Please, whatever you do, do NOT send in the clowns

Frank says:

12:50pm | 01/08/12

I have to admit Tim Curry’s portrayal of Pennywise in IT caused a childhood dislike for clowns personally, after watching his amazing performance again not long ago it was amazing and cements in my mind what I have known all along, from Rocky Horror to Ferngully, Charlies Angels and IT Tim Curry is the best actor ever!

sunny says:

12:56pm | 01/08/12

The best way to decide if clown is good or evil - the good ones will always let a pie cool down first before throwing at you.

M says:

01:16pm | 01/08/12

I never had a problem with clowns. It was scary though, but I didn’t see it till my teens.

Aaron says:

01:18pm | 01/08/12

My father use to own a video shop and when I was 10 years old the trailer for “It” scared the shIT out of me. I avoided drains in the shower and on the street I cannot believe something so fictional could have such an impact on many lives regarding clowns. As an adult, I think Tim Curry’s performance was advanced for its time, as one other reader states “he nailed it”, the movie should of won awards for that sort of performance. Try find acting like that nowdays. Non-existant. I want to go home and watch “It” tonight. The 3 hours the film takes really feels like 2 the story is interesting and keeps you on your toes. Pennywise is my hero.

Baloo says:

01:22pm | 01/08/12

Why do they sell balaclavas at surf shops and such anyway?
Did that guy who wore it think he would look sewper kewl when he attacked Madeleine..what a loser..

Never been afraid of clowns, never watched IT though so I don’t know. I’m not too fond of dolls but.

Ian1 says:

01:34pm | 01/08/12

Tory, this clown says, “I am ridiculous, I’m afraid.”

Lucy says:

01:35pm | 01/08/12

There is actually a real philosophy and professionalism around clowning that unfortunately many people don’t follow - they throw on too much make-up and act completely manic and uncontrollable, and their audiences are understandably terrified. Done properly, however, clowning should respond to audience’s feelings and needs, and act in a way that will draw people out and help them understand human nature, rather than intimidate them. This sometimes involves being loud and goofy, but sometimes means being quiet and reflective - if in an exaggerated way.
Unfortunately lots of people don’t understand this, and have given clowns a bad reputation - such a shame!

Kika says:

01:44pm | 01/08/12

My sister was always really terrified of clowns - I think before Mum read and told us about IT. Yeah… we used to ask her what she was reading so she gave us a synopsis about it as well as other Stephen King books she read. I think she was afraid of clowns in a creepy nudie pedo man type of way.

Mr.Tiny says:

02:03pm | 01/08/12

I make a few extra dollars clowning on the the weekend. The trick is to just be cool. Play with the kids that run up to you and let the kids who want to hang back come to you when they are ready. Though I’m not full on clown, just a squeaky nose, a cheap suit and a top hat with a flower. So I look alot more approachable when I start with the magic, balloon animals and ukulele.

Interestingly my sister is afraid of clowns, i’m not sure but I may have started just to annoy her.

subotic screams like a butterfly says:

02:19pm | 01/08/12

My favourite clown controversy was the album cover for Acid Bath’s “When the Kite String Pops”. The band purchased a copy of a John Wayne Gacy clown painting and stuck it on the cover. Needless to say the families of Gacy’s victims went to town on the band. And thankfully lost.

Freedom of speech has to include a few clowns too, rite?

Colin says:

02:47pm | 01/08/12

Sorry - “Bip”.

See, I dislike that persona so much I can’t even remember his name correctly…

Al says:

03:02pm | 01/08/12

Not frightened of clowns, just choose to stay away from them as a get a tremendous urge to walk over, smack the back of their heads and yell “grow up and get a real job and stop scaring the kiddies”.
I stay away so I don’t get charged with assault on a clown.

I aint scared of no stinking clown says:

03:15pm | 01/08/12

Yep…im afraid of clowns….more so after watching… IT….those sharp teeth!!!!
Lucky for me the wife doesn’t mind checking under the bed at night.

Yon Toad says:

03:47pm | 01/08/12

So are you really saying that there is no way that you want Kev to stage a comeback,Tory?

Wickerman says:

03:49pm | 01/08/12

I like clowns - Insane Clown Posse that is.

SKA says:

05:17pm | 01/08/12

As a child, my cousin and I believed a “zombie clown” lived in the bush down the back of our place and he would come up at night and turn you into clown zombies… unless he thought you already were one. So we both used to put plastic red noses on when we went to bed to keep him away… of course when we woke up, our parents would have long removed the noses but we believed we were safer anyway…

stephen says:

06:19pm | 01/08/12

Think of the number, in film, where crimes are committed in and around the circus turnstiles - implicating the clown -  and we see the irony of the moment where the child in us, when circuses were part of our fairytale, invades our adult world with an unreal serenity ... it’s where the macabre comes from : the clown taunts us because we suspect it knows our fortune, ie. non-innocence.

Grey says:

06:51pm | 01/08/12

Perhaps he was making a plea for marriage equality at the same time?

Its all academic now since he has pleaded guilty, but didn’t Gai Waterhouse say she saw someone driving down the road in a balaclava and a “nervous-looking” woman.

Still, I dare say people are driving up and down Mosman in balaclavas all the time.

Li says:

09:56pm | 01/08/12

Can’t sleep, clowns will eat me o.0

Chris says:

10:23pm | 01/08/12

I’m a big fan of the movie “Brassed Off!” in which one of the Grimley miners makes a few pounds on the side by ineptly doing kids’ shows as Coco the Clown. Up to the eyeballs in debt, with his wife leaving him, loansharks on his doorstep, his father direly ill, and the coal mine about to close, he hangs himself while in his clown outfit. In another scene, he ruins a kid’s party by ranting about the British economy and the injustice of the world—all while wearing his clown costume. Very funny in some ways; in other ways, not funny at all.

egg says:

12:33am | 02/08/12

hate them intensely. and yes, it’s tim curry’s fault. or maybe my parents, for letting me watch IT when i was 7. i don’t really know who to blame, i only know that i do not want. :(

EWB says:

08:03am | 02/08/12

I was terrified of clowns after watching IT as a youngster at a sleep over.  It wasn’t until I was about 19 that I realised Pennywise and Frankenfurter were the same actor.  After that, I wondered whether Pennywise was just a sweet transvestite in clown make up… and that cured my fear of clowns.

Oh, and when I was older I finally watched IT through to the end, and realised just how crappy the special effects were with that spider thingy.  Kinda took all the terrifying mystique out of it.

Ban the Clowns! says:

01:29pm | 02/08/12

The sooner we ban these clowns the better.

More specifically, we need to ban people from wearing clown makeup/masks etc. I mean, why do they feel the need to cover up their faces? They can commit any crime they want unimpaired and no one can stop them.

Frankly, I find their conduct un-Australian. It is an affront to Australian values and our way of life.

Fit in or F-off, clowns.