Mark StefanosSince launching in 2010, the Hollywood Fringe Festival has served as a proving ground for some of Los Angeles’s most daring live performances, but few corners of the festival have evolved as dramatically as clowning. What was once a niche discipline tucked among the festival’s hundreds of productions has grown into one of its most vibrant and inventive features.
We’re not talking about bonk-on-the-head, flower-squirt-in-the-eye Ronald McDonald clowning here — contemporary clown shows blend physical comedy, improvisation, audience interaction and experimental theater, creating performances that can be hilarious, uncomfortable, moving and unpredictable all at once, red-noses omitted. Nestled primarily in LA’s eastside at theaters like The Elysian and training grounds like The Idiot Workshop and The Clown School, the LA clown scene is full of excitement these days, and the perfect antidote if you’re burnt out from tired stand-up and improv shows.
The clown spirit is a natural fit for the Hollywood Fringe Festival, which has operated under an open-access model, allowing artists to produce their own work without a traditional selection process. Each June, theaters, bars, rehearsal spaces and unconventional venues across Hollywood become home to hundreds of independently produced shows, offering audiences an opportunity to discover new voices and unconventional ideas.
Opened yesterday, June 11, and running until Sunday, June 28, this year’s festival is among the largest in its history, featuring more than 480 productions and over 2,100 performances. The lineup spans musicals, immersive experiences, solo shows and traditional plays, with clown performances carving out an increasingly prominent place within its landscape.
Fringe is a great place to check out some of clown’s biggest names, and some up-and-comers that you’ll be able to quietly boast, “Meh, I saw them at Fringe back in 2026,” when they’re big-time in a few years. Here’s a list of most of the clown shows, and the following are some you don’t want to miss:
On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco — a Comedy by Anton Chekhov — by Brian Byrne
Brian Byrne in “On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco — a Comedy by Anton Chekhov” (Photo: Bradyn Woods)
Originally published in 1886 and revised for 16 years until its final form in 1902, Anton Chekhov’s one-act monologue play “On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco” is described as a deeply moving tragic-comedy.
Actor and comedian Brian Byrne reimagines the play with this loose adaptation grounded in clowning, physical theater, and absolute absurdity. Byrne has trained at Ecole Philippe Gaulier, the prestigious international clown school founded by master clown and instructor Philippe Gaulier, and was a member of Cruel Babes, LA’s premier modern clown ensemble directed by John Gilkey, who also leads The Idiot Workshop.
About the show:
A short play by Anton Chekhov, infused with modern style, physical comedy, and silliness.
Where did the idea of the show come from?
Brian Byrne: I wanted to do a play, and I resonated with the humor and writing of Chekhov. Actually, I was assigned part of this play at school once, and had a lot of fun with it. I thought maybe I could do the whole thing, and sort of make it my own — somehow combine my kind of fun and play with the writing of one of the greats.
What does this show mean to you?
Byrne: Though the play in itself is not personal to me, the experience of doing the show always is because I try my best to bring it to life through my own sense of joy and mischief.
Tickets and details
Follow Brian Byrne: brianabyrne.com
Syrian Soap — by Edib Farhan
Edib Farhan in “Syrian Soap” (Photo: Noor Aldayeh)
From acclaimed stand-up, clown and conflict mediator Edib Farhan comes “Syrian Soap” in their Hollywood Fringe debut. Directed and co-devised by Natasha Mercado, “Syrian Soap” is the winner of the 2026 Hollywood Fringe Scholarship, and Farhan had previously co-created a sketch and stand-up show that won “Best of Fringe” at the 2024 San Francisco Fringe Festival.
Set in an “intergalactic bathhouse,” Farhan alternates between multiple personas to explore Syrian traditions, family history, and personal identity. The title is a linguistic wink to the heritage of Aleppo’s laurel soap (sabun ghar), the timeless ritual of the hamam bathhouse, and the region’s iconic, dramatic television serials.
