A clown is a circus performer. It is a comedian, characterized by a very specific look: Clowns usually wear grotesque outfits, over-exaggerated make-up, big shoes and a patchwork of vivid colors and mismatching patterns.
Their purpose is to make an audience burst in laughs.
A clown is a clumsy character:, contrived to watch every step he takes with his extra large shoes. But it's just putting off the inevitable: a clown is meant to find himself in an awkward and funny situation.

Clowns have always been part of staging performances in Circus. Their role in the society is of a much importance, as they stress all facets of humanity: There are basically 3 types of clowns. The Whiteface stands as the figure of authority. His face is completely covered with a layer of white make-up, and wears white and majestic pieces of clothes.
He makes sure that the other clowns behave in a righteous way, and always tries to turn something funny into a boring stuff.
The Auguste is the anarchist clown, he just does what his heart tells him to do, and very often for the sake of humor. He performs an act where series of accidents always happen. The Whiteface and the Auguste needs a third character, the Contra-Auguste, to play as a mediator between them. The contra august tries to gain the approval of the Whiteface by mimicking his gestures.

These simplify and over-caricatured representations of mankind into three main characters allow clowns to debunk all the taboos of the society. Clowns are so relevant of men's behavior that their performance can touch everybody: when the Auguste slaps the whiteface by accident, it's like he is kicking the buttock of all the figures of authority.

Clowns love to play tricks on people. They often shake hands with an electric buzzer hidden on their palm-hand, or press on a fake flower to spray water on people. Like in screwball and slapstick comedies, their body is always challenged by the surrounding elements ( a table, an obstacle...), stressing the fact that they don't fit in this society that gets you literally down.

Some people are coulrophobia: they fear clowns. Maybe Stephen King's book “It” played a part in this. “It” is the story of a clown who murders kids.