For more than 20 years, neighborhood resident SHAWN PATRELLO has been making people laugh. While he started out as an improv comedian, his latest incarnation has led him to a much more challenging, albeit fulfilling, side to laughter. A year ago, Patrello added clowning to his résumé, and now at least one day a week, you will find him at Children’s Medical Center, where he works as a therapeutic clown.
How did you start making people laugh?
I started out in 1986 and got involved with an improv group that had come from Milwaukee. I didn’t know that much about comedy at that time, but I wanted to go and audition. I made the troupe and stayed with them for about four years, and then I formed my own comedy troupe called Rubber Chicken. A little into Rubber Chicken, I got in with a group called Big Thought, which is an arts and education group that brings different artists to the schools, and that turned into Kidprov. One day there was an e-mail that was circulated from an organization called Stage, and I read that auditions were going to be held for clowns at Children’s Medical Center.
Seems like a hard job, being a clown.
I had no idea what it was going to be like to be a clown, let alone to be a therapeutic clown. It was kind of an interesting journey and definitely a choice I will never regret.
Did you go to clown training?
Actually, they do classes that are anywhere from a weekend long to two weeks, and I took the first one — the winter intensive — a little more than a year ago.
What was the training like?
I think a lot of people still to this day believe that clowning is about blowing up balloons and making them into funny shapes and making crazy sounds at birthday parties, but really I learned in the workshop that it really is the heart of comedy.
What is your clown outfit?
There are so many different styles of clown makeup, and most people know the circus style, which is really big. In the hospital, we tone it way down. There is still the makeup, but subtle and gentle since we deal with every age group.
Tell me an experience that has stood out for you as a therapeutic clown.
I went [to the hospital] one day to see what it would be like. I have been working with children for much of my lifetime, and I love it. There is nothing better than children, but I was concerned about what it would be like to be around very sick children. I was not worried about them being sick, but if I would emotionally be able to take that. The first thing we did was go to a boy’s room, and he was about nine years old and had had brain surgery. He had literally just come out of surgery, so he was shaved bald and had scars that ran the circumference of his head. I will never forget the feeling when I walked in because it wasn’t a feeling of fear. We got to joke around with him and have some fun and be there with him in a humorous way. There was some craziness and silliness, but just being there and bringing laughter in the room — it is an experience I will never forget. I wasn’t afraid or depressed, but I felt honored that I could be a part of this little boy’s life, and the truth is, I don’t believe that he is even alive anymore. I wondered how my mind would handle knowing that, but I felt honored and blessed with just the fact that I got to be a part of that little boy’s life for that piece of time in a positive way.
