His classmates remember him as 'the class clown'. [=a student who tried to make other students laugh]
a rodeo 'clown' [=a person in a rodeo who dresses like a circus clown]
He was always 'playing the clown'. [=trying to make people laugh]
(..) Have you seen Lois today? She's out West, looking into a land-fraud deal. I sent young Olsen with her on his first assignment. Some unidentified clown is buying thousands of acres... ...of worthless desert at incredible prices. That doesn't seem to make sense. The world doesn't make sense. (..)1978 Superman