Being a circus clown requires a lot of hard work. Clowns with the Ringling Brothers circus spend about three months rehearsing their act. They travel the country by train, performing about 500 shows each year in 90 different cities. Each show lasts an average of three hours.
Circus clowns must complete a training session at a "clown college" to be hired. People interested in working for Ringling Brothers attend the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. The program lasts about eight weeks and covers areas such as basic clown skills, how to develop your clown character, costumes, and comedy. A large part of the training consists of learning how to perform acrobatic tricks without seriously injuring yourself. As a clown, you will have to make very difficult tricks look easy.
Most party/event clowns do not attend a clown college, since the types of activities they need to learn are different from circus clowns. Party/event clowns usually go to a variety of clown camps, conferences and classes to learn their craft.
Being a clown also involves a lot of on-the-job training. The longer you are a clown, the more you will discover what people like while you are performing. Your performances can change the more you learn.
Circus clowns are full-time performers. The average starting weekly salary for circus clowns is $300, which equals about $15,600 a year. Circus clowns also receive benefits, such as medical insurance, and their employer pays for their housing. Party/event clowns usually work on a part-time basis and have a full-time job in another field. Most party/event clowns make between $40 and $150 an hour, depending on how much they want to charge their clients. Party/event clowns have to buy all of their own costumes and supplies.
There are only around 300 circus clowns currently employed in the United States. However, if you are interested in becoming a circus clown and pursue the appropriate training, you have a definite chance of finding employment as a circus clown. This is mainly because there is a high turnover rate in the employment of circus clowns. After a few years of the physical strain that being a circus clown puts on the body, not to mention the stressful travel schedule, a lot of people leave the field.
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