famous clowns - interview with Jeff McMullen | clown ministry

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(Editor’s note: I was fortunate enough to interview Jeff McMullen, former Ringling Brothers clown, clown instructor and motivational speaker, in between performances during the summor of 2004 at my local library)

Clown Ministry: How long were you with Ringling Brothers (Circus)?

Jeff McMullen: I was with them not only as a touring clown for a year, then I left the show and did special events for them and then in ‘89 I went back, that was in ‘83 - I did special events in ‘82, ‘83, ‘84, went back in ‘89 as one of five American clowns to set up the Clown College in Tokyo. So that was my tenure with the Ringlings. Still got a great relationship with the home office. They’ve been wonderful to me, and opened up the doors and whatever I need they allow me information, research, access, which is huge in our industry.

Clown Ministry: Now you clowned as Ronald McDonald for a while, right?

Jeff McMullen: Yeah, I did that for five years, Arizona, Southern California, ‘83 to ‘87, boy, that was fun. The littlest Ronald McDonald they’ve ever had—shortest I should say. And I think the thing, Tom, that probably stands out the most about my relationship with McDonald’s is really two things. One is, they didn’t tell me how to clown, and I didn’t tell them how to make hamburgers. They knew that, they appreciated the fact that I understood what I was doing and the importance of the character, not just to the kids but to the industry, to the McDonald corporation. But the second thing that it really allowed me to do was, the first few years I was with them I was doing three to four hundred appearances a year. Just to get that much professional stage time was just a huge asset. In between, off and on, in between McDonald’s and Ringling, I’ve really just led my personal career as a modern vaudevillian, put grease paint on a little bit once in a while, not too often, doing fairs, festivals, state fairs, conventions, trade shows, resorts, different things. And then during the summer months I do my library tour. I’ll do about 48 libraries this summer, which is a lot—it’s more than I’ve done in the past, but there’s a real tight niche between this year’s theme of "Laugh It Up" and the product that I have to offer, so it’s a good tight fit. The libraries are so important, as clowns I would highly encourage any clown to make sure they’re involved with their library system. Number one, it’s great Monday through Friday work, which is somewhat difficult at times for us. The other thing that it offers us is most of the programs are indoors, and during the summer months even here in central Wisconsin it gets warm out there. So it’s a nice, controlled environment, the kids are supervised and at the other end of that spectrum, libraries are important for us as entertainers to stay involved with ‘cause it’s really the last venue that kids can come to for free, and experience face to face entertainment, or an entertainer. They don’t get that at the movie house. I mean yeah, they go and they laugh at the movies in the theater, but how do you interact? They don’t get it in schools any more because of budget cuts. Oh, they might get a Lyceum program or whatever they’re calling them these days, once in a while from the fire department or the police department, but certainly not from people like yourself and I, that engage that. It’s important. It’s important, otherwise they’re not going to know what to do.

Clown Ministry: Why don’t you talk a little bit about how you got into clowning?

Jeff McMullen: Boy, that goes way back. I knew from probably when I was five years old it’s what I wanted to do. It’s all I’ve ever done. I’ve never had a "real" job, per se. I guess I should say a "conventional" style job. I’ve always danced outside that box of conventionality. So, really from about age five I had an interest, and when I was in Boy Scouts, I was working on my Eagle project, and I thought, "You know, that would be kind of cool to do, maybe I could do some clowning in the hospitals." So I started clowning for my service project for my Eagle award, and just really kept going from there, doing hospitals and then did parades and then birthday parties, did that beginning track process. And you know, it’s kind of funny, when I look back now, almost 30 years, what am I doing? I’m doing hospitals, libraries, and parades! (laughter) Kind of went full circle in that gamut. When I graduated from high school I went right into Clown College, right out of Clown College onto the road, came off the road, went to the university, got my degree in Mass Communications, the year I graduated McDonald’s picked me up, spent five years doing that, left McDonald’s after five years, moved back here to Wisconsin, got my Master’s degree in Speech Communications, after I graduated I got hired, flew to Tokyo, helped set up that Clown College with Ringling, did that for a year, came back, re-established myself as an entertainer in the marketplace, received an invitation to the White House to do a program for President Bush, George Bush and Barbara, which was just a thrill, to be there. Did that program, came back, went back over to Japan in ‘91 with my own show, and played at an amusement park, headlined at an amusement park for a year, and then came back and started a motivational speaking company. I talk about the value of humor in the workplace, and I guess really what I saw when I left the country, when I came back all of my friends had changed. And not for the good. They suddenly started to grumble, all of a sudden they didn’t have time, they were always hurried, they were rushed, they were mumbling about this and grumbling about that, and I look at them, and I’m not saying they didn’t grow up - we all mature, but psychologically they became very hard and they forgot about that wonderment of life, of celebrating, of getting up each day and just trying to do good and making other people laugh and improve the quality of their day, which is at the very essence of what a clown always does. So I left the traditional grease paint world of clowning and went into the corporate world; I wouldn’t be accepted with a rubber nose and grease paint in that environment, so I put on the coat and tie and still talk about the same essence and values of clowning so instead now doing it, I talk about the value of it in one’s life, and finding that life balance and focus, and it’s been a fun 12 years now doing that. When summer comes that industry really stops. Speaking, I’ll do about 100 keynotes a year throughout corporate America. The summer months I like to stay home a little bit more, be with my kids. I’ve got a 10 year old boy and a 5 year old daughter, they like to see Dad, so I try to stay home a little bit more. Now when I was going back to graduate school, the Wisconsin Library System said "whatever we can do to keep you employed in the art, we will do that while you put yourself through school." I’m just a real firm believer, Tom, that you take care of those people who take care of you. I couldn’t do today if it wasn’t for McDonald’s, I still go to McDonald’s. If I were given a choice between any fast food restaurant I’ll still go there. Is it because I enjoy the food better than I do anybody else? No. Why? Because they took care of me when I needed that. I still help clowns on the Ringling show. I’ve got friends on the show now that I helped in the craft and get their skill level up. I can’t say I put them on the show, they did that themselves, but I helped train ‘em and get ‘em ready. So Ringling, I’m indebted to them, I’m indebted to McDonald’s, I’m indebted to the Wisconsin Library System, they all helped me build my career and allow me to do what I do and provide an income for my family.

(continued on Interview with Jeff McMullen, part 2)

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