Eric Stonestreet: Clown fear bums me out

Larry King: You wanted to be a clown?

Eric Stonestreet: Yeah, I wanted to—well there you go right there, I wanted to be a clown.

Larry King: Do clowns usually have weird minds?

Eric Stonestreet: Well I don’t think weird minds, I always hated the word “weird” as a kid, I’ll tell you that. When somebody calls somebody weird, I always think, “Well that’s a reflection on the person calling somebody weird,” because I think “weird” is a lazy word. And if my parents had thought I was weird as a kid, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to legendary broadcaster Larry King. They didn’t tell me I was weird, they said I was unique, they said I was creative, they said I was different, and they encouraged that. So I always hate it when I hear people say, “Oh that’s a weird little kid,” it’s like, “No, you gotta come up with something better.” Because “weird” is a pejorative in my opinion. It doesn’t encourage someone.

Larry King: What makes a great clown? I interviewed, just as an aside, Emmett Kelly. He never spoke. Sweeping up, always began the circus sweeping up the spotlight. What makes a great clown?

Eric Stonestreet: Well your heart. That’s what bums me out about this whole clown rage, people wanting to scare people, because to be a clown and to want to entertain people, it comes from this great-

Larry King: Do kids get scared?

Eric Stonestreet: Now they do.

Larry King: Really?

Eric Stonestreet: Oh it drives me crazy. Don’t get me started on this, Larry.

Larry King: Why would a kid get scared of a clown?

Eric Stonestreet: Thank you. But now it’s a fad, in my opinion it’s a fad to be scared of clowns, it’s like, “Oh clowns creep me out.” It’s like, “No, a clown that you saw in a Stephen King movie was scary. That doesn’t mean that now all clowns creep you out.” But now it’s like a total thing to be scared of clowns, “I’m so scared of clowns.” It drives me nuts.

Larry King: When you’re a clown on ‘Modern Family,’ you having fun?

Eric Stonestreet: Oh, we have a saying on ‘Modern Family’: “When you’re happy, are you as happy on Stonestreet on a Fizbo day? Or happy?”

Larry King: Did you ever do birthday parties?

Eric Stonestreet: Yeah, I was doing birthday parties when I was 11 years old. For 7 year olds. Doing magic, balloons, the whole deal.

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