Yesterday I had two meetings with a bunch of clowns.

It started as a big mess—clowns talking over each other. One clown played the ukulele while another clown played a completely different song on the kazoo. There were lots of missteps as clowns introduced themselves, cases of mistaken identity happened, at least two clowns were using the same name. It was a real mess. All of this was done in good spirits. It’s the type of thing that you would expect when you have a bunch of clowns together. 

It was the highlight of my day. 

In the first clown meeting, I played my ukulele for the group.  I played one song. Now I realize I should’ve played more. I was conscious not to play for too long. I didn’t want to take up too much time in the meeting. So I sang the first verse of “Twist and Shout” by the Isley Brothers.  After I stopped playing, I looked up and noticed that the other clowns were still dancing. The clowns were on their feet, still twisting and shouting even though the music stopped. I really should have kept going. 

These clowns were from all over the world, Canada, Brazil, Europe. We met for a zoom meeting. This was a clown gathering of the Health Care virtual clowns Facebook page. This page was created several weeks ago as a place for Healthcare clowns to meet and socialize and share our work as we all deal with the repercussions of COVID-19. Some of these clowns I had met before, many of them I have not met. Whether or not I knew them before, I am grateful for the time we spent together. As the meeting went on, we begin to discuss different artistic approaches, ways we are adjusting our work to bring laughter and clowning in the world of the coronavirus. Now more than ever, we all could use some frivolity, a reason to laugh, a chuckle, a sense of absurdity to help us cope.

After the Health care virtual clown meeting was over, I took part in another meeting, my second virtual clown meeting for the day. This one was with Clowns Without Borders. For this meeting, I listened as a clown team talked about their work in the COVID-19 world.

 The coronavirus has dictated that we cannot do our work the usual way. That said, we are looking for ways to continue our mission, to use technology, and any other means we have to bring laughter, joy, and a shared sense of humanity to the world. So, our clowning will continue. We are working on ways to make sure that happens. We clowns will cause a ruckus. We will keep twisting and shouting even when the music stops.

I look forward to more time with clowns. You can see me above in the picture. I’m the one in the red hat and bow tie.

Mind calm, Heart warm, Hands clean.

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