Stardust Circus ... go through seven separate 1930s outfits in a few minutes. This and his other performances are designed to make people happy — but there is a shade of sadness behind them ...

“Varekai” clown Steven Bishop, left, poses for a photo with his family, from second to left, Jose, Cathryn, Enzo, Ines and Loic, at Big Top Theater in Jamsil, southern Seoul, last Thursday.

In order to understand how clowns got creepy, first you have to understand how clowns got happy. As long as there have been people, there have been clowns, who sometimes go by different names ...

Their only goal is to make people happy. And yet, like the old Emmett Kelly gag, the practitioners have tried but failed to sweep up the spotlight, pooling on the ground. Clowns, like the circus ...