# Putting on Clown Makeup Putting on Clown Makeup, also known as Clown Makeup Tutorial, builds a running joke from a 2015 YouTube guide by labeling each step of a painted clown face with a progressively worse argument. Facebook user Trash Bin posted the earliest known meme version in May 2019 using communist regimes, and by June Twitter users were running the format against a widely mocked Pokémon Sword and Shield defense. ## Origin YouTube channel SmiffysFancyDress uploaded 'Male Clown Make-up Tutorial' on October 28, 2015, a short walkthrough for applying men's clown face paint in five stages[1]. The video went largely unnoticed for more than three years. On May 21, 2019, Facebook user Trash Bin posted the earliest known meme version, stitching stills from the tutorial together and assigning each stage to a different communist nation[2]. That post collected more than 4,900 shares and 1,000 reactions. - **Platform:** Facebook (earliest meme) / Twitter (viral spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2019 ## Overview The template uses stills from SmiffysFancyDress's five-step tutorial, where a man applies white base, red accents, a round red nose and a wig until he is fully in costume[1]. Posters caption each frame with a stance, excuse or defense that gets more ridiculous as the panels advance, so the subject appears to transform into a clown as their logic falls apart[3]. The final fully painted panel holds the most absurd claim, equating the speaker with the clown they have talked themselves into. Topics range widely. Early examples targeted video game fandoms, political regimes and sports takes[2][4]. A common move is to open with a reasonable-sounding position and escalate toward an obviously absurd one, so each label carries more weight than the last. ## How to Use A typical post stacks four or five frames from the tutorial in sequence. Each frame carries one line of a position or claim. The opening caption often sounds reasonable; each following line adds a weaker or more extreme condition until the final, fully painted frame holds the most clown-worthy statement. Posters typically match the escalating paint to escalating logical failures, so the visual gag lands in sync with the written one. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Putting on Clown Makeup? A five-panel image macro built from stills of a 2015 YouTube clown makeup tutorial, where each stage of applied paint corresponds to a progressively worse argument[4]. ### Where did Putting on Clown Makeup come from? Facebook user Trash Bin posted the earliest known meme version on May 21, 2019, using stills from a 2015 SmiffysFancyDress tutorial video[2][1]. ### What does Putting on Clown Makeup mean? It shows someone making an increasingly larger fool of themselves, as the visual escalation of clown paint mirrors the escalation of weak or illogical arguments[3]. ### How do you use Putting on Clown Makeup? Line up frames from the tutorial and caption each with a progressively worse claim, so the final fully painted panel holds the most absurd take[3]. ### Is Putting on Clown Makeup still popular? The format saw heavy use in 2019 across Twitter, Reddit and Tumblr[6][4]. It is now an older template, used more sparingly but still recognizable. ## References 1. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii02ZfT3Pec]() 2. [https://www.facebook.com/717685005029391/photos/a.717700951694463/1619423164855566]() 3. [https://twitter.com/m6sloth/status/1139323900708474880]() 4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/putting-on-clown-makeup]() 5. [https://twitter.com/trollfootball/status/1160598263252176896]() 6. [https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/comments/c2ohun/shoot_i_actually_lold/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/putting-on-clown-makeup Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library