Anyone had any SERIOUS problems with Coulrophobiacs?

Ever been attacked or abused by them?

Any suggestions on how to deal with them when they are right IN YOUR FACE seriously disturbing your show?

Generaly people that are afraid of you won't come near you. Usually the most you will get from someone afraid of clowns is them yelling from a distance.
If someone, afraid of you or not is getting in your face, imedately get the person who hired you or the person incharge of the event. It is there responsability to keep their guests under control, not yours. If at any time you feel like you are in any kind of danger, pack up and get out of there. No show is worth getting hurt or threatened.
You are there to entertain, not to be abused.
If you would like more information on Clourophia, I wrote an extensive artical about it for the Three Ring News. You can see it on my website www.IYQENT.com on the highlights page there is a link to all the articals I wrote.
Keep Smiling and be safe.
Looney Ballooney

I reached out to shake the hand of an adult and she said she was afraid of clowns. Well...she was standing their talking to me and not running & screaming hysterically down the street. :-o Sometimes it's a draw for attention I think. I assured her I wasn't a scary clown and she was "okay" after that.

Having said that, you can tell when an adult is honestly uncomfortable around clowns. It's the same as kids. If they have that "deer in the headlights" look, you need to slowly back away.

The ones that get in your face aren't afraid you clowns. They want the attention. I'm afraid of spiders and I _certainly _ don't go charging into their webs to get them out of the house! I run screaming into the next room. (If it's small enough I might even "take care" of it myself.)

If someone is in your face and the person in charge isn't giving you a hand with the situation, pack up and leave. Nobody, including clowns, has to take abuse of any type.

Thanks for the reply.
I totally agree. I think its not a fear of clowns, but a guise for attention.

I am currently working on an article (For the new site) about this. In todays ociety, it's almost "cool" to hate clowns and I am sure we are all to aware of the many websites that encourage this.

Oh well... we can't make everyone laugh.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Yeah, It's a little scary how some people hate clowns. I really think we have to work at this. I had an adult tell me that they were afraid of clowns so I said,"That's okay. Grown-ups scare me a little too-- she laughed!
I've tried a couple of different things.Sometimes, I hide behind my hat and try to play peek-a-boo, sometimes I act like I'm scared of them or their crying. Some times I just stop and let them approach me, that way it is on their own terms. I recently read an article in a back issue of Calliope where it happend at a birthday party and it was the birthday girl who was afraid.
The Clown pretended that she couldn't see the birthday girl; that she was invisible to her because she was scared. She kept the party going made sure she was set up where she (the girl) could see everything the clown did. Whatever you do. Don't pursue a scared kid. This Maybe where these I hate clown groups come from. Let the child do what is comfortable for them. Usually when they see were not really scary, then they will try for a closer look.
Try to focus the other kids attention on the fun that they are going to have, not the fact that there little friend is trying to hide inside a party hat.

I find it better not to look them in the eyes if they are a bit scared of me. I start by being very clumsy and when they see everybody else laughing they usually join in.

Actually I found that this method worked so well that I started to knock my table over pretending it was an accident. The kids love it.

Unfortunately if it makes a loud noise, this doesn't go so good when the kids are really small, and those are the ones that need the most distraction. So, for those little ones, I might just catch the table in time so it doesn't hit the floor, and then wipe my brow and knock it over the other way and jump to catch it. This kind of back and forth gets the kids going because they're anticipating the action and wondering when you'll notice that you're making it fall over.

or just have a little box or a can that I place on the table that I keep knocking over onto the floor, just as I turn around.

Watch "The Gods Must Be Crazy" for a good clumsy scenario.