Throughout the skit, Strong ineffectually tries to clown — her spinning bowtie winds up tilting vertically, her attempt at making a balloon animal results in failure, her clown horn refuses to honk.
The effect is twofold: As she proceeds through the sketch, the words “clown abortion” become increasingly discomfiting and absurd, arguably highlighting the absurdity of extreme anti-abortion rhetoric.
When they’re able to — despite the barriers in place — there’s a real kind of relief and communion, and the retelling of her experience seems to be cathartic.
On one level, Strong’s sketch plays directly into the hands of people who think that modern comedy has lost its edge — that woke culture has changed comedy into humorless political lectures.
Strong’s final joke — “the last thing anyone wants is a bunch of dead clowns in a dark alley!” — is barbed and hilarious.
The sketch illustrates, unforgettably, that we are sometimes pushed to treat abortion like a tragedy, a mark of permanent shame, or both, to be able to even talk about it.
He and many other comedians have argued passionately that the targets of the joke need to learn to laugh at themselves even when the joke is cruel and dehumanizing.
It’s not “funny ha ha” humor, but humor that spotlights the vulnerability and humanity of the comedian and her audience.
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