- Hi, I'm John.
- My name is Billy.
- Neticia, hi.
- And I'm Alyssa.
- And today we're transforming into clowns.
(upbeat music)
- I have been doing my makeup routine for about
5 years.
- Yeah, I've been a clown for 6 years.
- I've been doing this particular clown routine
for 45 years, and I started at 19.
- And I've been a professional clown
for over the last decade.
- This is not a competition, right?
I feel like (laughs).
I already feel like he (laughs).
- I win for old.
- He has gloves on(laughs).
- Lets get started.
- At first when I'm doing my makeup,
I always go from the lightest to the dark.
So that way I can cover up over those light colors
if I have any mistakes as I'm going along.
And I'm gonna be using my favorite paintbrush today.
My finger.
- Mm.
- I'm also gonna start with white, just a little bit.
- I always use grease paint when I'm doing my makeup,
because it can be set with powder
and it can last for a really long time.
I can also take a spit to the face or a pie to the face,
and this grease paint won't go anywhere.
So if you're a pro clown and you're not using grease paint?
Ya better get on it.
- My clown blouse that I wear is a recreation
of the same blouse that I made 45 years ago.
So I've kept most of my look pretty standard
for years and years and years.
I have about 6 clown looks, but the one I'm doing today
is the money maker.
- (laughs)
Oh my gosh, I mean, not like John.
I know this isn't a competition, but I'm always feeling
competitive in my life (laughs).
But I do a lot of kids' parties,
and you don't have much time,
like you're driving to and fro.
On a Saturday you have 6 parties in one day.
So my usual thing is just like, a ton of blush to be like
"Look at me, I'm a cute little clown."
And then it's in the outfit where it really pops
- So I'm putting my white on here because they call
white, the light in a can.
So, everywhere that I put this white it's just really gonna
pick up any light that is hitting my face.
And, I am a circus clown at heart, so all of my makeup
is a little bit exaggerated so that way you can see it
all the way from the nosebleeds of the arena.
- How did you first get into clowning?
- You know, I used to go to the circus when I was a kid,
and absolutely loved it, and that kinda transitioned into
gymnastics, where I learned how to do slaps, trips and falls
and then next thing you knew I was applying to clown school.
- Mm, You went to clown school?
- Yeah, mom loved that. - Yeah, you loved it.
- Yeah! That's great. Oh my gosh
- But in clown school I learned things
like professional makeup and costuming and gag writing.
And it really gave me all the important tools
that I needed to give me a jump start in my career.
- This is crazy, I'm not used to ever really doing this
and people watching me slash being next to someone else.
- I always have cameras on when I makeup.
- Really?
- No.
- I started clown with Commedia dell'Arte,
which is like Italian mask clowning.
- Very prestigious.
- Ugh, it's very... I cried a lot, it's real hard.
It's actually super, super hard.
But it's all like physical comedy,
and there's all these different stock characters
and you wear a mask.
You don't have your face to express emotion,
so everything is through your body.
And then I've done kinda like idiot stuff recently.
- So basically you're like a professional idiot.
- Yeah.
- (shouts) Same. - Aren't we all?
- Clown nose gives a lot of information about clowns.
I actually have a professional clown nose that's glued
onto my nose.
When you see a clown that does the clown nose
with makeup, it's different than someone
who glues a nose on.
That's one way to tell.
The wig is a big deal,
but how clear and defined their makeup is.
There are people who look like they put on their makeup
in 5 minutes, there are people who look
like they took an hour.
- John is calling me out (laughs).
- Here's another way of telling, the people
who have real professional noses versus sponges.
If you see a clown with a sponge nose, fake clown.
- John, I'm not a fake clown.
(record scratch)
I do have a sponge nose, it's in the green room.
- Again, I'm not--
- And I didn't bring it because I knew
you were gonna judge me (laughing).
- I'm not judging.
- It's fine if you are, I think that people should judge
more often than not.
- That's so not me.
- A clown to me is a mirror
that reflects itself back onto society.
- Ooh that's good.
- And clowns give people the opportunity
to laugh at themselves,
and it gives me the opportunity to laugh at who I am too.
- Uh huh..
- Because I can be a knuckle head sometimes,
and that is real life.
- Honk, and see it's much.
(laughing)
It's funnier when you hear it from the actual clown.
- That was, I think you should do the honk (laughs)
- And through its frustration of trying to achieve
this one task, that's where the humor comes.
And it's almost funnier, we don't wanna see the clown
win, we wanna see them fail, and rejoice in that failure.
- I'm the rookie clown.
Like if this was like a two cops.
- You're new, you're fresh, you're young.
Hey, raise your hand if you got hired today
as a professional clown!
- That's right!
- Yeah, a good place for the clown to be is in (honk).
- Yes!
Can we say...
Yeah, yeah?
The little (honk).
- We go honk if they can't say it.
- Okay yeah.
- So the rookie clown, veteran clown show would probably
be called CSI, Clown City.
- How about "Starsky and Clutch"?
(drum shot)
- Ooh John you're really good at puns and stuff.
- What part of, I'm delightful, isn't clear?
- Because of the stereotypes of scary clowns,
some of the adjustments I've made,
a little bit less makeup,
and also just knowing your audience,
knowing, what am I walking into.
- I also think it's fashionable to be scared of clowns
and there's camaraderie in it.
Somebody will say, "I'm scared of clowns," and then
next thing you know someone else is like,
"You know what, I am too."
And next thing you know, they're bullying up on the clown,
which kind of sucks, because at the end of the day,
the job of the clown is to bring joy and laughter.
