Rodeo clown
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A rodeo clown is a rodeo performer who works on bull riding contests. Also called a bull fighter, historically the primary job of the rodeo clown is to protect the rider from the bull after he dismounts or is bucked off, by distracting the bull and providing alternative targets for the bull to chase. Additionally, bull fighters may improve the bull rider's score by turning a bull back that runs down the arena (for example, by grabbing his horn or getting the bull to follow him while the rider is on his back). Rodeo clowns also provide traditional clowning entertainment for the crowd between rodeo events, often parodying aspects of cowboy culture.
Rodeo clowns enter the rodeo arena on feet, before the bull is let loose, wearing bright, loose-fitting clothes. Their role is particularly important when a rider has been injured, in which case the rodeo clown interposes himself between the bull and the rider, or uses techniques such as running off at an angle, throwing a hat, or shouting, so that the injured rider can make it out of the ring.
Typically, rodeo clowns work in groups of three, with two free-roaming bullfighters and a third rodeo clown who is known as the barrel man. The barrel man uses a large padded barrel that he can jump in and out of easily, and the barrel helps to protect the rodeo clown from the bull.
Rodeo clowns have one of the more dangerous jobs in show business, because their job's stuntman requirements—improvisational comedy with half-wild bulls—expose them to a range of potential injuries from the bulls. As a result, injuries to rodeo clowns are common.
The rodeo clown is sometimes called a matador, because their bright clothes and bull-taunting actions are superficially similar to those of the main performer (matador) of Spanish bullfighting. Well known rodeo clowns include Quail Dobbs, Johnny Tatum, Jimmy Anderson, Miles Hare, Cajun Kidd, Rob Smets, Leon Coffee, Duane Hargo, and movie actor Slim Pickens.
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[edit] Rodeo Bullfighter
Modern rodeos have seen a shift in the duties of the rodeo clown, focusing more on entertainment value rather than the double duty of providing safety and assistance to the riders. These duties have now been taken up by rodeo bullfighters, a title preferred by the PBR.
Rodeo bullfighters are exposed to the dangers of the bull from the moment it leaves the chute, until it exits the arena. Their job is to get in close to the bull and distract it from the dismounted bullrider and any one else in the arena, as well as to release the bullrider's rig, if need be, and rescue any "hung-up" riders.
Bullfighters are distinguished from rodeo clowns not only in terms of their primary duties but in appearance. Bullfighters generally wear loose-fitting garments and athletic shoes, for ease of movement, but as a rule, do not wear makeup. Top-notch bullfighters attract sponsors, and can have careers spanning decades.
[edit] See also
- Earl W. Bascom rodeo clown artist
- Straw man
[edit] Books
- Hartnagle-Taylor, Jeanne Joy (1993). Grease Paint Matadors: The Unsung Heroes of Rodeo. Alpine Publishing. ISBN #0-931866-56-1.
