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ODD JOBS

CLOWNING AROUND

By Shanna Hogan

Save the clown jokes. And if you’re a card-carrying coulrophobiac, you may want to stop reading now.

While being a clown might sound like just fun and games or appear to be some weird hobby you already know too much about, for lots of professional clowns it’s what brings home the bacon.

As Lovely Buttons, Julie Varholdt performs at children’s birthday parties, hospitals and corporate gigs across the Valley. She is also the current vice president for the World Clown Association and secretary for the Luv Clowns of Arizona.

Seventeen years ago, on a whim, Varholdt attended a clown meeting and fell in love with making people laugh. From the first time she stepped into her clown costume, she says she knew she had found her calling.

The fact that you could make pretty much anyone laugh instantaneously was so gratifying, it was ridiculous,” she says. “Plus when I found out you got paid for doing gigs—I’m stuck with this for life.”

AGE: 1,546,679,112 seconds old. (That’s what she tells all the kids who ask.)

TRAINING: Varholdt attends two or three clown classes a year to learn new skills and develop her character. “Clowning is an art; it’s something that has to be learned. You can’t just jump out there, stick on a red nose, and suddenly you’re a clown. If you want to be a real clown you have to have an education.”

CHARACTER: There are several different clown classifications. At first Varholdt performed as a “white-face clown.” “But in Arizona it’s just too hot, and as a white-face clown you have to have all your skin covered. That lasted for about three years, then I became an Auguste clown (beige-faced clown with bold make-up).”

HOURS: Varholdt performs at least four days a week at birthday parties, restaurants, children’s hospitals and citysponsored events.

DELIGHTS: “The best part is making people laugh. Giving them a ha-ha instead of a ho-hum.”

BACKGROUND: Varholdt was a stay-athome mom when she was intrigued by an ad for a clown meeting in Mesa. “I went and I was absolutely addicted.

It was just so much fun. As a clown you could do whatever you wanted to and nobody knew who you were. You could just become a totally different person.”

DIFFICULTIES: “The hardest part in all of clowning is saying no to a child. When you’re done with a gig and you’ve just done six hours and the mom comes up and says, ‘I want you to face paint my child.’ You have to say no once in a while.”

SPECIALTIES: “I’ve done tons of balloons and face painting for many, many years. I’m very good at it. I also love doing stilts; that’s one of my new passions.”

COULROPHOBIA (FEAR OF CLOWNS): “The majority of people who are scared are adults. Of those adults, probably 99 percent of them have seen the movie It, by Steven King. That movie was the worst thing possible for clowning in the whole world.”

COSTUMES: Varholdt sews and creates all of her own costumes. “It’s a very expensive art to be in, but it’s so worth while. It’s changed my life completely.” SALARY: The average clown makes about $38,000 a year, according to www.simplyhired.com.