Eighteen seconds into EDC's 2015 Vegas trailer, sexy female clowns in hot pink afros pull a bearded man out of his chair and get him dancing. Coulrophobia—fear of clowns—may be a common phenomenon thanks to scary fictional characters like Stephen King's Pennywise and American Horror Story's Twisty, but EDC's clowns have virtually reinvented the archetype. One woman deserves most of the credit. “I wanted to combine my femininity and sex appeal with the idea that clowns were kind of scary and or frumpy,” remembers longtime EDC clown boss MsEasy. “I thought it'd be shocking to see an attractive female in a costume that's often considered intimidating. I initially conceived it as a performance art piece.”
Commodious Commotion
EDC is a special kind of EDM-fueled circus. Promoter Pasquale Rotella realized long ago he needed a special kind of clown. “I was doing guerrilla-style clowning at the time,” tells MsEasy. “You don't expect ten clowns to fall out of a Burning Man Port-a-Potty with squirt guns and noise makers. But it happened. And Pasquale saw it. And he said, 'This is exactly what we need.'”
Antics and Shenanigans
It's not hard to see how MsEasy won Rotella over with antics like the Port-a-Potty-as-clown-car routine. Since first bringing her Team Ez to EDC in 2008, MsEasy and posse have clowned nearly every EDC on the map, including Puerto Rico and Mexico. And shenanigans have ensued. “We love group hugs, tickling customers and introducing ourselves with our clown names and shaking customers' hands. There are things we do regularly, but it's consistently evolving at a rapid pace. Some characters do hilarious things that I don't see coming. We definitely have Ring Around the Rosie and London Bridge routines. We like children's games. It brings lightheartedness to customers. They can let go of the outside world and their daily lives and be a kid again, experience childlike joy. Who better to [make them do it] than clowns?”
Silly children's games can have a profound impact. “One time we all dog-piled this kid. I was near the bottom, so I was close to him. He started literally crying with joy and said, 'It's my birthday, and this is the best thing that's ever happened to me.'
Team Ez clowns thrive on the grounds interacting directly with patrons. But they're versatile too, doubling as go-go dancers and stage performers. “I remember being on stage in L.A. with Kaskade as rodeo clowns. I remember that fantastic moment of everything going off at the same time. It was like everything was in slow motion.”
Maternal Instincts—No Joke
MsEasy has been casting, dressing, painting and coordinating EDC clowns for eight years now. Unsurprisingly, her maternal instincts are starting to kick in. “I am the clown boss but I like to be the clown mom. I feel like the clown mom, because I feel like they're all my babies. I feel like I birthed them. They're all an extension of me. It's the closest to birthing that I may ever get.”
”Clown Boss” originally appeared in Vegas Seven Magazine. Live vicariously @mseasy