Paul Thompson from Canada writes: Reminds of the National Lampoon's "Evil Clown" comic strip. I'm sure I'm not the only one who misses that magazine.
  72. Chris Edwards from Greater Sudbury, Canada writes: Mump and Smoot suck. So does Cirque de Soleil. The only good clowning is clown porn. Long live clown porn.
  73. LINDA SHROUT from Canada writes: I would like a copy of the study and images used in the study.
    This kind of reporting can be very damaging to valuable clown programs and careers. It has been my experience that caring clowns in hospital settings have had a positve impact on children, staff, families.
  74. Chris Clinton from Toronto, Canada writes: I love clowns. I love watching how they make children laugh and adults smile. I applaud all those who give the gift of laughter and happiness to another.

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