The last time I saw Courtney Pauroso, she was upside down, legs splayed, doing a naked, spotlit handstand. “My father saw that show,” the LA clown winces. “I just told my mum: when the lights go out, tell Dad to close his eyes.” With extreme physical abandon, Pauroso’s solo performances shift sharply from wide-eyed innocence to grotesque, knockout humour. Does she enjoy making people feel uncomfortable? “Yeah,” she laughs, “I’m OK with that.”
Far from the world of red-nosed children’s entertainers, Pauroso found her way to clowning through sketch comedy. As a kid she would watch I Love Lucy reruns with her grandma, harbouring dreams of becoming a serious actor. But over time she found a different level of performance she was more aligned to: “this natural stupidity that I bring to the table”.
