Clown Act

*Clown Act* is a comedy web series created by Mike Barkhoff and Jarrod Van Hauen. Starring Barkhoff, the series was written by the duo in high school. Originally, they thought of going to California to pitch this show upon graduating. It is largely an homage to Workaholics, as they both were fans of that show. It began airing June 9th, 2023, to lukewarm reviews.

## Production

Several of the episodes came from Barkhoff's scripts of an intended TV series he wrote when he was in school. Some of the scripts date back to 2015 or 2016. Initially, the idea was for him, Jarrod Van Hauen, and another friend, Adam Kaufman, to all portray the characters, until their drive for the show fell apart.

Barkhoff began filming the series in May 2022, following writing an outline of the scripts in September 2021 to early 2022. At this time, Barkhoff delayed the release from 2022 to 2023 and confirming the series was currently being coined a 'miniseries'. UGK David is an Executive Producer and at one point, in 2019, was considering making the series his own in California after reading a script for an episode Barkhoff had written in 2014. In January 2023, Live Free's Twitter announced Season 1 was being edited (suggesting it may no longer be a web series) when they also announced that Chapters. (Season 4) had completed production.

Season 1 was originally ten episodes but was spliced to "fit to six" because of scheduling conflicts and Barkhoff's desire to "save the more serious elements" for a second season, allowing the first to breathe as it's own "being" and "introduce the characters to the audience". The ten episode run is one of several elements paying homage to Workaholics, which is the series' main source of inspiration.

A second season was confirmed in September 2023 after it's filming was completed. Barkhoff revealed that Seasons 1 and 2 were originally set to film simultaneously but the idea shifted due to schedule. Regardless, all six episodes of Season 2 have completed preproduction - Barkhoff explains that they still need to be edited but will be in coming months and issued in 2024.

In December of 2023, it was announced Season 2 will be the last season but will actually consist of 8 episodes. Barkhoff explained that during editing he decided to add 2 additional episodes to "finely tune story beats", further elaborating that the show consists of a lot of improvisation while filming, which lead to "chunks of time that felt better in their own narrative".

On deciding for the second season to be the last, Barkhoff commented that "it wasn't something that was planned, but I filmed the last episode of Season 2 with the idea of finality dependent on whether we wanted to make more or not." Barkhoff further lamented "I love the characters because I've known them since I was sixteen, and it's a very fun, free-flow type of show. It was great to do the fourteen episodes because it was a massive stress relief, but I have other things on my to-do list that I think are more vital than to follow the same characters who will never grow up." Barkhoff did, however, express interest in following their story at a later point, suggesting a potential spin-off, and stating that "Season 1 wasn't reviewed very well and that's okay because it isn't what our viewers probably expect from us, but Season 2 takes a thematic turn and is probably closer to what you'd expect us to do."

Alongside revealing several aspects of the second season, Barkhoff also confirmed it would be the first show to return in 2024.

## Episodes

Season 1:

1 - Pilot

2 - Clowns V. Mom

3 - When In Life

4 - Puppy Days

5 - Pilot

6 - Anew

Season 2:

1 -

2 -

3 -

4 -

5 -

6 -

7 -

8 -

## Reception

The first season struggled to maintain too many highly publicized reviews. It has been described by many as Live Free's "weakest" effort to date. Despite this, the first season's fifth and sixth episodes saw an uptick in critical reception, particularly the former, which was described as "easily [the] best episode of the season" by Clarke Accloades.