TODAY’S TALKER

Man’s support clown lightens the blow after he loses his job

A man in New Zealand was called into a work meeting and feared the worst. So he hired an emotional support clown to join him.

For Joshua Jack, the suspicion he might lose his job was right.

Speaking to Newshub NZ on a video call, Jack confirmed his employer, advertising agency FCB, let him go. But having Joe the clown along for the ride definitely “lightened the mood,” he said.

When his supervisors scheduled the meeting, he said he “thought it’s either a promotion or worse.”

“I thought it’s best to bring in a professional and so I paid $200 and hired a clown,” he added.

By the time the meeting was over, Jack didn’t have a job. But he did have two balloon animals: a unicorn and a poodle.

The process to blow them up and shape them got “rather noisy,” he said, and the meeting attendees “had to tell (Joe the clown) to be quiet from time to time.”

FCB could not immediately be reached for comment. But the New Zealand Herald obtained a photograph showing a man with his face blurred out sitting in an office next to a clown, who is wearing, well, a clown outfit, and what appears to be an inflatable hat. The clown reportedly also mimed crying expressions as Jack went over the paperwork describing his termination.

When asked by Newshub NZ how his former colleagues reacted, Jack said they “thought it spiced up the meeting.”

Emotional support clowns are typically used in situations with children that require a bit more, well, emotional support.