While it has never been proven, clowning is well known to be a great confidence booster. Clowning allows people, who would normally be afraid to perform, a chance to hide behind their clown while entertaining. By increasing their comfort zone while clowning shy people will become better public speakers and better in all social situations. As a performance art clowning is a very open group, with little rivalry and quite a lot of people willing to help a new clown learn the ropes. This means very little chance of someone getting discouraged by a rude clown mentor.

Another confidence booster, for beginning clowns, is the fact that clowns are expected to make mistakes. This means that if you are juggling and drop, it happens, people are going to laugh at the clown who failed at juggling as expected. All you have to do as a clown is to realize this and embrace it. When you make a mistake, react to it in a clown way. Whatever you do don’t get mad.

So, if you happen to be low on confidence or afraid to clown because you hate performing in front of people, take heart, clowns are a naturally supportive group that takes care of its own. Oh, and the public expects you to mess up. Go for it.