If you're gonna do this, think up a character first, and give that character some sort of reason it would be in the hospital. Remember, a clown doesn't know he's a clown. The character itself isn't making people laugh on purpose, people laugh because of his manner and the things he does.
The generalizations as to styles of clowns (whiteface, auguste, tramp) is minimally relevant, although really, its just makeup styles. No one ever actually said "the Auguste has to be outlandish and the whiteface has to be the smart one" Well OK, no one ever said it except for the odd club clown who, probably mistakenly, decided to cast himself in the role of teacher...or worse yet, vanity-printed a book and started their own clown school. So don't worry about "rules", and be wary of those who say they must be followed.
Get yourself "Strutters Guide to Makeup" if you can find it. It gives the step by step rundown on how to apply each of the archetypical clown faces. The last few pages are just a gallery of clown "mugshots" of many different styles of clown face that you can use as a starting point.
My only makeup advice is to start minimal and work your way out. Start with thin eyebrows and paint only your bottom lip. (Don't paint on a huge red smile that goes halfway to your ears. That's just scary.) Then once you have those, you can begin to play with them and expand. But my experience is that minimal eyebrows and mouth are best. Often just a painted natural bottom lip and small pips on either side are enough to accomplish what clown makeup is supposed to. (Its supposed to make you more expressive...thats all.)
Hope this helps.
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