Clown Alley No. 179 members practiced skits recently at La Hacienda Center. Shown are Jackie ‘Clickety Clack’ Marsh, left, and Sharon ‘Tootsey Pottsey’ Pearson doing the ‘I’m A Little Teapot’ skit. Jill Sherman / Daily Sun

Laughter filled the room while clowns rehearsed skits

By JILL SHERMAN, DAILY SUN

THE VILLAGES - Anyone who had an unpainted face and was not wearing a bright wig and crazy clothes had to stay seated. That was a rule.

Additional rules for people with comical inclinations were made public during a recent gathering of Clown Alley No. 179 members.

"You're going to have fun, by golly," Bobbi "Daisy" Roberts said on a Monday morning at La Hacienda Center.

Roberts also told each member of the group that they would have to allow themselves to laugh out loud.

Doing as suggested would help the clowns to become familiar with and absorb the skits that the costumed Roberts, Jim "Butterbean" Shoaf, Sharon "Tootsey Pottsey" Pearson and Jackie "Clickety Clack" Marsh performed for the group.

The funny foursome selected a prime time to share the skits because the clowning group has a number of new members, president Jean "Cuddles" Ernst said.

Roberts, keeper of the generously sized skit books, encouraged audience participation for the first skit. Only at the end of the sketch did the men and women picked to play parts learn that the skit was called "The Gathering of the Nuts."

And they followed the laughing-out-loud rule of clowning.

In Pearson and Marsh's "I'm A Little Teapot" skit, Marsh revealed that she was in fact not a teapot, but a sugar bowl.

But the session wasn't devoted strictly to skits. The funny foursome also presented some humorous one-liners. In a priceless moment, Shoaf shared some insight with the group.

"A day without sunshine," Shoaf said, giving a dramatic pause, "is like night."

Jill Sherman is a reporter with the Daily Sun. She can be contacted at 753-1119, ext. 9253, or jill.sherman@thevillagesmedia.com.