All people are sad clowns. That's the key to comedy - and it's a buffer against reality.
I think I always was a bit of a class clown, but I don't know how successful I was at that. I always think, when I read about people being class clowns, I imagine them being actually very funny, and I don't know that I was. But I tried to be, I think.
When I first started dating my husband, I had this weird fascination with the circus and clowns and old carnival things and sideshow freaks and all that. About a month after we started dating, he bought me this amazing black-and-white photo book on the circus in the 1930s, and I started sobbing.
People don't buy from clowns.
Clowns are meant to make people smile. That's my goal.
I think a lot of comedians make the best dramatic actresses because they have a facility. They're very vulnerable. They're very open, like clowns.
Class clowns are never allowed to date anybody decent, but you don't get beaten up, you're invited to parties, and everybody likes you.
Eighty per cent of my output is 'Mallory clowns on the Western canon,' and I'm happy to be that person.
'Hamlet' is a play of many strange parts, with ghosts and players, politicians and clowns.
We knew we were different, even from our elementary school days. We were the class clowns; we engaged with people differently. We knew there was something out there that was meant for us.
