Clown. It’s a great word, and I use it often. Though not a great fan of emojis, the clown face one is the one I deploy most frequently when answering unwanted and insincere private messages on X. I do this because the meaning of the word ‘clown’ has changed considerably over the years. Once it meant a jester, a droll, an entertainer intent on causing jollity. Clowns could be wildly different – from Marcel Marceau to Morecambe and Wise – but their basic purpose was to add to the gaiety of nations.
Putting the ‘ick’ into Icarus, James Corden apparently flew too high
Comedians aren’t generally like this anymore. (‘Comedian’ has also taken on a less cheery alternative meaning; ‘Looks like we’ve got ourselves a comedian!’ TV policemen may sneer as an ineffectual criminal lies to them.) They’re bitter and angry, mainly because the populace doesn’t pay their pronouncements any mind at the polling station; painfully unfunny, lazy thinkers parroting the party line on their state-sanctioned group-think radio station (Radio 4) tittering about Donald Trump and Brexit.
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