by Janet Tucker

In years past when clowning was more of a circus phenomenon rather than the community clowning we have today for parties, picnics, and special family occasions, clowns developed signature bits they used prior to the circus starting. This time when people are assembling and getting into their seats was a great opportunity for close up bits, one-on-one gags and jokes in the audience rather than the bigger productions done in the circus rings during the show. Whether eating a head of cabbage one leaf at a time or delivering a cake of ice which continued to melt away or just having a clapping competition between the audience on one side against the audience on the other, each clown developed some close up bits to be used during the circus“come in”. Walkarounds of this kind are still funny bits for clowns to use in parades, as “come in” for a bigger event, or just anytime you want to entertain and get laughs as you move through an assembled crowd.

Many walkarounds involve the use of puns, and some are silent but many also involve some patter to deliver the joke.One thing you must be aware of as you develop a clown walkaround is that they don’t play well in any situation that involves a foreign language, such as a mission trip or an overseas clown convention. Where a small suitcase with a sign that says “My diamond collection” can be opened to reveal a number of playing cards that are diamonds or some photos of baseball fields showing the diamonds, a foreign language would not have the same meaning for the words“diamond” that could be used as a collection joke. However, for the purpose of this article, these verbal and visual puns in English are where we can start so you can develop some walkarounds for your clown character.

Think of puns and plays on different words. Tide is a brand of laundry soap. If you put a rope in a bag and say it will come out tied, then pull out a small box of Tide soap, you have a visual pun bit. Take this a bit further and put a box of tide on a stick, hold it up and announce “High Tide”, then drop it down and announce “Low Tide”. Then wave the box on a stick in the air and announce “A Tidal Wave” as you run off to the next group of people in the parade to do your bit with.

While “Granny’s Bloomers” has a slightly naughty expectation, it is revealed to be 2 small potted plants. A “QuarterPounder” suggests a hamburger but is really a quarter coin and a small hammer.

A number of letters lend themselves to walkarounds. Cutout some letters from a sheet of foam rubber or even cardboard and you can produce “Brown-E’s”, “Green P’s”, then thread together 3 pieces of fruit vertically on a stick and call it a balanced meal. You could give someone a “Black I” which everyone knows is better than “Pink I”. You could make your own “I-Pod” with some letter “I’s” and some green felt in the shape of a peapod. Maybe instead of letters, you could put eyeballs into your green pod for an “I-Pod”.

A few years ago, a popular walkaround was a series of words cut from cardboard. There was “Something”, “Nothing”, a little“Something”. The patter could be any story you wanted to develop when you ask if the audience would like to see a “little something”. Show the small one, then say “Oh that was “nothing” and show that word. Finally show the big something and say “Now that’s “Something”. Continue to play with words like this such as “Everything” and a big “Deal”.

A “Tax Shelter” might be an umbrella over some thumbtacks; a 3-piece chicken dinner is just 3 kernels of corn.

A fun walkaround that is easy to make and easy to carry but lends itself to all kinds of jokes and stories is a “Phoneless Cord”. Other people might have cordless phones, but you proudly show your phone less cord and then can question your reception and why you aren’t getting any calls. Or maybe use it to pretend to talk on the phone to a child. Using both your and the child’s imagination is a great way to develop a relationship of fun.

Well, that’s some ideas for this issue to get you thinking about walkarounds. Send in your ideas for fun walkarounds and we’ll do a follow up in a future issue as these are fun to make and use when you are clowning.