David Arquette Reveals Why He Wants to Bring Bozo the Clown Back (Exclusive)
A headline that turned heads back in 2021 was when it was confirmed that Scream star David Arquette had outright purchased the rights to Bozo the Clown. Part of this was due to an actual interest in the legacy of the character, and a love for Bozo from a young age, but a lot of it comes from hoping to "rehabilitate" how people think about clowns following the success of movies like IT and IT: Chapter Two. Speaking with ComicBook.com in an interview for his appearance in the Peacock series Mrs. Davis, we asked the performer about his love for Bozo and what the allure for reviving the character is for him.
"I don't know, my great grandparents were in vaudeville," Arquette said. "So it might be something about that. The traveling sort of circus element. There's something in my blood that I just love that; there's something in the wrestling world that's very kind of circus. I lived in Chicago sort of in a few years early on and fell in love with Bozo the clown there and then went to the Ringling Brothers and then saw the whole circus and it just kind of blew my mind. I was like, OK, I love this whole world. So I've always loved it."
He added he's eager to "Bring back like a silliness and innocence of fun. A joy. Like the pie fights and seltzer bottles, just silly goofy fun, which we just don't have enough of. It's just like the kind of stuff that's just just laugh out loud. Like, not taking yourself too seriously, enjoying life, you know, having self confidence and having good friends and standing up for yourself, like, we're teaching these little things not too heavy handed, but kids have gone through a lot and they're bombarded with these horror clowns right now. So we just want to sort of present a different alternative."
In the old days Bozo was franchised out with various performers taking on the role regionally around America. Arquette previously announced that he was hoping to bring this back with the character, even revealing last year the first female bozo performer, who was also the first person of color to play Bozo. Plans were also previously announced for a complete Bozo the Clown museum in Chicago.
(Cover photo by Mark Von Holden/Variety via Getty Images AND CBS via Getty Images)