Bad Clowns

by Benjamin Radford

Bad clowns -- those malicious misfits of the midway who terrorize, haunt, and threaten us -- have long been a cultural icon. This book describes the history of bad clowns, why clowns go bad, and why many people fear them. Going beyond familiar clowns such as the Joker, Krusty, John Wayne Gacy, and Stephen King s Pennywise, it also features bizarre, lesser-known stories of weird clown antics including Bozo obscenity, Ronald McDonald haters, killer clowns, phantom-clown abductors, evil-clown panics, sex clowns, carnival clowns, troll clowns, and much more. Bad Clowns blends humor, investigation, and scholarship to reveal what is behind the clown s dark smile."

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Folklore, Pop Culture, Skepticism

188 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2016

About the author

Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine and a Research Fellow with the non-profit educational organization the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He has written thousands of articles on a wide variety of topics, including urban legends, the paranormal, critical thinking, and media literacy. He is author of nine books: Hoaxes, Myths, and Manias: Why We Need Critical Thinking (with sociologist Robert E. Bartholomew); Media Mythmakers: How Journalists, Activists, and Advertisers Mislead Us, examining the ways in which deception is used in various media to influence decision making and public policy; Lake Monster Mysteries: Investigating the World’s Most Elusive Creatures (with Joe Nickell), a scientific examination of lake monsters around the world; Scientific Paranormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mysteries; and Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore; The Martians Have Landed! A History of Media-Driven Panics and Hoaxes (with Bob Bartholomew); Mysterious New Mexico: Miracles, Magic, and Monsters in the Land of Enchantment (Winner of the 2015 Southwest Book Award); and Bad Clowns, as well as a novel titled The Merchant of Dust. His newest book is "Investigating Ghosts: The Scientific Search for Spirits." It is the first book to examine the history, culture, methods, and folklore of ghost investigation, from Victorian-era Spiritualists to modern-day TV ghost hunters.

Radford has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a graduate degree in education. He is a regular columnist for LiveScience.com, Discovery News, Skeptical Inquirer magazine, and the Skeptical Briefs newsletter. Radford regularly speaks at universities, colleges, and conferences across the country and has appeared on the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, the National Geographic Channel, the Learning Channel, CBC, BBC, CNN, and other networks with three letters. He also served as a consultant for the MTV series The Big Urban Myth Show and an episode of the CBS crime drama CSI.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Radford walks a fine line between serious scholarship and silliness in this surprisingly thoughtful look at the phenomenon of "bad clowns" in pop culture. The book isn't just about scary clowns in fiction and real life (think Pennywise from Stephen King's "It" or John Wayne Gacy); it's about any kind of "bad." Inappropriate, for instance (Ronald McHitler?! Really?). Naughty, as when we meet a professional S&M clown named Ouchy.

This book could have been boring or ridiculous, but it's neither. Instead, it looks at clowns with a fond but skeptical eye. What makes some clowns bad? Why? And why do we respond to them so deeply?

I really enjoyed the chapters on Mr. Punch, clowns in comics and other literature, clown sex, and real-life criminal or killer clowns. The only part I took issue with was the one on clowns in pop music. Apart from the obvious nods to Insane Clown Posse and Wall of Voodoo, I thought Flavor Flav as a clown was kind of stretching it. But this is a minor quibble.

"Bad Clowns" is juicy, funny, and provocative as hell. Go read it.

[Kendall McClain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gave me lots of recommendations woohoooo. Kinda sorta surface level and very repetitive but still fun.

[Prima Seadiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars.
I've always been fascinated by the mixed emotions clowns evoke and their prevalence in pop culture today. Radford does a scholarly and humorous job of describing the phenomena of the bad or evil clown and how or why we may react to it. He covers many examples from the history of fools and jesters, Punch and Judy, literature, pop culture in every form of media and some real life examples. In particular I enjoyed the chapter on the role of clowns/tricksters in indigenous cultures and the chapter on modern day use of the image as I have used the trickster in my own art.
There were illustrations though I would have enjoyed more and better print quality of them. That would have made it a 5 star read. The author appears to have an awesome collection.
Overall and interesting and worthy read for me.

[Lord Battle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first learned about the book "Bad Clowns" during a conversation I had with Michael Beach Nichols on The Overlook Hour Podcast. I asked him about the incredibly insightful guy credited as a "Folklorist" he interviewed in his film "Wrinkles the Clown" and it turned out to be Benjamin Radford, who he sought out aftering learning of this book.

