The Online Clown Academy have been courting the media, in the run up to our first ever Clowns In Crisis Conference, coming up on the 6-8 November.

The Mirror

Conference organisers Robyn Hambrook, Bee Golding and I penned a press release that was picked up by none other than The Mirror, who wrote a short article under the banner, "More Clowns Tackle Covid." (On reading the title, I innocently asked on social media: "Who are these other clowns? There are more of us?" before having the joke tactfully explained; apparently, the other clowns are our politicians! Who knew?)

For those who can't see the photo above, here's what the article says:

"A pair of British clowns are uniting others from around the world to discus how they can help during the pandemic.

The Clowns In Crisis Conference aims to look at their role in "personal or political change"

The online meet next month is being run by Holly Stoppit and Robyn Hambrook, of Bristol, who founded The Online Clown Academy in lockdown.

Among the talks is one asking "What can your clown do for the world?""

Perhaps it was supposed to be light relief in the dark days of imminent lockdown? We are pleased as punch to have got our event noticed. Since this inch long article was released, we've been approached for numerous interviews, including Bristol TV, which you can watch right here.

Bristol TV

How lovely that they chose to mix in photos of my Holly Stoppit Workshops Clowns out and about on the streets of Bristol back in the days when we could do this sort of thing.... Ho Hmmmm....

BBC Radio 6

The Mirror article was read out on air by "Dr. Fun" himself, BBC Radio 6 presenter, Shaun Keveny, who then went on to debate how clowns could be of service during the pandemic: 

"Clown shoes are supposed to be too big, right? Because that's funny...2 metre long shoes! What a brilliant idea! Then you know that as long as you're not standing on the clown's toes, then you're 2 metres apart and that you're safe to converse." 

Thanks Shaun, good point, we'll take it to the Clowns In Crisis conference and see what the other clowns make of it.

The Times

Next up, our 4-week Zoom Clown course was highlighted in The Times in an article about new things you can learn in 4 weeks:

"Become a clown. Life is a stressful juggle right now, so why not go the whole hog? Over the course of four two-hour sessions, The Online Clown Academy will teach you all the basic skills you need to "encounter your living space and its familiar objects with fresh eyes and a playful heart," Imagine the look of delight on everyone's faces when they leave their homes for the first time in a month and see you standing in the middle of the street dressed as a clown. Imagine it. No really, imagine it."

Our next Zoom Clown 1 course begins on 19th November, to book your place click here.

ITV's This Morning

ITV's This Morning invited me onto the show to do a clown-o-therapy workshop for their Bristol-based roving reporter, Josie Gibson. 

We filmed my bits over Zoom, while Sam the producer-director and Lee the cameraman were at Josie's house. Sam had a vision of Josie entering dressed as a fully painted clown and me saying "Oh sorry, but this is not the sort of clowning we'll be doing today," leading to her taking off the make-up and getting real silly in a one to one Zoom Clown workshop.

Josie is a natural clown and has based her career on willingly throwing herself into whatever challenge is being presented. She excelled at clowning, progressing through the playful warm up, easing into the mirroring, exploding into gibberish conversations and embracing bafflement via playing with a parsnip. She gets 10 out of 10 from us.

Gyles Brandreth

The next guest on This Morning was Gyles Brandreth who said after watching our film, "Clown-o-therapy should be on the national curriculum." Well yes, Gyles, we agree.

Our next Zoom Clown 1 course begins on 19th November, to book your place click here.