A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms.

The most recognisable clowns are those that commonly perform in the circus, characterized by colorful wigs, red noses, and oversized shoes.

Their performances can elicit a range of emotions, from humor and laughter to fear and discomfort, reflecting complex societal and psychological dimensions.

Through the centuries, clowns have continued to play significant roles in society, evolving alongside changing cultural norms and artistic expressions.

[5] Peter Berger writes, "It seems plausible that folly and fools, like religion and magic, meet some deeply rooted needs in human society.

[7] In anthropology, the term clown has been extended to comparable jester or fool characters in non-Western cultures.

Canadian First Nations also feature jester-like ritual performers, translated by one Anishinaabe activist as "Harlequins", though the exact nature of their role is kept secret from non-members of the tribe into the present day.

Before him, a clown may have worn make-up, but it was usually just a bit of rouge on the cheeks to heighten the sense of them being florid, funny drunks or rustic yokels.

Grimaldi, however, suited up in bizarre, colorful costumes, stark white face paint punctuated by spots of bright red on his cheeks and topped with a blue mohawk.

He was a master of physical comedy—he leapt in the air, stood on his head, fought himself in hilarious fisticuffs that had audiences rolling in the aisles—as well as of satire lampooning the absurd fashions of the day, comic impressions, and ribald songs."

The circus clown tradition developed out of earlier comedic roles in theatre or Varieté shows during the 19th to mid 20th centuries.

[12] The first mainstream clown role was portrayed by Joseph Grimaldi (who also created the traditional whiteface make-up design).

[12] The comedy that clowns perform is usually in the role of a fool whose everyday actions and tasks become extraordinary—and for whom the ridiculous, for a short while, becomes ordinary.

Some writers have argued that due to the widespread use of such comedy and its long history it is a need that is part of the human condition.

Originally a foil for Harlequin's slyness and adroit nature, Clown was a buffoon or bumpkin fool who resembled less a jester than a comical idiot.

The now-classical features of the clown character were developed in the early 1800s by Joseph Grimaldi, who played Clown in Charles Dibdin's 1800 pantomime Peter Wilkins: or Harlequin in the Flying World at Sadler's Wells Theatre, where Grimaldi built the character up into the central figure of the harlequinade.

Belling's costume became the template for the modern stock character of circus or children's clown, based on a lower class or hobo character, with red nose, white makeup around the eyes and mouth, and oversized clothes and shoes.

Italian retains Pagliaccio, a Commedia dell'arte zanni character,[b] and derivations of the Italian term are found in French Paillasse, Spanish payaso, Catalan/Galician pallasso, Portuguese palhaço, Greek παλιάτσος, Turkish palyaço, German Bajass [19] or Bajazzo, Yiddish פּאַיאַץ (payats), Russian пая́ц, Romanian paiață.

Examples include Marceline Orbes, who performed at the Hippodrome Theater (1905), Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp (1914), and Emmett Kelly's Weary Willie based on hobos of the Depression era.

[citation needed] In the United States, Bozo the Clown was an influential Auguste character since the late 1950s.

Originally, Harlequin's role was that of a light-hearted, nimble and astute servant, paired with the sterner and melancholic Pierrot.

As developed by Joseph Grimaldi around 1800, Clown became the mischievous and brutish foil for the more sophisticated Harlequin, who became more of a romantic character.

[27] The Auguste face base makeup color is a variation of pink, red, or tan rather than white.

In the novel, the eponymous character is a pan-dimensional monster which feeds mainly on children by luring them in the form of a clown, named "Pennywise", and then assuming the shape of whatever the victim fears the most.

Prime examples of this type of clown are the circus tramps Otto Griebling and Emmett Kelly.

Red Skelton, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Rowan Atkinson and Sacha Baron Cohen would all fit the definition of a character clown.

Their makeup starts with a flesh tone base and may make use of anything from glasses, mustaches and beards to freckles, warts, big ears or strange haircuts.

Clowns may perform such skills as tightrope, juggling, unicycling, Master of Ceremonies, or ride an animal.

If for instance there had been a tightrope walker the reprise would involve two chairs with a piece of rope between and the clown trying to imitate the artiste by trying to walk between them, with the resulting falls and cascades bringing laughter from the audience.