History Main / NonIronicClown

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* Helmut, from JimJarmusch's ''NightOnEarth'', the taxi driver used to be a circus clown in East Germany.
* Deconstructed in ''TheGreatestShowOnEarth'', with a nervous clown named Buttons (who is played by an actor whom we know from his voice to be JimmyStewart, although [[TheUnreveal Stewart's unpainted face is never revealed]]). Buttons is actually a doctor who is wanted by the police for [[MercyKill "putting his wife to sleep" when she had a terminal illness]]. The police suspect the truth, but they can't arrest the man because he is never seen out of makeup and always careful not to display medical knowledge. Buttons finally has to [[HeroicSacrifice give himself up when the owner of the circus nearly bleeds to death following the film's famous colossal train wreck and the circus needs a doctor to perform a blood transfusion]]. Buttons saves the owner's life (having by this point removed his wig and red nose but not his whiteface) and is immediately afterward arrested for murder. He is still a beloved figure in the eyes of the children at the circus, though, and some of them [[TearJerker plaintively ask where Buttons is going as the police take him away]].

[[folder:Film]]

** [[DrivenToSuicide That damn mime]], on the [[DeadBabyComedy other hand]], is ''[[EnemyMime fucking evil.]]''
* ''Super PaperMario'' villain Dimentio. Despite being a villain, and a rather evil and sadistic one at that, he still fits this trope much better than MonsterClown. The only thing monstrous about him are his intentions.

* Another tragic example (and a more sympathetic character) is Jack Point from the GilbertAndSullivan operetta ''{{The Yeoman of the Guard}}'' (the pair's only non-comedic work, done at Sullivan's insistence because TrueArtIsAngsty).

* Helmut, from Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth, the taxi driver used to be a circus clown in East Germany.

* Clarabelle on Howdy Doody.

* The tragic clown opera ''I Pagliacci'' (although it must be said that, even if nobody in it is a modern "monster clown" psycho, even so, ''none'' of them are nice people).
* Another tragic example (and a more sympathetic character) is Jack Point from the GilbertAndSullivan operetta ''The Yeoman of the Guard'' (the pair's only non-comedic work, done at Sullivan's insistence because TrueArtIsAngsty).

* The clown who hassles your [[TheSims Sims]] is a nuisance, but he's not particularly evil. He's just bad at his job.

* Clarabelle on ''HowdyDoody''.

* JPPatches, who to this day, decades after his show was cancelled, he still performs as his clown character.

For clarification, it should be noted that a degree of ''irony'' is intrinsic to most clown performances, and indeed to humor in general. The traditional "tears" painted on a clown's cheeks are there to show that he is laughing on the outside but may be crying on the inside, an acknowledgment by the performer that most humor contains at least some element of laughing at another's pain. This is most played up in old-school, down-on-their-luck "hobo" clowns like Emmett Kelly Jr., though the ultimate artistic expression of the tragic clown concept is probably the title aria in the opera ''I Pagliacci''. The "Non-Ironic" in the trope's name simply refers to the clowns listed here ''not'' being evil or deliberately frightening.

* Charlie Chaplin's ''[[TheCircus The Circus]]'', featuring Chaplin stock player Henry Bergman as an entirely non-ironic clown.

* Modern example: Fizbo on ModernFamily.

* Super PaperMario villain Dimentio. Despite being a villain, and a rather evil and sadistic one at that, he still fits this trope much better than MonsterClown. The only thing monstrous about him are his intentions.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Emmet Kelly, Jr.
* [[http://www.avnertheeccentric.com/ Avner the Eccentric]]
* ''Any'' traditional circus clowns, be they part of Ringling Bros., CirqueDuSoleil, or other troupes.
* While the mere fact that they are ball-jointed dolls might push them into CreepyDoll territory for most people, the Iplehouse [[http://www.iplehouse.net/shop/step1.php?number=1034 Tania Pierrot]] is seemingly clown-themed and played for RuleOfCute.
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* The JerryLewis-esque clown in the ''{{Animaniacs}}'' episode "Clown and Out."

* Ronald [=McDonald=].

* Bozo, the "World's Most Famous Clown", had the distinction of being portrayed both by a live actor and as a cartoon on his television program.

* The JerryLewis-esque clown in the ''{{Animaniacs}}'' episode "Clown and Out".

** Cameron takes it into SeriousBusiness territory

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* ''{{Hitman}}: Blood Money'' has a clown at a kid's birthday party whose clothes you can steal. The protagonist, 47, even once won an award for 'Best Videogame Clown'.

* Charlie Chaplin's ''[[TheCircus The Circus]]'', featuring Chaplin stock player Henry Bergman as an entirely non-ironic clown.
[[/folder]]

* Charlie Chaplin's ''[[TheCircus]]'', featuring Chaplin stock player Henry Bergman as an entirely non-ironic clown.