> clowns turn up where you least expect them sometimes. I was chaperoning a field trip once(to the La Brea Tar Pits, it was) riding in the bus with thirty 2nd graders, two other moms and one dad. The dad was trying his hardest to interact with the kids, doing all kind of tricks with coins, making jokes, etc etc--but the kids were not reacting at all, in fact they seemed kind of embarrassed. I actually felt kind of embarrassed for him, because he was *way* over the top of normal adult/kid chit chat, if you know what I mean. He turned to me and said "I guess they don't have any sense of humor". I think I mumbled something non-commital in reply, because I thought he was acting kind of weird, really.
> Later I found out that he was actually a professional clown. But without the right setting, uniform, or context, it just didn't make sense (like my movie-going clowns or your buddy George).
>
> koala"laugh,clown,laugh"mom

I think your anecdote goes to show, all the more clearly, that professional clowns just *aren't* funny. I mean, we're taught as kids -- and we also teach OUR kids -- not to associate with people who they don't know, such as random strangers... and specifically STRANGELY acting strangers. Enter the clowns. Parents and organizers in an attempt to "liven up a party" sometimes hire clowns to 'entertain' their children. Then they wonder why young children are terrified out of their wits by the clowns' antics, and older children sit there gritting their teeth at the tricks, the jokes, and at the condescending nature of the clown's chatter.

Humour is one thing. The "way over the top" kind of patter, as koalamom mentions, is another when it's divorced of meaningful context, and teaches us nothing, and is devoid of compassion. It becomes a forced, artificial kind of humour which isn't funny at all.

Wolf "guess I don't like clowns" spirit