The Clowns Have Arrived

There were murmurs in the Discord that the clowns were coming. They had come before, performing new, polished and developing bits of clowning to roars of approval from fellow clowns and HLPtv crew. The Discord bubbled with staffing and planning.

And again they clowned Wednesday night, led by LA-born writer, improviser and clown R.M. Aranda. Their particular parade of cloons is called The REM Room, a growing community of performers who work out their clowning bits to perform live at HLPtv: A postmodern Jabberwocky. An interpretive elegy for a departed cat. A meditation on the sublime focus required to thread a needle. All broken up by the cheers and raucous encouragement of R.M.

“I suffer from terrible insomnia,” R.M. says, “I really struggle sleeping. So I like the idea of having this framework… the clowns are like my dreams.” After many years performing and improvising at theatres like UCB, R.M. found the clown scene at places like the Lyric-Hyperion and The Elysian Theatre, ground zero for clowning. R.M. took to the community in short order. “This is like, my most favorite thing ever,” they told the gang after the performers wrapped, “and it’s just like pure adrenaline and endorphins for three hours straight.”

Hollywood Reporter was rapping ‘bout clowning mid-pandemic, in December 2020. The LA Times wrote about a resurgence of clowning in August 2022. LAist declared definitively a year ago, LA is a clown town, and they sure weren’t fuckin’ around. “Whether you’re performing or watching it,” R.M. says, “you’re just like, oh my god, like, I’m alive! I’m alive! Like, every single second.” Follow R.M.’s REM Room on Instagram to learn more and maybe catch an upcoming live show.