In The Clown, Preis adapts the story of a clown narrated on the Charles Mingus jazz album of the same name – and gives it a happy ending. In the video, a clown visibly struggles to please his public; canned laughter underscores the slapstick feel of the situation. What starts out as funny gradually turns into an increasingly bloody spectacle. Set upon pleasing his public to the bitter end (which doesn’t arrive after all), the clown does not shrink from inflicting injury on himself. While the viewer’s laughter gets stuck in his throat, the audience in the video laughs on.