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Rodeo clown
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, a famous rodeo clown]]
A rodeo clown also known as a "Rodeo Protection Athlete" or bull fighter is a rodeo performer who works in the bull riding competitions. Historically the primary job of the rodeo clown is to protect the rider from the bull, after he dismounts or is bucked off. He distracts the bull and providing alternative target for the bull to chase. Additionally, bull fighters may improve the bull rider's score by turning a bull back that runs down the arena (for example, by grabbing his horn or getting the bull to follow him while the rider is on his back).

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, a famous rodeo clown]]
A rodeo clown also known as a "Rodeo Protection Athlete" or bull fighter is a rodeo performer who works in the bull riding competitions. Historically the primary job of the rodeo clown is to protect the rider from the bull, after he dismounts or is bucked off. He distracts the bull and providing alternative target for the bull to chase. Additionally, bull fighters may improve the bull rider's score by turning a bull back that runs down the arena (for example, by grabbing his horn or getting the bull to follow him while the rider is on his back). Rodeo clowns also provide traditional clowning entertainment for the crowd between rodeo events, often parodying aspects of cowboy culture.
Rodeo clowns enter the rodeo arena on foot, before the bull is let loose. They wear bright, loose-fitting clothes. Their role is particularly important when a rider has been injured, in which case the rodeo clown interposes himself between the bull and the rider, or uses techniques such as running off at an angle, throwing a hat, or shouting, so that the injured rider can make it out of the ring.
Typically, rodeo clowns work in groups of three, with two free-roaming bullfighters and a third rodeo clown who is known as the barrel man. The barrel man uses a large padded barrel that he can jump in and out of easily, and the barrel helps to protect the rodeo clown from the bull. In Australia clowns do not, generally, use barrels.
Rodeo clowns have one of the most dangerous jobs in show business, because their job's stuntman requirements—improvisational comedy with big athletic bulls, exposing them to a range of potential injuries from the bulls. As a result, injuries to rodeo clowns are common and can be fatal.
Well known rodeo clowns include Flint Rasmussen, Quail Dobbs, Johnny Tatum, Jimmy Anderson, Rudy Burns, Miles Hare, Cajun Kidd, Buck LeGrand, Rob Smets, Leon Coffee, Duane Hargo, movie actor Slim Pickens and Australians Matt Darmody, Shane 'Maddog' Simpson and Nathan Marshall
The profession gained major notoriety in the film Shakes the Clown.
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