Surly You Jest

That frisson of terror you feel when you see clowns has a fancy name: coulrophobia. Perhaps it stems from meeting a drunken clown as a child, or reading It, or attending a circus where clowns cavorted creepily amid fresh elephant dung. Perhaps Emmet Kelly once sucker-punched your grandpa, or John Wayne Gacy stashed your brother in the crawl space, or you accidentally watched Patch Adams. Or, just maybe, you once met a clown like the Disgruntled Clown, a frizzy-haired jester who, at 6-foot-5 and painted all black-and-white, looks like a cross between an NFL lineman and Gene Simmons. Sure, he appears ready to go on a rush-hour commuter-train rampage, but are his jokes funny? The clips on his web site, www.disgruntledclown.com, aren’t hilarious, but they’re funnier for having come out of the well-lined mouth of a massive, chain-smoking clown. And they’re sure as hell scarier. Skip the sad clowns and go straight to angry at 9 p.m. Friday at the New York City Comedy Club (8221 Glades Rd., Boca Raton). Tickets are $12. Call 561-470-6887, or visit www.nyccboca.com.
Fri., Aug. 24