Clown Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
This clown trivia quiz has 69 free questions with answers and runs from the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt to Pennywise, taking in court jesters, Joseph Grimaldi's whiteface, the Auguste and tramp clown types, the Ringling Clown College, Bozo, Clarabell, Krusty and the strange British tradition of painting clown faces on eggs. There are questions on rodeo bullfighters, sacred clowns of the Plains, Pagliacci, Pierrot and the 2016 creepy-clown scare, so it suits circus buffs and horror fans alike. It is built for anyone who wants more than 'what colour is a clown's nose'. Easy questions cover the famous names; the hard ones ask who was the first living person on a US stamp, which theatre made Deburau's Pierrot famous and where the World Clown Association first met. Every answer was checked against a primary source, such as Wikipedia, official proclamations and organisation records, and each question carries an explanation with one extra fact worth remembering.
30 of 69 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Thanks to Joseph Grimaldi, the pantomime Clown role became known by what nickname?
Joey
Joseph Grimaldi so dominated the Clown role at Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden in the early 1800s that British pantomime clowns took his first name and became known as Joeys.
Q 02Which pantomime catchphrase did Joseph Grimaldi originate?
Here we are again!
Grimaldi's entrance cry 'Here we are again!' became the traditional greeting of the pantomime Clown; his best-known song was 'Hot Codlins', about a seller of roasted apples.
Q 03Clowns in full costume attend Joseph Grimaldi's annual memorial at Holy Trinity Church in which London borough?
Hackney
Holy Trinity Church in Dalston, known as the Clowns' Church, sits in the borough of Hackney; the service is held on the first Sunday of February, and Grimaldi's grave lies in neighbouring Islington.
Q 04Which famous novelist did Richard Bentley hire to edit and improve Joseph Grimaldi's memoirs?
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens, then writing as Boz, reworked Thomas Egerton Wilks's clumsy draft for publisher Richard Bentley, and the Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi appeared in 1838 with illustrations by George Cruikshank.
Q 05The earliest known clowns have been traced to the Fifth Dynasty of which civilization, around 2400 BC?
Egypt
Egypt: records from the Fifth Dynasty, around 2400 BC, describe a dwarf entertainer at the pharaoh's court, the earliest figure usually counted as a clown; Greek theatre later had its own rustic buffoons.
Q 06When the English word 'clown' was first recorded around 1560, what did it mean?
A rustic or peasant
Shakespeare used it in exactly this sense, naming rustic fool characters simply 'Clown' in Othello and The Winter's Tale.
Q 07Philip Astley added a clown to his 1768 London amphitheatre shows to fill time between what kind of acts?
Equestrian displays
Astley's ring is considered the birthplace of the modern circus, and the clown was there from the start as filler between trick riders.
Q 08Tom Belling's clumsy Auguste clown, developed around 1870, was the foil for which stock character?
The whiteface
The whiteface is the elegant, authoritative partner: in the classic double act the whiteface gives the orders and the clumsy Auguste, which Belling created at Circus Renz in Berlin, botches every task.
Q 09In Auguste clown makeup, what is the term for the thickly outlined area around the mouth?
The muzzle
Clown makeup guides call the white-highlighted, thickly outlined mouth area the muzzle; the Auguste's base is pink, red or tan rather than white, with exaggerated red-and-black features on top.
Q 10Otto Griebling and Emmett Kelly are classic examples of which circus clown type?
Tramp
Both were tramp clowns, a branch of the character clown family, which also covers eccentric butchers, bakers, policemen and housewives; Kelly and Griebling worked together at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey.
Q 11Emmett Kelly's sad-faced hobo clown, modelled on Depression-era drifters, was named what?
Weary Willie
Weary Willie, with his stubbled frown and tattered coat, was Kelly's creation from 1933; his signature bit was trying to sweep up the circus spotlight with a broom, and in 1957 the Brooklyn Dodgers hired him as a mascot.
Q 12Which Ringling clown became, in 1966, the first living person to have his portrait on a US postage stamp?
Lou Jacobs
Lou Jacobs's grinning face appeared on the 1966 five-cent American Circus stamp; he performed with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey for more than 60 years and is often credited with popularizing the red rubber-ball nose.
Q 13Clown Charlie Rivel, famed for his cry 'Akrobat schööön!', was born in which country?
Spain
Q 21The World Clown Association held its first convention in 1983 in which US city?
Atlanta
The group's first convention outside the United States came in 1991 in Bognor Regis, England.
