She looked fragile and unhappy, like a sad clown.

He often represented his subjects as sad, despairing clowns.

The rule for a sad clown is to be very lovely and very funny.

He resisted the mentors who would have turned him into a sad but lovable clown.

I spot a summer circus with sad clowns and happy tigers at work behind the storm.

At the hearing they treated me like a sad old clown, made me laughable as the eyes of the nation looked on.

His pale face made him look like a sad French clown.

The gaunt face, like a sad clown's, achieved joy and sorrow at once.

"The sad clown: some notes on a 19th century myth".

Another source for dances of character can be found in the sad clown or 'the man who gets slapped'.