Clowning around with Mr Popol

Humans of Chelmsford

On this episode of Humans of Chelmsford we meet clown Mr Popol - otherwise known as Paul Carpenter.
He is one half of the Popolinos, a comedy clown dup that have been going strong for 16 years along with Kriss Freear otherwise known as Kakehole.
The pair serve as managers of Circus Wonderland but every night they transform into their clown characters to entertain and bring joy to their audiences.
With circus celebrating its 250th year in the UK this year the perception of clowns as arguably shifted away from comedy to something more akin to horror.
Thanks to films like It - as well as Halloween scary clown crazes - Coulrophobia does seem to be on the increase.
But the Popolinos offer a service called Clownselling intended to help people overcome their fear as well as returning the public perception of clowns to its tradition - a figure of comedy.
On this episode Mr Popol explains all of this and more, including what life is like as part of a travelling circus as well as what led him to run away with the circus in the first place.
Listen to Paul’s story above. Humans of Chelmsford is available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast, Stitcher, Player FM and on our website.
Brought to you by Essex Live, Humans of Chelmsford is a podcast about inspiring people with incredible tales from across the city.
Each show we uncover the stories you never knew existed about fellow Chelmsford residents and their lives.
Music in this episode is from Broke For Free.
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