Notably, “Syrian Soap” will be a part of a double feature night along with award-winning author and performer Randa Jarrar’s “The Last Palestinian” on June 18. A dramedy, “‘The Last Palestinian’ uses absurdist humor, archetypal characters, and Palestinian folklore to chart humanity’s spectacular downfall through the story of a young woman enduring genocide.”
About “Syrian Soap”:
60-minute absurd ancestral intervention inspired by Syrian soap operas and set in an intergalactic bathhouse. Eat, pray, bathe with Edib’s bumptious, mustachioed ancestor and find out if you are your ancestor’s wildest dreams — or worst nightmare. He has notes. Receive channeled advice, poetry, and a surprise visit from a traditional Syrian bathroom slipper (which may or may not be a metaphor for life under fascism).
Beneath the silliness and suds, Syrian Soap is a love letter to revolution and exile — an invitation to unlock joy and self-expression in a world on fire. And a reminder: your healing goes back 7 generations — but so do your f*ck-ups!
What does the show mean to you?
Edib Farhan: Even if what it looks like is shaking my bubble-wrapped boobs while wearing a fake mustache, all of my work as a clown is a love letter to freedom struggles in Syria and Palestine. Being joyfully free and stupid in my body, telling the truth, and connecting the audience through laughter is how I honor the legacy of all my ancestors and all of those we lost.
I want people to leave my show asking “How do I express my full self even if it costs me everything? How do I make home wherever I am and find belonging outside of families and nation states? What kind of future ancestors do we want to become? What do I have to disrupt to get there?”
Tickets and details for “Syrian Soap”
Follow Edib Farhan: @farhan__inc
Dean Evans: My Finest Work — by Dean Evans
Dean Evans in “Dean Evans: My Finest Work” (Photo: Maria Nova)
Whether performing clown, mime, or improv, master movement artist Dean Evans is an absolute joy to watch.
Named one of the top 50 ‘players’ by Chicago’s Newcity Magazine, Evans was a member of the acclaimed Neo-Futurists in Chicago, performed with The Second City and Cirque du Soleil, and now tours internationally and directs clown and bouffon troupes. At this year’s Hollywood Fringe, they are delivering their “Finest Work” — so that probably means you should check them out.
About the show:
Acclaimed movement artist Dean Evans attempts to perform their life’s work ranging from botched mo-cap choreography to lyrical moving poetry. Evans’ mellifluous voice guides us through their own scraps from the cutting room floor assembled to create a theatrical portrait of an artist unraveling.
Where did the idea for the show come from?
Dean Evans: I made up this character that would perform in comedy shows that was a pretentious Motion Capture Artist. I told the audience that, just like the other comedians on the show, I needed to workshop new material as well. And then I would do the dumbest physical bits I could muster.
But after a while I realized I didn’t need the motion capture setup, I could just come out as myself and perform a series of short physical bits and then slip in long elaborate pieces that were sometimes beautiful or dramatic. Similar to how Andy Kaufman would do a series of short bad impressions and then go into an impressive Elvis impersonation.
What does this show mean to you?
Evans: My work has always been irreverent and at times obtuse. However, the interstitial element of this show gives me a playful way to frame my work so that people can appreciate it and understand me. I can teach people how to watch me. I’ve always been an artist that other artists respect deeply but has never had much commercial success. Always a bridesmaid and never a bride. As a queer movement artist working in comedy, film, & theater, you often find yourself being a square peg in a round hole. My body is the focal point but it’s also the source of dysphoria, rage, and rebellion.
When I tie my pieces together, I can see that I often like to play a fast one on directors and producers. True to the nature of Clown, I’m a trickster, sneaking little messages in. Irreverence in the face of commercialism. Combined with some really beautiful Mime, of course.
