Clown Trivia
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This clown trivia quiz has 66 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 66 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Thanks to the great Regency performer Grimaldi, the pantomime Clown role became known by what nickname?
Joey
Joey comes from Joseph Grimaldi, who so dominated the Clown role at Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden in the early 1800s that the pantomime clowns who followed took his first name.
Q 02Clowns in full costume attend an annual church service honouring Joseph Grimaldi in which city?
London
London: the service began in the 1940s at the Islington church where Grimaldi is buried, then moved east to Hackney in the late 1950s, and it draws clowns from around the world.
Q 03Which 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 04Philip Astley, regarded as the father of the modern circus, added a clown to fill time between what kind of acts?
Equestrian displays
Equestrian displays were the heart of Astley's show, which grew out of his riding school; the clown was there to amuse the crowd between the trick riders.
Q 05Tom Belling's clumsy Auguste clown was created as the foil for which stock character?
The whiteface
The whiteface is the bossy, elegant partner: in the classic double act he gives the orders, and the Auguste spoils the trick by fouling things up at the wrong moment.
Q 06In the sitcom Modern Family, which character performs at parties as Fizbo the Clown?
Cameron Tucker
Cameron Tucker's clown was real: actor Eric Stonestreet had performed as Fizbo at children's birthday parties from the age of 11, and the episode named 'Fizbo' won him an Emmy.
Q 07Otto Griebling and Emmett Kelly are classic examples of which circus clown type?
Tramp
Tramp: both men played down-and-out drifters for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, and Kelly first drew his character as a cartoon before bringing him to life in the ring.
Q 08Emmett Kelly's famous sad-faced circus clown character was named what?
Weary Willie
Weary Willie's signature bit was trying to sweep up a pool of spotlight with a broom; in 1957 the Brooklyn Dodgers took Kelly on as a mascot.
Q 09Ringling clown Lou Jacobs, a 6-foot-1 former contortionist, was famous for squeezing himself into what?
A tiny car
A tiny car, about two feet by three, was Jacobs's best-remembered gag in six decades with Ringling; his painted face grew so familiar that it appeared on a 1966 US postage stamp.
Q 10Clown Charlie Rivel, born Josep Andreu and famed for the German cry 'Akrobat schööön!', was from which country?
Spain
Spain: Rivel was born in Cubelles, near Barcelona, to travelling circus parents; he took his stage name from Charlie Chaplin, and his catchphrase became the title of a 1943 film.
Q 11Which future Jackass star graduated from Ringling's Clown College in 1997?
Steve-O
Steve-O finished Clown College but was not picked for the Ringling circus, so he clowned at a Florida flea-market circus and on cruise ships before Jackass; the college itself shut in the late 1990s.
Q 12Which future Las Vegas magician graduated from Ringling's Clown College in 1973?
Penn Jillette
Penn Jillette graduated from Clown College in 1973, then spent the next few years in a juggling act with a school classmate before teaming up with Teller.
Q 13Which clown, later Sesame Street's Mr. Noodle, was awarded a MacArthur 'genius grant' fellowship in 1984?
Bill Irwin
Q 21A photo of Conrad Veidt in which 1928 silent film inspired the Joker's grin?
The Man Who Laughs
The Man Who Laughs gave the Joker his face: Veidt's Gwynplaine has a grin carved into him as a boy, and Batman's creators agreed that a still from the film inspired the villain's smile.
Q 22Joaquin Phoenix's 2019 film Joker won which top prize at the Venice Film Festival?
Golden Lion
Golden Lion is Venice's highest prize, and Joker took it in 2019; Phoenix, who lost 52 pounds to play failed party clown Arthur Fleck, went on to win the Best Actor Oscar.
Q 23In Stephen King's It, Pennywise the Dancing Clown preys on the children of which fictional Maine town?
Derry
Bill Irwin trained at Ringling's Clown College, yet his 2005 Tony came for a serious role, George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Q 14The performer behind Sesame Street's Mr. Noodle was an early clown with which San Francisco circus troupe?
Pickle Family Circus
The Pickle Family Circus did without animals or a ringmaster: founded by veterans of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, it put its clowns at the centre of the show.
Q 15Britain'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 16Which Motown singer wrote the lyrics to 'The Tears of a Clown' after its music reminded him of a circus?
Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson was handed an instrumental by Stevie Wonder and Hank Cosby; its calliope riff sounded like a circus to him, so he wrote about a clown hiding his sadness, and the Miracles took it to No. 1 in 1970.
Q 17Which 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 18In The Simpsons, which sidekick framed Krusty the Clown for armed robbery?
Sideshow Bob
Sideshow Bob, voiced by Kelsey Grammer, robbed the Kwik-E-Mart disguised as Krusty because he was sick of being the butt of the clown's gags; Bart exposed him in the first season.
Q 19What term is used for an intense fear of clowns?
Coulrophobia
Coulrophobia is a popular coinage rather than a term from psychology: it surfaced in the late 20th century and is said to be built on a Greek word linked to stilt-walkers.
Q 20In a 2022 survey of 987 adults from 64 countries, about what share reported some fear of clowns?
54%
54% is the rounded figure: 528 of the 987 said they had some degree of fear, far above earlier adult surveys, which had put the rate at between 1.5% and 17%.
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 24Who played Pennywise in the 1990 television adaptation of It?
Tim Curry
Tim Curry looked back on Pennywise in 2015 as 'a wonderful part' and wished the actor cast in the remake good luck.
Q 25John Wayne Gacy became the 'Killer Clown' after it emerged he performed under what clown name?
Pogo
Pogo the Clown was Gacy's act at parties and charity events; the 'Killer Clown' label followed his 1978 arrest, and his case is often named among the roots of the evil-clown figure of the 1980s.
Q 26Which 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 27Which actor played Twisty the Clown in American Horror Story: Freak Show?
John Carroll Lynch
John Carroll Lynch's Twisty drew a public complaint from the head of Clowns of America International, who said such killer characters add to people's fear of clowns.
Q 28Pinto Colvig, the first voice of Bozo the Clown on 1946 children's records, also originated the voice of which Disney character?
Goofy
Goofy and Bozo shared a voice: Colvig, a former circus clown himself, played Bozo on Capitol's read-along album Bozo at the Circus before the character reached television in 1949.
Q 29How long did the waiting list for studio tickets to WGN-TV's Bozo's Circus eventually reach?
Ten years
Ten years: WGN stopped issuing tickets once the wait hit eight years, and a cut in live shows then stretched it to ten; the Chicago programme stayed on air for more than 40 years.
Q 30Which actor purchased the rights to the Bozo the Clown character in 2021?
David Arquette
David Arquette bought the rights to Bozo the Clown from Larry Harmon Pictures in 2021 with plans to revive the character, and the next year added a female counterpart, Jozo Bozo.