- I went to a party, and the kid was like really
obsessed with The Little Mermaid, and I can sing,
pretty well, John.
- I'm not trying to be cocky, I'm not trying
to toot my own nose here.
- Honk.
- But I'm a pretty good singer.
And I sang, "Part of Your World" to this little girl,
and she just started sobbing.
She was so taken aback by it, and it was so sweet.
I feel like I'll never forget that moment.
And her mom was crying and they were just like so happy.
And I was like, "Wow."
- I think it's lovely
- I felt pretty proud.
- You should be proud that you make children cry
on their birthday.
- But they're happy tears of joy.
- Tears of joy?
Tears of sorrow.
- Tears of joy!
- So I put blue on my eyelids, it looks like you do too.
- I do too, yeah.
- Do you do it for the same reason as me?
- What is your reason?
- To make my blue of my eyes pop.
- Me too, me too yeah.
Look at our peepers, right?
Blue eyes.
- When I have more intense clown makeup, I feel
my commitment level just naturally rises.
And it's easier to just be a clown.
You know what I mean?
Cause you're not yourself.
- Yes, absolutely.
- So it is, it is good, if you have the time
and the resources.
Not everybody is as rich as John here,
with his prosthetics, I can't afford this.
I'm working a kids party for 50 bucks a pop.
- I think it has really clean beautiful makeup,
and he knows where to place the lines on his face
to make him look really scary, but like as a clown addict,
I really appreciate IT's makeup.
- But you got glue, it's in a glass case.
Get a closeup of that.
I can't afford that.
- I could have put a new roof on my house,
or bought these two items.
- You own a house?
- I've never watched IT.
It just kinda hurts my heart.
It hurts my heart, I love Stephen King.
But it kinda hurts my heart that,
that's kind of the genesis of what scary clown is now.
- I don't do full clown makeup anymore
because of the movie IT.
- With Halloween costumes it was like, "Everything's sexy,
the sexy girl."
You know?
And now with clowns, it's like,
"Ooh! Everything's scary."
You know?
And it's like what's next?
Like ponies and kitties?
Like are they gonna be scary?
I mean they're already sexy.
(seductive music)
- I definitely have also modified.
So growing up, my mom owned a party store,
and then she also was a clown.
I remember she had this clown jumpsuit that she would wear
and she had like a crazy red wig.
She was like the classic clown.
And I remember even as a kid being like,
"Mom, you look like a weirdo."
I never was like into it, but.
And so then when I started doing it, she was trying
to get me to do the way that she did it and I was like,
"Honestly, kids are afraid of IT".
- I love that IT is a scary clown, where as a lot of people
who are scared of clowns are scared of someone who is just
wearing a clown mask, or somebody who is dressed as a clown,
whereas IT is a clown who is scary.
And I think that, that really adds
to the element of the fear with IT.
- Because of that film, there is less clown work on TV,
less commercials for clowns.
- Clown is for joy and bringing laughter and happiness
and that's the complete opposite.
The evil clown and those people that
are dressing up as clowns just to scare people.
- It all changed in 1986 when the book, IT, came out.
Before that I had never had anyone tell me
they were afraid of clowns.
- Oh really?
Okay well that is really interesting.
- And VHS changed it, because people were able to get
the horror films that they loved that had clown stories
in it that really were prevalent.
- So people never used to be afraid of you pre 1986?
- No.
- Wow.
- The horror films, they started doing lots of horror films
with clowns in it.
- Why do you think they did that?
Cause it's kind of funny.
- It's a cheap, easy bait.
(laughs)
- With two fingers right now, by simply smearing this down,
I could be a scary clown.
- I think that an important part about designing
your clown face, is to not just look at somebody else's
and choose clip art to put on your face.
What makes a really good clown face is when you
learn the lines of your face and you figure out where
to put the makeup.
So I'm putting my eyebrows in a very particular spot,
so that way when I am raising and doing any exaggerated
features, these lines are gonna bend and they're
gonna raise and come down really low.
Whereas if I put it up just an inch further,
it would be right in the crease of my forehead
and it would disappear when I was raising my forehead.
- John, you sad?
- I do a sad clown look.
- No but are you sad in general (laughs)?
- What part of, I'm delightful, isn't clear?
(laughs)
- How big are the audiences?
They were huge.
- Well, here at the Staples Center, I performed
for a sold out crowd of 20000 people.
But I can also perform for just one person too if I need to,
and I think that's an important skill of a clown, is to be
able to adapt to whatever the audience is.
- So your clown thinks he's a pop star,
but he is kind of a rock star.
Like performing in front of that many people,
you really are.
- I can do hair more than makeup, so that definitely adds
a lot to the clown look.
- Sometimes when I do full clown white, if they want
a circus, I'll just glue with the latex, like a little
hat on, and it's kind of cute.
I don't know if you noticed, but I just started
losing my hair.
- I'm good.
- I'm gonna be cleaning this up, but yeah I guess.
- Good, I'm 99%.
- I keep it simple.
(dubstep music)
- Hi, I'm Johnny the Clown, and I don't wanna
toot my own horn.
(horn toots)
But, We've had a transformation today.
- Hi, my name is Clown Name, and I am ready to party.
(cricket noises)
What?
Not what you wanted?
Hey everybody, my name is Billy,
and I am ready to clown around.
- Ooh, hi everybody, my name is Pom Pom,
and I'm ready play (laughs).
- Hey y'all, my name's Lissy the Clown,
and I just wanna say, that if you wanna put clown makeup on,
you can do it to, everybody can.
All right, happy birthday!
(upbeat music)