We all had class clowns during school. In fact, some of us were class clowns. Not I. I was one of those kids who could be a class clown if I was comfortable, like in my accelerated classes. There were no cool kids there, so I had no problem speaking up. I wouldn't say I ever rose to the level of clown, just minor annoyance.

I thought of this because I go to a large state university. I can always tell the "class clowns" who come from small towns because they are just not very funny. I've developed a theory that class clownism is similar to capitalism, driven by competition. Thus, in a small town, there is less competition so the class clown doesn't have to be funny, just loud. In a larger town, the clowns are forced to be funnier and those clowns who were the tops in Small Town X are forced to compete at a higher level or drop out of the game. The class clowns in larger cities like New York are probably freakin' hilarious. As it is though, I'm stuck in class with kids who think they are very funny. They aren't, they are major tools.