Magic Clown Magic and Magic in Clowning Whats the Difference
By: Tom Raymond

In this article Id like to make a few short comments about the performance of magic in clowning where its appropriate and where its not. For instance it would be out of character for a bumbling clown to suddenly put on a serious demeanor and with the aid of a beautiful assistant saw a woman in half or levitate her or cause her to mysteriously vanish & reappear. Any of these would be totally out of character for virtually any clown.

However it would be perfectly in character for a clown to attempt to be the suave magician and be revealed for the charlatan he is either by his own bungling or that of his assistant (likely an auguste or tramp clown). Since the clown is by definition a bungler this would be fine and totally in character. In fact once having been exposed/failed it would be fine for the clown to successfully complete the magic (with the help of the audience a volunteer from the audience or perhaps with a clown assistant).

There is another way for the clown to perform magically however. Something that we forget too often is that the clown is himself a magical character a toon come to life. Whereas the clown cannot perform magic in character (most of the time; if its in character for your clown to successfully perform magically do so! No one complains that a clown juggler can successfully juggle or that a

clown balloon artist can twist latex into wonderful shapes without them popping) magic can (and perhaps should) happen to the clown without his even being aware of it. For instance it is perfectly in character for a clown assistant to a magician to be handed three rings only to have them magically link in his hands with the clown having a befuddled expression as to how this could have happened!

Likewise why not have the clown pull out a handkerchief to hand to someone (or blow his own nose) only to give it away/leave it lying and pull out a second from the same pocket (followed by a third fourth etc.) Why not have things magically multiple change color disappear with the clown acting nonchalant as though this is an everyday occurrence

Now if your clown doesnt perform magic thats fine not every clown should any more than every clown should twist balloons use puppets or have the same makeup as every other clown. But if your clown does perform magically why not broaden our horizons a little and truly portray a magical clown.

Tom Raymond aka. Raynbow the magic clown is a professional clown and underempoyed computer geek who runs the worlds largest clowning web site http://www.clownministry.com/ His personal site can be found at http://www.clownministry.com/raynbow/ Tom is available for both secular and sacred events and is available for conferences conventions and ministry events.