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Bad Clowns

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Bad Clowns

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Overview

Winner of the Bronze Medal for Popular Culture in the 2017 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards

Bad clowns—those malicious misfits of the midway who terrorize, haunt, and threaten us—have long been a cultural icon. This book describes the history of bad clowns, why clowns go bad, and why many people fear them. Going beyond familiar clowns such as the Joker, Krusty, John Wayne Gacy, and Stephen King's Pennywise, it also features bizarre, lesser-known stories of weird clown antics including Bozo obscenity, Ronald McDonald haters, killer clowns, phantom-clown abductors, evil-clown panics, sex clowns, carnival clowns, troll clowns, and much more. Bad Clowns blends humor, investigation, and scholarship to reveal what is behind the clown's dark smile.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826356666
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	04/01/2016
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Benjamin Radford is a writer, investigator, and columnist for Discovery News. He is the author of eight books, most recently Mysterious New Mexico: Miracles, Magic, and Monsters in the Land of Enchantment and Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore, both published by the University of New Mexico Press. Radford lives in Corrales, New Mexico.

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction 1

1 A Short History of the Earliest Clowns 5

2 The Despicable Rogue Mr. Punch 11

3 The Unnatural Nature of the Evil Clown 20

4 Coulrophobia: Fear of Clowns 31

5 Bad Clowns of the Ink 41

6 Bad Clowns of the Screen 52

7 Bad Clowns of the Song 78

8 The Carnal Carnival: Buffoon Boffing and Clown Sex 89

9 Creepy, Criminal, and Killer Clowns 99

10 Activist Clowns 127

11 Crazed Caged Carny Clowns 141

12 The Phantom Clowns 151

13 Trolls and the Future of Bad Clowns 160

Notes 165

References Cited 173

Index 183

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

01/11/2016
Clowns with sinister sides and malevolent motives come under critical scrutiny in this pithy, abundantly illustrated study of the “bad clown” as a pop culture phenomenon. Radford (Mysterious New Mexico) surveys the history of nasty clowns from the Punch and Judy puppet shows of 17th-century London to contemporary treatments in film, television, literature, and music. He also identifies traits that make clowns potential sources of creepiness—among them, their grotesquely exaggerated outfits and grease-painted features, which convey “the superficially contradictory human feelings of horror and humor.” His discussion of “bad clowns of the ink” is focused almost exclusively on clowns in comics and graphic novels. Pennywise, the clown incarnation of evil in Stephen King’s novel It, is presented almost entirely in terms of his appearance in the book’s television adaptation. Radford is on surer ground when discussing the cult-classic science fiction film Killer Klowns from Outer Space, the manic antics of Krusty the Clown in The Simpsons, and performances by Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger as the Joker in the Batman film franchise. Chapters on bad clowns in real life add ballast to Radford’s analysis of what he identifies as “the real or imagined contradiction between the public and private personas of the clown.” Color Photos (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Radford isn't clowning around: [Bad Clowns] is heavily researched and well-footnoted and he takes readers from the first known clowns in ancient Greece through serial killer Mr. Punch of Punch and Judy right up to the legions of fans of Insane Clown Posse."
—Mirage Magazine

"With his wildly fun and surprising book Bad Clowns, Benjamin Radford wipes away the greasepaint and skillfully illuminates the weird world of clowns gone wrong."
—Skeptical Inquirer
"Clowns with sinister sides and malevolent motives come under critical scrutiny in this pithy, abundantly illustrated study of the 'bad clown' as a pop culture phenomenon."
—Publishers Weekly

"Bad Clowns is no joke. . . . Radford . . . tackles the topic of coulrophobia, evil clowns, criminal clowns, killer clowns, and nasty clowns in this insightful book."
—Twilight Language

"Radford's research is varied and extensive."
—Times Literary Supplement

"Do you fear clowns? As this book shows, you're not alone, and such fear is not completely irrational. Benjamin Radford reviews an amazing array of bad clowns in media from comic books to pornography. He discovers the reasons behind their evil ways, and he analyzes clown aversion. It's rough stuff, but it is given a skeptical, scholarly, and engaging treatment."
—Jan Harold Brunvand, author of Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: The Book of Scary Urban Legends

From the Publisher

Bad Clowns

Bad Clowns

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Paperback

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Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Table of Contents

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Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Table of Contents

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