Tickets and details
Follow Dean: @mrdeanevans
Big Maestro & Little Cello Boy — by Alex Derderian & Peter Levine
Alex Derderian & Peter Levine in “Big Maestro & Little Cello Boy” (Photo by Adam Bussel)
The award-winning duo of visual artist, filmmaker and performer Alex Derderian, and filmmaker, actor and musician Peter Levine, have teamed up for “Big Maestro & Little Cello Boy.” Directed by Dean Evans, the show is described as “Whiplash performed by the Marx Brothers.”
Derderian’s “Holy Holy: Birth of Disco” won Best Dance & Physical Theater and the Bold Theatricality Award at Hollywood Fringe 2025. She got her start on public access TV, and Levine runs the West Hollywood Public Access Television station. In addition to live performance, they both create some of the most absurd videos you’ll find online.
The show should hopefully let artistically inclined audiences find some catharsis and healing, they say, “in the absurdity of the heavy questions many artists have to ask themselves: What are you willing to give up for your art? Having a family? Your health? Where is the line? What is the cost to become truly great? We’d rather wrestle those questions through silliness than suffering!”
About the show:
A dedicated classical cellist (Peter) is invited to a public master class with a charismatic, emotionally chaotic conductor (Caucus) and is subjected to ruthless absurd tests of devotion.
Rooted in physical comedy, slapstick, clown-influenced play, and live musical performance, a formal master class spirals into an increasingly unpredictable and very odd power struggle between maestro and cellist. As the student gradually breaks down, nonsensical and humiliating lessons occasionally transform into moments of genuine artistic brilliance. As mentorship dissolves into absurd & ritualized abuse, Peter is pushed through escalating trials in pursuit of “greatness,” forcing the question: would you give up EVERYTHING to become truly great?
Where did the idea of the show come from?
Alex Derderian & Peter Levine: It started as a video we were shooting at the West Hollywood Public Access station of a masterclass between a narcissistic maestro and an eager, devoted cellist. We’d been watching these masterclass videos online and talking about how insane they were. We were having so much fun and we realized the material was way bigger than that. That dynamic felt juicy, real, absurd, and totally ripe for a clown show! Once we asked Dean Evans to direct, the show grew organically. We pulled a lot from our love of classic comedy movies (we’d just rewatched Monkey Business on film at the New Beverly) and all the ridiculous things our artistic mentors have said to us over the years to “motivate us.”
What does this show mean to you?
Derderian & Levine: The show comes straight out of our own experiences studying under intense artistic mentors, with Peter in classical music and Alex in oil painting. It exaggerates the ego, devotion, power dynamics, and absurdity of those relationships through clown and physical comedy. The show is high-brow discipline broken down by low-brow stupidity. It’s a masterclass filtered through the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, late-night Public Access, and wrestling.
Tickets and details
Follow Alex Derderian: @tiredjustwakeup
Follow Peter Levine: @levinep90
F*cking Famous — by Molly Sharpe
Molly Sharpe in “F*cking Famous” (Photo: Rebecca Shrom @shromcom)
If you’re in the mood for some excellent pop songs, lively choreo and diva outfits, all wrapped in a bloodied bow, look no further than the hilarious “F*cking Famous” by Molly Sharpe.
To get a sense of Sharpe’s sensibility, here’s how she described the show — “This Fringe, do the most Hollywood thing possible. See some bitch do a concert/clown show in a wig store on the Walk of Fame” — which was too damn good to leave out. Sharpe’s solo show “Murder, Oops” won the Award for Comedic Theater at Hollywood Fringe 2025, so you better believe she’s bringing the bangers on this album tour.
About the show:
A famous pop star, Molly Sharpe, is touring her new album and this show is a stop on that tour. Only something happened and she has to do the show all by herself. A pop concert meets clown show. All-original party girl music.
Where did the idea of the show come from?
Molly Sharpe: The idea for the show came from a confluence of things that all happened in a couple of months in early 2025: a feeling of inspiration from a Maude Letour concert, a song I made up in the Idiot Workshop, and a completely unwarranted and insane amount of applause (there may have been a standing ovation as well) I got for just walking onstage when I competed in JoeDome at the clubhouse…and my reaction to that, which was to say “I’m fucking famous.” Plus I thought it would be funny, and I like writing songs.
