“Griffin! Legendary creature from Greek mythology with the head of a lion and the wings of an eagle…” – Manny
When did clowns become such a sinister symbol in our culture? No doubt the Joker and Stephen King’s Pennywise helped reveal the malevolence beneath their masks of makeup, but now it seems like classical clowning is a dying art, left to be buried by the likes of Cam. Literally.
I’m a sucker for any episode of Modern Family with Cam’s clown-terpart, Fizbo, so you can imagine how much guilty enjoyment I got out of the clown funeral in the opening scene. It’s one thing for a funeral to be awkwardly funny, sometimes painfully so, at the cost of sacrificing some of the ceremony’s solemnity. But to maintain the atmosphere of honor and respect at a convention of clowns as they bury one of their own is truly a creative feat. Like packing all of those clowns into a Mini Cooper.
After the Professor Ringmaster is put to rest, the spirit of competition is roused from its grave, as the Beatles of children’s birthday parties are reunited: Fizbo and Lewis (Bobby Cannavale). The reason – or at least one of the reasons – that there are so many single clowns is the level of dedication such a life demands. And after meeting Mitchell, Cameron hung up Fizbo’s oversized shoes and necktie, leaving Lewis to fend for himself. But after a night of drinking and keeping Lily up with spit-takes, seltzer, and slip ‘n falls, the duo reunites for one last hoorah.
The spirit of competition has reached the rest of the family, too, as Phil goes up against fellow realtor Mitzi Roth (Ellen Barkin) for a listing, and Jay and Gloria vie for the affections of Manny’s new, cool friend, Griffin. Mitzi uses any and every trick in the book to win sales away from her rivals, leaving Phil and his good-guy tactics in the hedges that Mitzi blames Phil for pushing her into. Jay and Gloria, meanwhile, are suspicious of cool-kid Griffin’s motivations in hanging out with Manny – Jay thinks he idolizes his “boss” leather jacket and motorcycle, but it soon becomes clear that Griffin has been won over by a different kind of headlights.
Even amidst the cavalcade of Cam’s clowning and prop comedy with Lewis, Manny manages to hold his own with his sequence of answering the door, and cheerleading as a mustang mascot. It turns out that he’s using Griffin to get closer to his sister, and is completely okay with getting Gloria to bikini-up (or down) in fifty degree weather, even if Jay isn’t.
Which isn’t to overlook Luke’s impact on the source of all this humor: not only does he help Phil win his listing back from Mitzi Roth – conjuring up very real fake tears at the thought of all Three Stooges being dead – but Manny uses the same sort of guilt-trip to make Jay and Gloria keep up their charade until he can get close to the girl of his dreams. I guess you don’t need the makeup to be a good clown.
Some stats and info about Modern Family, “Send Out the Clowns”
TV SHOW – Modern Family
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 3, Episode 18
AIRED ON – March 14th, 2012
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – ABC
GENRE – Comedy, Relationship Shows
CREATED BY – Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd
CAST – Ed O’Neill, Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Rico Rodriguez, Nolan Gould, Sarah Hyland, Areil Winter, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.