Conversation so far:
What Italian is Pierrot compared to?
Canio's Pagliaccio in the famous opera by Leoncavallo is close enough to a Pierrot to deserve a mention here.
What does Canio's Pagliaccio and Pierrot have in common?
Monti would go on to claim his rightful fame by celebrating another spiritual outsider, much akin to Pierrot—the Gypsy.
Where is Pierrot's origin traced to?
He is sometimes said to be a French variant of the sixteenth-century Italian Pedrolino, but the two types have little but their names and social stations in common.

Question: What type of character was Pierrot?
Self-contained rewrite: What type of character was Pierrot?