can you tell me how to makemake clown gags?

[Magic Jeff]

i want to know how to make clown gags from ordinary stuff you buy at wal-mart. any ideas or tips. even basic stuff. i like to make stuff

[Luki Loki]

it all depends on what type gags you are referring to. For my daughter's clown character the only good gag is a bandanna around her head and over her mouth

Some gags are site gags all by themselves and other items such as a Barbie doll and the letter "Q" can be used as a word twist for Bar-B-Que

[Snugglesnort]

Okay before I say anything else I just want to say that clowning, and funniness comes from you. It is not in props, costumes or skills. It is your interaction with them, other clowns, and the audience that is funny.

That being said a "gag" is a story. A gag uses props, that is, phsyical objects. What those objects are depends on the gag. How a prop is gimmicked depends on how you plan to use it in the gag.

Clowning in not like magic. With magic in a show you have a serise of tricks you impose a story and an order to. The central part is the tricks them selves. With Clowning it is the opposite. You tell a story, and the use the props to help do it. The central part is the story.

All that being said, if you are thinking about building some stuff, just for the fun of it that you can use whenever. Think visual pun. Take a pun, and try enbody it in a object. Build a pizza model out of dominos and put it in a dominos pizza box. Get a fake hot dog and drag it around on a leash. There are a ton of ideas for this sort of thing in the "props" section. But really just use you imagination. If you think "this is reallllly stupid" you are on the right track.

[Sir Toony Van Dukes]

Snugglesnort,

Being new to clowning and lacking experience as a magician, I may be wrong, but I think the better magicians use a trick much the same way a clown uses a prop. They are telling a story and getting the audience involved in the story which allows him to distract their attention away from the trick long enough to perform some magic. If you only knew one trick, but had two stories, you would be better off than the magician who knew two tricks but used the same stories.

[Snugglesnort]

Indeed that is so Sir. However, people come to a magic show to see magic. The story serves the magic. It takes a mere trick and gives it meaning, reality, and depth. People come to a clown show in order to laugh. Props alone cannot do this. It is the story and character that makes people laugh. The props only enhance it. Give you something to interact with.

When you are a magician you think "These are the tricks I know, now how do I present them?" when you are a clown you think "I could make this situation really really funny, what do I need to convey it?"

Prop making is a incredibly valuable skill in the clowning world. But you have to know why first.

Magic Jeff you should check out Peachey Keene, and talk to him about this.

[Darrell]

Magic Jeff,

You may want to browse clown websites such as LaRocks Fun and Magic Outlet to get some ideas. I am not saying to copy someone else's work but that it may give you some ideas to help you come up with some clown props.

Good luck!
Darrell

[Magic Jeff]

thank you everybody! i've already come up with a few kinds of things and i'm trying to come up with more. thank you

[Jolly Well]

In the Props section of the forum there ae many ideas for self-made props. Also check the walk-around skit threads for more ideas.