Bad Clowns does a great job of looking back through the history of clowns, and working out how and why they exist in our society. Benjamin also includes nontraditional clowns, for example framing Flava Flav as rap's clown and in turn making him seem like a powerful / important cultural icon.

Loved this book and I would have given it 5 stars but I really could have done without the large clown film section. Honestly, that's stupid. I'm aware that I deal with film more than most. I even shamelessly opened this review by plugging my film podcast. I'm changing this to five. I mean, Bad Clowns has taught me to be more self aware and I loved his break down of album art based on clowns, which seems like a much thinner argument to make as a cultural signifier...

Is this even a review anymore or an inner monologue?

[Richard Joya · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent escapism book. Before reading this book I never understood why people were afraid of clowns. This really helped me understand the history of clowns and how people would find them frightening.
I enjoyed the history of clowns in the past like Harlequin and Punch. I would have never thought to include dunk clowns nor would I have thought to explore the racist history behind the carnival game. I remember hearing reports about people being afraid of groups of clowns in 2016, and Radford covered the patient zero of the epidemic.
Radford did explain that he had to limit the amount of bad clowns so my personal favorite like the antagonist of One Piece "Buggy the Clown" was not featured in favor of the more famous antagonist of Batman "The Joker." I think it would be great if a few years in the future people would share their favorite/ most feared clown in real life or media.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting analysis of the history of the notion of "bad" clowns, in every dimension. Radford does tread too lightly on the reality that some clowns are "bad" by being poor performers, as he focuses more on historical concepts of clowning and examples of clowns that have gone beyond social mimicry and satire. The expected long list of those characters is well explored. Radford also romps through examples of films featuring bad clowns, again hitting most of the expected ones, but including clown porno flicks! Eh?
I was disappointed that he didn't talk about Death to Smoochie, a clown movie for which I may be the only lover.
The included photo of Willard Scott as the original Ronald will definitely give you nightmares.

[Jabberwocky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting overview of the cultural phenomenon of the "bad" or "evil" clown. The historical clown figures (Harlequin, Mr. Punch), those of the Hopi people, and insights into the role of "dip" clowns were especially appreciated. The many footnotes and references are helpful for further reading.

[Mal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Earlier chapters are better, starts to feel repetitive towards the end.

[Lisa Westerfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

READING DIARY-3

I didn't know about the racial story about dipped clowns - where someone throws a ball and dunks someone in the tank.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting - love the way it uses the past to tie into the new clowns in our era - specifically internet trolls.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very superficial

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you scared of clowns? My best friend is terrified of them. A few years ago, for Halloween we went to a haunted house attraction that featured creepy crowns and she started crying. I’m not nearly that sensitive about them, but I have to admit, the original IT adaptation terrified me as a kid, and I think the novel is King’s scariest work.

So I was immediately curious about Benjamin Radford’s study, Bad Clowns. It covers everything from the diabolical Punch of puppet theatre, to clown movies like IT, to John Wayne Gacey and urban legends of phantom clowns. It’s not a perfect book, but it’s well researched and covers a broader spectrum of topics than I would have expected. While some topics could have received more discussion (and some could have received less-I admit I had to skip most of the chapter on Clown sex for the sake of my mental well-being). I thought the opening history of clowns, as well as the discussion of why people fear them to be particularly interesting.

I recommend this book to people who are afraid of clowns and want to face that fear, as well as to people who think clowns are creepy cool. It’s well researched, interesting, and original, and I definitely learned a lot.

[Marty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something that was facinating to me was that more than one conversation I have had was that people didnt like clowns . Something frustrating was that these conversations never really shed light on the subject.

Radfords book was the understanding that was missing. Read this for a great discussion of an offbeat topic.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Know that "clown panic" did not just start (and therefore can't be because of "movie promotion". The author examines all aspects of the "creepy clown" image in popular culture (as well as the assertion that "everybody" feels this way about clowns. Mr. Punch gets a whole chapter. And the conclusion examines the bad clowns of the net, the trolls. That's the way to do it!

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the classic bad clowns are here along with some history, I felt like some of the other 'clowns' identified were a stretch ( I'm looking at you Internet trolls ). But there were some interesting parts especially phantom clowns and Punch and Judy.

[Alex Baysinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty good overview of bad clowns in popular culture. While not exhaustive, anyone interested in this topic should start with this book. It's full of interesting information and entertaining to read.