If you’ve ever wanted to become a clown, there’s no better time than now. Funny Companie Clowns, who volunteer their services at private parties and community events—all for the purpose of benefiting Cincinnati Children’s Hospital—need your help; and in an effort to recruit volunteers, they’ll begin free clown classes Feb. 5. Throughout a six-week series, soon-to-be entertainers learn the art of clowning. Topics include costumes and makeup, ballooning, face painting, skits and character development. “The character is supposed to be an extension of yourself,” says Don Bachman, who founded Funny Companie in 1983 and has volunteered and led the troupe for the past 29 years. Bachman, whose clown name is Dr. Fun, says character development was initially hard for him because he wanted to be “the smart clown,” and at one point even aspired to be “the mayor of clown town,” but those characters just weren’t the right fit. “You’ve got to be yourself," he says. "You’ve got to be who you are—so Dr. Fun was born—and he’s just dumb, and always wrong and always getting into trouble, and that’s kind of who I was.” Since the group’s inception, Funny Companie has raised approximately $200,000 in unrestricted funds for Children’s Hospital. The money can be used where the hospital best sees fit, and Bachman says for a long time the money went toward pediatric liver care. “It’s huge that you can take an adult liver and cut it down and transplant it into a kid because there’s not a lot of kids’ organs available for transplants,” says Bachman. “So that was a huge discovery, and it was done in Cincinnati.” While Funny Companie’s funding goes toward the children in the hospital, the clowns perform primarily for healthy children in the community; but it’s not just children whom clowns entertain, Bachman says. “Everybody laughs at a clown," he says. "Everybody smiles—even driving the car, we have magnetic bumper stickers that say, ‘Caution, sometimes I drive like a clown,’ and then they go by and see a clown driving the car, and they can be 80 years old and they’re laughing and smiling and waving at the clown—it’s not just kids." “Same thing with balloons—who likes balloons? Everyone likes a balloon. It doesn’t matter how old you are. A balloon is just a magical little piece, and so you’re making everybody’s life a little bit better.” Bachman and the other volunteers in the Companie love what they do. So much so that they purchase their own makeup, costumes and balloons. They oftentimes spend about four hours of their weekends preparing for and performing at an event. “It’s a pretty good-size commitment, but it’s not something that you’re giving and not getting anything in return,” says Bachman. “If you give a kid a balloon or you paint their face and hold the mirror up and their eyes and face light up—that’s your paycheck.” Right now, however, the number of volunteers is at an all-time low. “I’d always hoped that there’d be some younger people who come in and run with it and it’d go on forever, but right now I’m one of the youngest people in the group—our oldest clown is 78,” says Bachman. “There’s only about six of us right now. Anybody can do it, but there’s nobody really that’s 30 that can take it over, and that’s the sad thing. I’d really like to see somebody younger get in it and maybe run with it.” Because the clown company doesn’t do much advertising, most of the people who call for bookings have seen the clowns perform in the past. “It’s nice to be able to tell people 'yes' when they call for an event, and it’s the hardest thing to tell them no,” says Bachman. “But it just happens where some weekends, we just don’t have anybody.” Clown classes begin Tuesday, Feb. 5 and will take place from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in room D242 at Children’s Hospital’s Albert B. Sabin Education Center. All ages are welcome and encouraged to attend. Do Good: • Volunteer as a clown. Attend free classes which will take place Tuesday evenings from 7:30 to 9 p.m. beginning Feb. 5. • Spread the word about classes, and encourage a friend to become a clown. • Book the Funny Companie Clowns for a future event. Contact Children's Hospital's Department of Development at 513-636-6080 for more information. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.
