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The man behind the clown
Published: 5/31/2012 4:54 PM
Last Modified: 5/31/2012 4:54 PM


Billy Murray will perform in the Tulsa shows this weekend.

Billy Murray thinks he's got the best job ever.

He's a clown for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He travels on his "town without a zipcode" -- the circus train. He makes people laugh. And he says it's almost impossible to get in trouble for anything he does when he's in his costume. The red nose he puts on his face is like a free pass to do whatever he wants.

Murray said he's liked the circus since he was young, when the circus would come through his New Jersey town every year. Afterward, he and his friends would put on their own circus in the neighborhood for weeks, transforming themselves into clowns with their moms' lipstick and dads' old shoes.

As he got older, Murray got too "cool" to play circus. But it seems he could never really get rid of the clown in him. After graduating high school and before attending college, he headed to New York Goofs, a clowning school. He learned makeup, improvisation, costuming and gag-writing.

A few years later, he auditioned for the Ringling Bros. and was cast for the show.

But its not all fun and games. Murray and the other clowns work hard. They run on average 3 miles per show, sometimes performing 3 shows a day. Their costumes are often uncomfortable -- Murray's is covered in iron-on plastic sequins. And sometimes, when there's a technical difficulty or some other problem with the show, they have to cover using their "Emergency Walkaround." One time, they had to stretch that Emergency Walkaround for 12 minutes. Not an easy task. But what can they do? The show must go on.

The circus will be in Tulsa at the BOK Center this weekend. Performances are 11:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday. An hour before each show, a pre-show will give ticketholders the opportunity to interact with circus performers, learn to juggle, meet the clowns and watch an elephant paint.

Tickets are $22-$60, available at tulsaworld.com/bok, the Arby's Box Office, all Tickets.com outlets, or by calling 1-866-7-BOKCTR.

To read more about circus life, see today's Scene story.



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Tulsa To Do

Nour Habib joined the Tulsa World in 2011 as a general assignment reporter for the Scene section. She graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in journalism and political science. Before joining the World, she covered education for a community newspaper.

She looks forward to keeping up with all there is to do in Tulsa and sharing it with you. Because, after all, the more she finds, the more she gets to do, too.

Send any fun or interesting events her way at nour.habib@tulsaworld.com.

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