What do professional clowns do after hours? Create edgy mayhem off the Strip. At the 1230 Clownshow, vaudeville goes 2.0
The show gets going just after 12:30 a.m. A singer warms up the crowd with a sort of lounge-act send-up - imagine classic crooner Matt Monro slinging some hardcore gangsta rap. Soon, a ballerina mistakes a can of Raid for deodorant and knocks herself out. A cowboy with gold boots and a pogo stick can't seem to control his gun or his comically flopping comb-over.
The short acts are, in the best sense, nuts: A giant banana and a clown do turns as astronauts; there's a folk song about, ahem, intestinal distress; a power-rocker does a juggling act; and a delicate Japanese baton-twirler and faceless guy in a full-body black jumpsuit perform as an improbable duo.
What's happening this Sunday night in a nondescript Commercial Center banquet hall is wacky and funny. It's sometimes puzzling, and always dementedly strange. It's a clown show, but not just any clown show. The 1230 Clownshow is a collective of Strip entertainers who've banded together in their off hours to create a stripped-down, gritty update of the comedy variety show. 1230 refers to the show's time: Sunday nights at 12:30, after the performers are done with their day jobs.If Cirque du Soleil had started as a garage band, it might look like this.
Like Cirque, the 1230 Clownshow has to be seen. But not because it's a spectacle; rather because it's the opposite of one. The show is about the energy of the spirited crowd. It's about performers trying out new acts - and messing up. It's about - at least metaphorically - working without a net.