Tickets and details
Follow Molly Sharpe: @acid_reflux_molly
THE SOLO SHOW SHOW — by Anděl Sudik
Anděl Sudik in “THE SOLO SHOW SHOW”
(Photo: Stagetone studio)
Fringe festivals (and most community theaters) wouldn’t exist without the solo show. With Anděl Sudik’s “THE SOLO SHOW SHOW,” get ready to dig deep up the solo show’s ass with an “improvised show that both satirizes and celebrates the world of solo performance and live theater.”
Sudik is an alum of Boom Chicago in Amsterdam, the Second City Touring and resident ETC Company, and is a director, improviser, actor, writer and teacher who has performed all over the place. She also has extensive experience cultivating solo shows for others, so this concept is right in her bailiwick. Come to the show ready to laugh, create and listen to good music, and leave feeling “more alive than when you walked in, maybe a little confused and ready to play,” she says.
About the show:
Each night the audience helps craft a brand-new solo show — from heartfelt biopic to absurdist clown. Good if you love solo shows, great if you hate em. Ideal if you love to hate them. Come for the chaos, stay for the catharsis.
Where did the idea of the show come from?
Anděl Sudik: FULL ORIGIN STORY: in 2012 I was flown out to screentest for “SNL” and it was THE FIRST TIME I had ever done solo character work and, spoiler alert, I didn’t get the job. AND IT WAS NOT FUn OH GOD THe PREESssHURE.
So I started playing with more fun ways to create solo material, which led me to working with artists and helping them create material and then full solo shows. I loved being in process with these pieces and artists and naturally became obsessed — improvising solo seemed like both an obvious progression and also easier to tour. I appreciate narrative but I fucking LOVE fun and not trying to fit things into boxes and this is the most raw way to create something in a room with people where we don’t have to worry about making it make sense we just get to have a good fucking time. TOGETHER.
What does this show mean to you?
Sudik: I fucking love solo shows, I love them when they’re good, I love them when they’re not. I think everyone has a story to tell that only they can tell in only their way — and everyone should feel the freedom I do when I play this way. If I can do this, you can make your show. I also think we (me) take ourselves too seriously, and this is a visceral reminder to myself that I can still care very deeply and also. Have fun. When things go wrong. When things go right. It’s more fun when we’re in it together. In life we have to edit so much — in this show we let it go.
Tickets and details
Follow Anděl Sudik: @the_proactive_pessimist | @thesoloshowshow | YesAndel.com
Frank Sriracha: Home is Where the Stage Is — by Max Charbonneau
Max Charbonneau in “Frank Sriracha: Home is Where the Stage Is” (Courtesy of Alex Golshani)
Max Charbonneau has an infectious charisma every time he sets foot on a stage, so it makes sense that the Fringe run for his za-a-a-ny alter ego Frank Sriracha is titled “Home is Where the Stage Is.”
Directed by his frequent collaborator, the talented Kallie Cifra, the show meets Sriracha on one of his biggest nights yet. Charbonneau has performing comedy in many forms around town for years, and also works as an interactive performer at Just Fix It’s The Willows, and Peacock’s The Traitors Experience. Seeing him embody the endearing cabaret legend Sriracha (“The Wonderkid of the Sunset Strip”) is a spicy treat that will leave you in tears.
About the show:
For decades, Frank Sriracha has been dazzling the world with his songs, his humor, and his sparkle. Tonight, he is proud to accept his Lifetime Achievement Award with a gala reception and an open bar. All he has to do is give a five-minute acceptance speech.
Where did the idea of the show come from?
Max Charbonneau: I’ve been performing as Frank Sriracha for six years, and building and workshopping material at my monthly show at the Elysian. I’ve always known I wanted to make an hour as Frank Sriracha, and I knew the only way to celebrate him was by giving him a Lifetime Achievement Award.
What does this show mean to you?
