Also called Clown Makeup · Clown Makeup Tutorial · Becoming a Clown
Four steps turn a hopeful plan into an obvious mistake. Match each stage of the clown makeup to another excuse, ending with the moment you can no longer defend it.
The makeup becomes more elaborate down the right-hand column. The empty space on the left lets the reasoning become equally elaborate, even as it makes less sense.
The format works well for admitting your own bad decision. Start with a believable promise, add two ways of postponing reality, and let the red nose arrive with the consequence.
SmiffysFancyDress uploaded “Male Clown Make-up Tutorial” to YouTube on October 28, 2015. It demonstrates white face paint, colored features, a wig, and a red nose. The meme selects stages from that practical tutorial. [1]
Captioned versions circulated in 2019, using the increasing makeup to show a person arguing themselves into a foolish position. The pictures began as instructions for a costume, rather than as a reaction meme. [2]
The instructional video supplies the images used in the template. [1]
Facebook page Trash Bin publishes the earliest version documented by Know Your Meme. [2]
User m6sloth applies the format to arguments about the Pokémon Sword and Shield roster. [2]
Write four short steps in the white space, aligned with the four faces on the right. Read them from top to bottom: the makeup and the reasoning should escalate together.
Keep the first step plausible. If it is already absurd, the later panels have nowhere to go. Save the consequence or weakest excuse for the finished clown.
Original captions to try with this template.
Each small exception pushes bedtime farther away until the morning arrives.
The convenience of skipping a check turns into a much longer job.
Each supposedly necessary addition defeats the original plan.
References for this template. Example captions are original.
The original October 2015 tutorial shows the makeup stages used in the meme.
Documents the May and June 2019 captioned versions.
