In 1990 he spent a year at Fooltime (now Circomedia), a circus training college in Bristol, and became a professional clown.
[3] After serving as a parish priest, Bain decided to convey the Christian message through a different route, inspired by his lifelong love of clowns.
[3][4] Like Coco, Bain performed as an Auguste, a clumsy character who is on the receiving end of water buckets and accidents, and who often works as a foil to the more clever and arrogant stage personality of the white-faced clown.
According to Bain, the Auguste role allowed him to provide a mirror to everyday personalities, if it was not too exaggerated.
[2][9] A 1996 German monograph by Angelika Richter and Lori Zonner in the Journal of Religion and Health, described by Marc Abrahams in his book This Is Improbable, called Bain the most prominent spiritual clown in England.
[12] Sandra Billington's 2015 book A Social History of the Fool describes the inspirational aspects of the clownerie and its spread of "a kind of mental oxygen".
She draws parallels between Bain celebrating the Christian court jester (for example, in his 2001 book) and similar publications such as 1999's The Corporate Fool, which advocates "creative folly" in the workplace.