Shakes the Clown

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Shakes the Clown
DVD cover
Directed by	Bobcat Goldthwait
Produced by	Paul Colichman Ann Luly-Goldthwait
Written by	Bobcat Goldthwait
Starring	Bobcat Goldthwait
Music by	Tom Scott
Cinematography	Bobby Bukowski Elliot Davis
Editing by	J. Kathleen Gibson
Distributed by	IRS Media
Release date(s)	March 13, 1992
Running time	87 min
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$1,400,000 (estimated)
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Shakes the Clown is a 1992 American movie directed and written by Bobcat Goldthwait, who performs the title role. It also features Julie Brown, Blake Clark, Paul Dooley, Kathy Griffin, Florence Henderson, Tom Kenny, Adam Sandler, Scott Herriott, and Robin Williams (using the pseudonym Marty Fromage). The movie is a dark comedy about a birthday-party clown (Goldthwait) in the grip of depression and alcoholism. Different communities of clowns, mimes and other performers are depicted as clannish, rivalling subcultures obsessed with precedence and status. This was Goldthwait's bitter satire of the dysfunctional standup comedy circuit he knew as a performer.

Critical and audience reaction to the movie was decidedly mixed: Leonard Maltin gave it his lowest rating, and the Boston Globe called it "the Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies," while many performers adopted it as a cult classic. Because of its cult status, there has been much talk over the ensuing years of a sequel from writer/director/star Goldthwait, though none has yet appeared.

In an interview with Conan O'Brien, Goldthwait revealed that no less than Martin Scorsese had defended the movie from detractors. When a film critic derided the movie in order to make a point about good and bad movies, Scorcese revealed, "I liked Shakes the Clown."