Charbonneau: This show is the celebration of everything I’ve been working on for the last six years, and I am very proud of the work that my director Kallie Cifra and I have put into this show! It is the most fun I have ever had, and every show feels like my birthday!
Tickets and details
Follow Max Charbonneau: @corndudemax | @franksrirachareal
Country Girl Makes Do — by Sam G.
Sam G. in “Country Girl Makes Do” (Photo: RM Aranda)
Sam G. is just a girl from Petal, Mississippi turned prolific LA clown and director. She’s channeled her backstory into “Country Girl Makes Do,” which, she says, is “informed by my real work as a licensed livestock auctioneer, four years of LA clown training, and 10 years of country-style partying.”
Come for the laughs but stick around for the treatise on whiteness from Sam, who holds a BA in philosophy and is currently pursuing a master’s in psychology. Her post-modern fashion-comedy “Menswear,” won the 2025 Hollywood Fringe Festival’s “Planner’s Pick.”
Speaking of fashion, she’s also the creator of the L.A. Clown hat, which is a pretty nice looking hat that says “L.A. Clown” on it, if you can believe it. All the cool clown kids are wearing it so you better cop.
About the show:
An autobiographical one-woman clown show about a Mississippi woman who tends farm, runs a livestock auction and is a star of the bar. Like all good country stories, parts of it are true and parts of it are big whoppers.
Where did the idea of the show come from?
Sam G.: In real life, I’m often the first person people have met from Mississippi, because no one from there leaves. People often ask, “Sam, what is Mississippi like?” and I wanted to make a show that answers that question.
What does this show mean to you?
Sam: I gotta show the bicoastal elites how country girls do it. Because people from the South are often looked down on, people don’t realize they’re also funny as hell. So this show is me representing. It’s about what I was doing a couple years ago, which was pretty much acting like an idiot. So I’m putting my big country heart on my sleeve and asking people to laugh at it along with me.
Tickets and details
Follow Sam G.: @sjgeez
SHOGUN — by Alex Nauta
Alex Nauta in “SHOGUN” (Photo: Ariana Hoshino)
In “SHOGUN,” performer, poet and clown Alex Nauta explores his Japanese identity in the wake of FX’s 2024 “Shōgun,” a U.S. TV hit that took home 18 Emmys, including Outstanding Drama Series.
Similarly acclaimed, Alex’s “SHOGUN” beat out 300 submissions to premiere at the Elysian Theater’s Spaghetti Festival last November to a sold-out audience. He’s trained at the Idiot Workshop and Spy Monkey, staffs the Tuesday Night Project — noted as “the longest running Asian American open mic in the country” — and performs with the Asian-American comedy troupe Pot Hot.
About the show:
“In every boy a warrior.. In every warrior a boy.”
SHOGUN is an original clown show straight from the mindbrain that is Alex Nauta — a boy turned man who, while watching the hit series “Shogun,” found himself asking a simple question: Who is this for?
Determined to find out, Alex dusts off his Japanese and sets out to reconcile a lost heritage, the tangled ties of cultural multiplicity, and the formation of an artistic identity in the only way he knows how: by pretending to be a samurai.
Where did the idea for the show come from?
Alex Nauta: I think thoughts around my identity have been percolating for a while. The “Shogun” TV thing was just a kind of catalyst for me to want to start expressing my feelings around how representation for Asian-Americans has felt so stunted. There are so many shows and pieces of media out there that are working well to represent a more nuanced depiction for people of other identities, but Asians in America still feel to me like we are not in any kind of control at all over how we are depicted or what the subject of conversation around us even is. We haven’t really been able to leave the realm of being commodified for white people.
What does the show mean to you?
Nauta: To me it’s about taking on the mosaic of ideas I am fed about what I am supposed to be to be consumable to the West, by the West. Constructing a sense of self based on what I am fed. And to follow and fuck around with that thread far enough until I find what is really true about who I am.
