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]
(..) Flies everybody else. Flies United, TWA, Continental, Eastern... (whispering): The Skywayman. Newspaper loves this clown. They call him "the James Bond of the sky." (chuckles) Did you say...? Bond, James Bond. (..)2002 Catch Me If You Can