Countywide : Would-Be Clowns Get Chance at College
About half a dozen would-be Bozo the Clowns goofed around Thursday afternoon as part of a one-day audition for spots in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.
The audition, held two days after the circus began performing at the Anaheim Convention Center, was a chance for people interested in clowning around for a living to pick up an application to the Venice, Fla., clown school and meet some of the circus’s professional clowns. One of the things that applicants learn at the free audition is that clowning around can be hard work, said clown Greg DeSanto. The circus travels about 11 months of the year, he said, adding, “It’s a very demanding job.”
The college lasts about eight weeks and teaches students many of the basics needed to work at a circus, DeSanto said. Graduates become proficient in such clown skills as pie-throwing, water-spitting and stilt-walking.
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