Writing with a Real Clown

We asked Thomas Scott McKenzie, co-author of the just-released THE MAN BEHIND THE NOSE by Larry “Bozo” Harmon, what it was like to work side-by-side with the legendary entertainer. McKenzie, unsurprisingly, had some amusing tales from his collaboration with the late Harmon.

I got a call from a writer friend.

“I’ve just heard the most amazing, most outrageous story ever,” he said. “This tops anything an interview subject has told me.”

My buddy built a career on writing about notorious rock stars and porn performers. All of his subjects were self-admitted drug abusers of legendary proportions. And this tale topped them all? What kind of degenerate, axe-wielding, master of mayhem was he going to tell me about?

“I have three words for you: Bozo. The. Clown.”

And with that began my time in the big top universe of the world’s most famous clown and Larry Harmon, the driving force behind the icon.

At first, I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. As a country boy who grew up in the boonies, I was lucky to see any television at all, and that was if the weather was just right and you delicately grasped the antennae at a precarious angle. So I didn’t watch The Bozo Show during my childhood years. I remember seeing the WGN version of the show broadcast on their nationwide superstation when I would visit relatives lucky enough to have cable television. But I didn’t know much more about him than the obvious characteristics of a big red wig, big floppy shoes, and so forth.

In spite of my ignorance of the character, there was never any doubt in my mind that I wanted to co-author Larry Harmon’s book. Bozo is as pure a piece of Americana as baseball or apple pie or hot dogs on the Fourth of July. Any writer would be thrilled at such an opportunity.

In real life, Larry was as you might expect the world’s most famous clown to be: funny, amusing, and full of energy. But there were surprises. For example, he was intensely detail-oriented. On one version of the manuscript, I formatted some text to appear in red font.

“That’s the wrong shade of red,” he said. “It needs to be deeper, and yet more bright.”

“It doesn’t matter, Larry. It’s just to bring attention to the phrase during the editing process. It’s not going to be in the finished book.”

“Yeah, but if you marked it red for whatever reason, then it needs to be the right red.”

And so we devoted the next hour to discussing shades of red.

Larry’s focus on the minutiae was understandable when you consider the massive empire of Bozo merchandise that he oversaw. He was determined that every single Bozo bank, lunch box, or bop bag be perfect. And that determination is partly why we have such a pristine cultural icon today. In spite of more than 200 men portraying the character over five decades, in spite of countless television shows, cartoons, and products sold, Bozo remains exactly as people remember him from childhood. Unsullied, untouched, unadulterated. And that’s a result of Larry Harmon’s focus on detail.

Some celebrities barely spend a couple of hours with a co-author or ghostwriter. And you end up with situations like the time that basketball legend Charles Barkley said he was misquoted in his own book. My experience working with Larry Harmon on The Man Behind the Nose: Assassins, Astronauts, Cannibals, and Other Stupendous Tales was exactly the opposite. I encountered a man who was as funny as I assumed he would be, but who was also driven, determined, and focused on every aspect of the project. I was immersed in a big top universe that was held together over the decades by the sheer strength of Larry Harmon’s work ethic and willpower.

Thomas Scott McKenzie was raised on a thoroughbred horse farm in Bourbon County, Kentucky. His nonfiction has appeared in Tin House, Paste, Premier Guitar, Stuff, InSync, Columbus Monthly, Kentucky Monthly, Pen World International and many others. He runs the litblog Slushpile.net.