Still from ‘Dunk Tank Clowns,’ a documentary by Daniel McGuire
Daniel McGuire’s documentary short ‘Dunk Tank Clowns’ premieres this weekend at Boston’s Independent Film Festival. “I’m too old for this. I’m glad you came here,” says seasoned clown Kenny Dickman in the trailer. “I’m on my first annual retirement tour. We’re politically incorrect.”
So true. Have you noticed the bozos have disappeared from Coney Island as well as New York City’s street fairs? In 2011, Drown the Clown, which we last photographed in 2009, was banished from Little Italy’s Feast of San Gennaro for being “too raucous” in the increasingly gentrified neighborhood. In Coney Island, the last photos we took were before the Coney Island Rezoning of 2009, which made way for restaurants, retail and condominium development.
Insulting people for a living isn’t as easy as it looks, according to the film’s synopsis. The documentary offers an inside look at the profession by longtime carnival bozos Terry Leonard and Tom Miller, who are seen working fairs in Massachusetts, and Dickman, whose territory is Pennyslvania and was with S & S Amusements the season that we toured with the show. Carnival days!
‘Dunk Tank Clowns’ screens at the Somerville Theatre on Saturday at 10:00pm and Monday at 7:15pm.
Related posts on ATZ…
December 1, 2014: Autumn Reading: Ward Hall – King of the Sideshow!
September 17, 2014: ATZ’s Top 10 Coney Island Film Festival Picks
October 6, 2013: Video of the Day: The Down Home Daredevils
December 8, 2012: Sunday Matinee: Princess Rajah’s Chair Dance (1904)
Amusing the Zillion 
Always liked to hang around the Dump the Bozos. Best outfit I ever saw was a family of four. Mother and daughter in short outfits and father and son as Bozos. The gals really knew how to get the tip going. The more the men insulted the throwing guys out front the faster the gals shoved “3 balls for 5” at them. They were fantastic. The sharp lot layout men kept the tanks away from noisy rides or other grind shows.
jack
Yeah, I enjoy watching these games that are shows too! There is still one at the Meadowlands Fair, which is coming up in June.