Killer clown pranksters need to 'cool it' says Darlington professional entertainer Tommy Bungle

MALCOLM Singleton’s full-time job is making children and adults laugh as his alter-ego Tommy Bungle. But he thinks the current craze for dressing up as sinister clowns, chasing people, sometimes with weapons, which has spread to the UK from the US is far from a laughing matter.

ACT: Malcolm Singleton, from Darlington, who dresses up as Tommy Bungle the clown for a living. Picture: STUART BOULTON

“Things like this have an effect on the reputation you build up over time and the public’s perception of genuine, professional clowns,” he says. “The people doing this are not clowns, they are thoughtless pranksters hiding behind masks to frighten people.

“It has all been fuelled by the scary clown films from Hollywood and social media networks. They have no consideration for the individuals they are scaring, they don’t know how people will react. Someone, god forbid, who might be vulnerable or infirm might have a heart attack.”

The 61-year-old, from Darlington, a former professional photographer, came into clowning late and says he just wanted to have fun and make people happy. He’s now spent seven years as a professional clown, doing parties, events, carnivals and shows at holiday parks and also going into schools, having taken inspiration from a circus skills workshop arranged for his daughter’s birthday.

“I started off local, but it’s now gone throughout the North-East and beyond, we get all over the place,” he says. “I get a lot of business through recommendations and word of mouth. Some people are a bit wary of clowns, but once I start and do my act and engage with the audience they soon come round. I am not looking like these scary clowns anyway. Most of us are nice guys at the end of the day.”

Mr Singleton, who also operates as a double act – Circus Stars on Tour – putting on comedy shows with Mark Taylor, from Middlesbrough, is a member of Clowns International, an international trade organisation which promotes professional clowning and arranges events for its members and an annual convention.

He wears a blue bowler hat and yellow gloves, orange wig and a red nose and, reassuringly for traditionalists, “great big boots” along with occasionally a flower on his lapel that squirts water.

“I wanted something quite bright and wacky, I looked at a lot of other clown’s outfits and put together my own eclectic costume,” he says. “People say to me can I squeak your nose and I say ‘Why do you want to do that, does yours squeak?’ Once you put the makeup on and your customer you are that character, in the zone.”

A father-of-three and husband to Sarah – “She thinks I’m on a different planet,” he jokes – he’s always been a bit of a comedian and cites the legendary Tommy Cooper as an inspiration.

“Tommy Cooper was my hero going back a lot of years,” he says. “I used to experiment with magic tracks and do a bit of balloon modelling. It’s just now I dress up and get paid for it. The job satisfaction I get from it and seeing people laughing, not just children, it’s grown ups too, is the key for me and taking them away from the humdrum of everyday situations.”

Mr Singleton has some simple advice for the creepy clown pranksters, saying they should “cool it off”, echoing similar words from novelist Stephen King who did so much to fix the idea of evil clowns in the popular imagination.

“Hopefully, it will fizzle out after Halloween,” he says. “The professional fun, loving clowns will still be going long after these kids have packed up or been locked up.”