Clowns

A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. The art of performing as a clown is known as clowning or buffoonery, and the term "clown" may be used synonymously with predecessors like jester, joker, buffoon, fool, or harlequin.

thumb|The classical appearance of the Harlequin stock character in the commedia dell'arte of the 1670s, complete with batte or "slapstick", a magic wand used by the character to change the scenery of the play ([[Maurice Sand, 1860)]] Harlequin (, , ; , ) is the best-known of the comic servant characters (Zanni) from the Italian commedia dell'arte, associated with the city of Bergamo. The role is traditionally believed to have been introduced by the Italian actor-manager Zan Ganassa in the late 16th century, was definitively popularized by the Italian actor Tristano Martinelli in Paris in 1584–

thumb|Musicians and skomorokhs. An outline of a fresco from [[Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv, 11th century]] thumb|Skomorokhs in a village, , 1857 A skomorokh (, Russian: , , ) was a medieval East Slavic actor, who could also sing, dance, play musical instruments and compose for oral/musical and dramatic performances. The term has an unclear etymology.

Jewish prankster (1757–1811)

the clown role in Chinese opera