Q 22What term is used for an intense fear of clowns?
Coulrophobia
Coulrophobia, coined in the late 20th century from the Greek kōlobathristēs, a stilt-walker, is the popular term for fear of clowns; it has never been listed as a formal diagnosis in the DSM.
Q 23A survey of 987 adults in 64 countries found what share had some fear of clowns?
54%
About 54% (53.5%) of the 987 respondents reported some fear of clowns, and 5% said they were extremely afraid; an earlier University of Sheffield study of hospital decor found children universally disliked clown images.
Charlie Rivel, born Josep Andreu in Cubelles, Catalonia, in 1896, took his Chaplin-inspired act and his drawn-out 'Akrobat schööön!' catchphrase across Europe and became Spain's most celebrated clown.
Q 14In which year did Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College close?
1997
Clown College ran from 1968 to 1997: Irvin Feld founded it in Venice, Florida, home of the circus's winter quarters, and it moved to Baraboo, Wisconsin, the Ringling brothers' hometown, in 1993.
Q 15Which magician turned down Ringling's contract offer after graduating from Clown College in 1973?
Penn Jillette
Penn Jillette graduated from Clown College in 1973 but declined Ringling's contract; his refusal prompted a rule that graduates must accept a contract if one was offered. He later partnered with Teller in Las Vegas.
Q 16Which clown, Sesame Street's Mr. Noodle, was in 1984 the first performance artist awarded a MacArthur Fellowship?
Bill Irwin
Bill Irwin, a Clown College graduate, received a MacArthur 'genius' grant in 1984 and later won the 2005 Tony for Best Actor as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Q 17The performer behind Sesame Street's Mr. Noodle helped found which San Francisco circus troupe?
Pickle Family Circus
The Pickle Family Circus, started by Larry Pisoni and Peggy Snider with Bill Irwin among its original clowns, is credited with helping spark the renaissance of American circus in the 1970s.
Q 18Britain's Clowns International records members' face-paint designs on what unusual object?
Eggs
The register exists so that no two clowns end up wearing the same face, and the originals were real hen's eggs before ceramic ones took over.
Q 19What was Stan Bult, founder of Clowns International's face register, by profession?
Chemist
Stan Bult was a chemist who painted clown faces on hen's eggs as a hobby from 1946, founding the register for the International Circus Clowns Club; only a couple of dozen of his originals survive.
Q 20Which US president proclaimed August 1 to 7, 1971 as National Clown Week?
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon issued the proclamation in 1971 after Congress passed a 1970 joint resolution requesting it; clown groups went on to mark the first week of August as International Clown Week.
Q 24A photo of Conrad Veidt in which 1928 silent film inspired the Joker's grin?
The Man Who Laughs
Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson drew on a photo of Conrad Veidt's fixed grin as Gwynplaine in The Man Who Laughs; the Joker debuted in Batman #1 in 1940.
Q 25Joaquin Phoenix's 2019 film Joker won which top prize at the Venice Film Festival?
Golden Lion
Joker took the Golden Lion, Venice's top award, in 2019; it went on to win Oscars for Phoenix and for Hildur Guðnadóttir's score and became the first R-rated film to gross a billion dollars.
Q 26In Stephen King's It, Pennywise the Dancing Clown preys on the children of which fictional Maine town?
Derry
Derry, King's fictional stand-in for Bangor, Maine, is It's hunting ground; the 1986 novel runs on two timelines because the creature sleeps for roughly 27 years between feeding cycles.
Q 27Who played Pennywise in the 1990 television adaptation of It?
Tim Curry
Tim Curry played Pennywise in the 1990 ABC miniseries; Bill Skarsgård took over the role for the 2017 film and its 2019 sequel.
Q 28John Wayne Gacy became the 'Killer Clown' after it emerged he performed under what clown name?
Pogo
Gacy performed at parties and charity events as Pogo the Clown; his 1978 arrest, and conviction for 33 murders, helped curdle the friendly party clown into a horror staple in the following decade.
Q 29Which US retailer pulled clown masks from its stores and website during the 2016 creepy-clown scare?
Target
Target removed clown masks from shelves and its website in October 2016 as sightings spread from the US to Canada, Australia and the UK; McDonald's also gave Ronald McDonald a lower profile.
Q 30Which actor played Twisty the Clown in American Horror Story: Freak Show?
John Carroll Lynch
John Carroll Lynch played Twisty, the masked killer clown of Freak Show, which is set in 1952 Jupiter, Florida; he later returned as Twisty in the Cult season.