"The only thing to me... the important thing... is the family, and if you can keep the family together with things. That's been the backbone of our whole business - catering to the families. You can't live on things made for children - or for critics. I've never made films for either of them. Disneyland is not just for children. I don't play down. You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway." -- Walt Disney
When somebody asks me what I do, I reply that I am a family entertainer. I found that if I said I was a clown the response I received was, "Oh! That must be a lot of fun. I bet the kids like you." That immediately eliminates from their consideration many venues where my services would be ideal. I can and do entertain audiences of adults. At the recent California Clown Campin' program I performed for an all adult audience and received a standing ovation and a demand for an encore.
Clowns are sometimes themselves responsible for the kids only stereotype. Occasionally an author in one of the clown organization publications will say something like, "Clowns only perform for kids so you don't need to develop much skill at..."
Yet, skill is the key to being a family entertainer. If you start off with silly material aimed at kids, preteens and adults will dismiss you as appropriate only for kids. At a birthday party the adults begin their own conversations in the back of the room because they think what you are doing is not relevant to them. A quick display of skill gains their respect and demonstrates that you are more than just a children's entertainer. Not only do you gain their respect, but you demonstrate that you respect them. Then that mutual respect allows them to relax and enter into your world of play. You have to respect the adult part of their personality before they will allow you access to the childlike part of their personality.
According to psychologists you develop your sense of humor in stages. The first thing a baby does is respond to a smile with a smile. Then they react with delight at a surprise, for example, playing peek-a-boo. The next form of humor a child appreciates is forbidden subject humor, for example, a whoopee cushion. Then they develop the ability to enjoy word play, for example, puns and knock-knock jokes. Finally they learn to understand and appreciate cognitive humor including irony and sarcasm.
Some clowns advocate using body function humor because it causes a strong reaction from very young kids. They are correct, but playing down to younger kids that way can alienate older members of the audience because it is obviously childish humor. Any forbidden subject humor, including sexual references, can alienate audience members with a mature sense of humor.
Even if you wanted to concentrate on entertaining children, you will rarely have an audience exclusively of children. A preschool audience will include the teachers, and you need to appeal to them as well to be invited back. At other venues you will probably have the people who brought the children as potential audience members.
Walt Disney said he never made anything for the critics. Some of his work was acclaimed by the critics, but they were never his target audience. In the world of clowning, competition judges serve as the critics. Those things that appeal most to the judges are not always the things that appeal to family audiences. I have seen many award winning competition skits fail completely when presented in a variety show with a family audience. Competition is a narrow venue with a limited number of performances. You cannot have a thriving clown career based on things created for competition. It is wisest to concentrate on preparing for a family audience, and if that also works in a competition it is a bonus.
What is your target audience? How can you make your entertainment appealing to older children and adults? How can you show respect to all ages?
