Kill Your Television!

Previous legend || Kill Your Television! || Next legend

No Wonder That Clown's Crying

Children's shows attract salacious urban legends like pale teenagers to a Nine Inch Nails concert. Bozo the Clown, host of the eponymous American children's show in the '50s and '60s, falls prey to untold legions of malevolent children in several versions of essentially the same tale. One version has it that Bozo is interviewing a boy about what he wants to be when he grows up, and the boy says, "Cram it, clown!" Another variation has it that during an egg game Bozo chastises a child who refuses to participate (or who drops their egg). The kid again says, "Cram it, clown," or something similar.

Debunked: Bozo the Clown lightly chastises a kid on his show when the kid drops their egg in an egg race game. The kid tells him to, "Shove it, clown!"

The likelihood of a professional entertainer dedicated to working with children chastising a child for doing something essentially guaranteed to happen is highly doubtful to begin with. The variations of this tale are legion, yet suspiciously there is no known proof anything of the sort happened. See Urban Legends Archive: Bozo TV Legends for the details.

Debunked: Bozo interviews kids on his show, asking them what they want to be when they grow up. One boy says "Cram it, clown!" and is taken off the set.

Again, no proof has ever come to light. Being so similar to the previous story, especially the "punchline", and lacking all evidence, this story is also unlikely to have happened as described.

Documented: Some kid in Boston tells Bozo, "Cram it, clown!" Bozo replies, "That's a Bozo no-no."

This totally Broken Link Until Someone Can Find Me A Better One reportedly documents a kid saying this and being told, "That's a Bozo no-no."

References:

• Urban Legends Archive: Bozo TV Legends
• This totally Broken Link Until Someone Can Find Me A Better One