Follow Alex Nauta: @alexnauta
Haven’t had enough clowns? Here’s a list of most of the Fringe clown shows, and a few more you should be sure to check out:
HYSTERICAL — by Jackie Skinner
About: “A (gorgeous) woman has been performing this room for years. Usually to nobody. Tonight you’re here. She’s been waiting for this. She’s afraid to find out why. A clown thriller. There is audience interaction. Nobody leaves their seat.”
WELCOME TO HELL — by Mark Vigeant
About: “The Best Worst Fucking Show In The Whole Entire WORLD. The Devil is here to condemn you to hell with the help of his dumbest demons, a rotating cast of the best clowns in Los Angeles!!”
She’s So Special — by Meg Cheng
About: “In this melodramatic and heartwarming one-act play that Meg wrote for herself to star in, she irreverently pays homage to the American TV and movie tropes that shaped her worldview. By accessing her inner Meryl Streep/Kristen Wiig and giving the performance of a lifetime, she embodies an ingénue (coincidentally also named “Meg”) from a small town and the audience is taken on an emotional and moving odyssey as she blossoms into a resilient, fierce and independent woman. Will there be big, explosive emotions? Absolutely. Will she take things too far? You betcha!”
Emotional Alpha — by Andrew Knox
About: “The Manosphere is pervasive, toxic, and dangerous – it’s also a natural consequence of not teaching boys how to relate to themselves and others. But it’s not too late. Eleos Richard is a licensed Male Emotions Specialist who’s been described as “if Brené Brown was a member of Seal Team 6”. He runs the number one Alpha Male Bootcamp (that takes place in an unused parking lot behind the Container Store) in America and now you’re invited. So bring your heterosexual husband, your heterosexual father, or your heterosexual gay best friend and watch them transform from emotionally flaccid adult boys into military-grade empaths…at EMOTIONAL ALPHA.”
HOOP💫 — by RM Aranda
About: “A visitor from another planet arrives. A hoop alien… from the hoop planet. They have come to fix the hole. The hoop alien struggles to communicate with humans, but they will have to try. Or the hole may never be fixed.
This is a 45-minute clown piece built entirely around a hula hoop. Combining immersive theater, improvisation, performance art, and audience participation, every iteration of “hoop” is unique. What will we discover when you see it?”
Bebé Bebé — by Veronica Osorio
About: “A 4 a.m. pumping sesh turned into a show when the audience materializes in the living room, not for new parents but for all former babies. If you were once a baby, this show is for you. Fresh from the most life-altering experience a person can go through… no, not having your country seized by the U.S.A and mined for oil… but having a baby and then getting OCD-Veronica Osorio is staging a new hour. Ok. Realistically? She’s been mostly in a 4 a.m. delirium.”
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell — by Clowns of Color: Deshawn Ball & Jamonté Williams
About: “What does the uniform take, what does it leave behind, and who gets to tell the story afterward? Clowns of color, two Black military veterans, Deshawn (United States Marine Corps) and Jamonté (United States Army), step into the spotlight as theatrical clowns, transforming our lived experiences in uniform into a no-holds-barred, immersive clown comedy show. We confront the absurdity, contradictions, and quiet traumas of military life—inviting audiences to laugh while reckoning with the systems that shaped us.”
Had enough clown? Here’s some dramatic theatre to check out:
We Are All Burning — by Travers Tobis
About: “Inspired by the true story of the Luddite uprising of 1812, the play is about the disruptive nature of technology and explores the technological disruption, economic uncertainty, and human cost of progress through the eyes of those caught in its path. What can we learn from the Industrial Revolution?”
About Travers Tobis: A recent graduate of UCSB, Tobin earned a BFA in Acting and works as a performer and writer across theater, film, and television. His short film The Circus Monkey earned a Student Television Academy Award nomination, and he wrote, directed, and starred in Silk Flowers, which received UCSB’s Best Narrative Short.
For more information, tickets and the full list of shows at Hollywood Fringe, visit hollywoodfringe.org.